​Found a lovely reverse painted lamp on Marketplace for a steal. It looks lovely in my lounge.

​A beautiful sunrise on the way to work this morning.

​Watched Epic, an Elvis film by my favourite director, Baz Luhrmann. It was incredible, and will be a DVD purchase when it’s released.

​Walking with a group from the moors down into Blanchland.

​The Groverake Mine, north of Stanhope, on the Pennines. The last mine headgear in County Durham.

​St Peter’s Church in Byers Green.

​A lovely walk at Croxdale today, led by Andy. The snowdrops were in full bloom.

​A fabulous walk with Andy and his two friends, called Dave, across the moors above Blanchland.

​An alleyway in Peterlee with the scoria bricks that I love. 

​A walk around the Washington area. This is the Victoria Viaduct, once the main train line from Newcastle to London. Plans are in progress for it to be used again for the Metro.

​At Saltburn, fossil hunting, while walking along the beach to Redcar.

​Both Mr Blue Skye and Tricksie Treat like yoghurt. Here is TT enjoying her teaspoonful of oat and walnut Activia. 

​I stopped to grab this view on my way home from work. Still very damp and misty. The sun shone just briefly.

​Driving to work, it’s lovely to see the sun and blue skies again.

​A neighbour left a huge parsnip on my doorstep, so I promptly made a parsnip and potato soup. Sprinkled with grated mature cheddar, it was delicious. A sentiment Mr Blue Skye obviously wanted to share. 

​After this morning’s 6.5 mile walk, I decided to drive to Weardale and check out the moors in snow. I got to Tow Law and gave up. With the snow and a thick fog, I couldn’t see anything beyond this fence…

​I saw these today and had a chuckle. The pet dressing business has gone a bit far, but there’s plenty that have money to waste on such trivialities. Poor pets!

​Driving to work this morning. It was all gone by lunchtime, when we had hailstones for a while. Of course, all of this has just added to the copious amounts of mud and flooding we now have.

​Looking west across a rainy valley towards Ferryhill.

​Driving behind this bin lorry made me chuckle. In America, you see stuffed toys and dolls tied to their carts, but I’d forgotten how the English always find the ladies underwear. I circled the hanging bra on the right.

​An angry sea today at Horden, where I spent a couple of hours picking up rocks and sea glass in the rain. 

​He’s been up to something, with that look on his face, but I haven’t found out yet…

​These Highland cows are a permanent fixture at Rowlands Gill, where we began our walk today. They had plenty of hay, but that mud!

​A morning on Horden Beach, chatting with a few locals and collecting sea glass.

​Had a wander around the 12th Century ruins of Finchdale Priory in the rain today.

​I often pass this gorgeous little gatehouse with its ornate cemetery gates. I’d love to take this photo with snow.

​Just started this jigsaw puzzle, and wondering if I’ll finish it. I haven’t done one of these for decades!

​I left the Christmas branches up, swapped out the lights and decorated for Easter. 

​The descent to Sycamore Gap. The newly sprouting trunk is within the fenced area, left of photo, next to Hadrian’s Wall.

​The pond at Egglestone Hall Gardens. 

​The Miner’s Lamp memorial at Bowburn, to commemorate the miners there and all County Durham.

​Crumpets for tea! Boursin cheese on one, butter and Marmite on another, and just butter on the third. I’d scoffed half of the Boursin beauty before I took this photo.

​This is at the bottom of my road, the old railway line which once served the coal mine and iron works. 

​Robin Hood’s Bay. Lovely to visit out of the tourist season, when only locals walked the streets.

​Mr Blue Skye snuggled up against my leg.

​Gibson’s Cave in Teesdale, You can walk behind the falls but I didn’t want to be wet for the rest of the day.

​Down at Seaham Harbour, hoping for some big waves with the lighthouse, but the wind was coming in from the wrong direction. I’ll try again another day. 

​Tricksie Treat loves Winterwatch. Here, she’s captivated by the Goldcrest. It’s obviously edge of the seat viewing.

​Soggy and foggy fields in Witton Gilbert as I made my way to a farm shop.

​Getting used to the chandelier in the lounge. Definitely looks better with the Edison bulb.

​One of my neighbours left this absolute unit of a parsnip from his allotment on my gate. What a beauty. Knife for scale. 

​Looking towards Craster, walking from Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland.

​Walking up into the fog at Hamsterley Forest.

​Beautiful countryside just outside Northallerton. 

​Sandra and I went to the Dick Whittington pantomime at Beamish. It was pretty funny. Oh no, it wasn’t!

​Lovely late afternoon light just outside West Cornforth this afternoon.

​Post box toppers are a big thing in England, and this one featuring Vera has plenty of fans already after being installed yesterday.

​The heated throw arrived today, and Mr Blue Skye couldn’t work out where the warmth was coming from. We are both enjoying it immensely.

​Hanging out with Peter this afternoon, and also Neville, Adrian and George, who all worked on my house, came for a visit too. It was a fun few hours.

​This area of grass in Seaham is now a famous Mole Sanctuary. It was originally a joke with a home made sign, which then began garnering reviews on TripAdvisor, which in turn led to the council putting up official signs, and the sanctuary remains. A broken sign has disappeared, I’m hoping the council is replacing it.