Saturday 14th December

What do I do in the early morning? I potter through photographs of sunny days and churches.  What I notice is the stark difference between the uncultivated land and farm land.  This morning they have been discussing the constant rain that has fallen on our poor benighted* land the last few weeks.  Will they get the wheat sown? a farmer in Lincolnshire spends half a million quid on seed for peas, and is dithering at the moment - no 'Bird's Eye' peas next year?

We live in an incredibly beautiful country, yes it is crowded and its politics make you sick but our temperate climate has drawn a palette of colour and pattern that speaks to the heart.  In Yorkshire, it is the pleasing sight of cottages lining the road way.  Set back from wide verges, it is a reminder of the drover roads as the cattle came down to market.

Our cows are out in summer on the fields and in winter housed in  sheds on straw,  I can only hope we keep this system going and do not fall foul of the industrialisation of farming animals in artificial conditions on lots.

We can go through as many elections as possible, but it can't stop good people gathering together to save the environment around us.  Each day I follow the adventures of the Hedgehog Trust in our district as it takes in the young, starving little hogs and feeds them in a warm environment sending them off to safe gardens when they have recovered.  There is someone down the road that works tirelessly in planting trees and protecting the natural world. We are in the village questioning where to plant a tree donated by Ryedale Council, one tree will not solve the problem but hey-ho its the thought that counts...

*Words suddenly come to the fore and 'benighted' is how I see our poor country at the moment.  Something to read on rain, who puts it so much better.

The open road out of Hutton-le-hole

tranquility

You are never far from sheep in Yorkshire

Issues always need fighting

The old rubs shoulders with the new.