"There's No Place Like Home"

I have been on the run lately, so I have not been visiting virtual world. Here is a look at the moss across from the house as it looked this morning. As I have often said, there is always gorse (or whins) blooming any time of the year. These must be Christmas gorse because they seem perfectly at home with the frost. The sun is low this time of year in its brief circuit, so the shadows are long and frosty parts and non-frosty exist side by side. It was a pleasure to be home and exploring my own neighbourhood after a birthday trip to Glenelg and a brief stay at a friend's house. Like Dorothy, sometimes you have to get away to appreciate that there is no place quite like home.

The trip to Glenelg was stunning in its beauty. I'll write about that tomorrow. I had lost sight of just how beautiful a part of the world I live in. The trip to Glenelg re-awakened my aesthetic. Having enjoyed mind-popping expanses of open hills and blue-silhouetted mountain tops, I was free to enjoy the little pleasures on my own doorstsep like these leaves covered with frost or the skim ice on the lochan capturing the secret world of algae and near-frozen water on the lochan.

Looking after a friend's house while they were in Inverness for surgery reminded me as well how lucky I am to have good health. And so I am celebrating all that with you in a wee post.

I hope in this frantic time of year you have the chance to stop and recall the things that give you pleasure and peace of mind.