Goodnight friends! Still blustery and often somewhat overcast, chilly and blue with patchwork clouds in the morning but rising gradually to a humid, gloomy 16°c. Rain coming on overnight. Feeling much colder with the wind, as ribboned layers of undulating grey cloud rolled overhead, split by amber slivers of sunset. Late vestiges of summer lingering here longer than at home a few hours south, white yarrow flowers in the grass. Seemingly more jackdaws than crows here, silvery grey collars making their black heads seem darker.
Settled in and doing holiday activities, visited the angel of the north and took the opportunity to participate in a historical fencing workshop, which dovetailed in interesting ways with my judo experience. Definitely the most physically demanding and engaging activity of the weekedm, everything very much restful and low key tomorrow. All today’s meals were catered buffet-style by the hotel, a pleasant sense of bobbing along on a gentle current.
May we find a sense of purpose and community in our lives today!
Image ID: Photo of an ornamental African daisy, small grey geometric florets at the centre surrounded by dozens of rounded spatulate petals, deep vivid pink fading into yellow and then orange, streaked with lines of red.
Photo of a thickly-mortared centuries-old wall with a small iron ring set high into it, made from rough sandstone blocks streaked in weather stained shades of pale grey and brown and yellow, surfaces deeply pitted and grooved by wind and rain.
Photo of a willowherb stem, lanceolate leaves crinkled and shrivelling, mostly turnign to brilliant scarlet and crimson edged with hints of deep violet and dry brown.
Photo of the monumental sculpture The Angel of the North by Antony Gormley, taken from behind and at an extreme oblique angle, huge wings of dark ribbed steel forming a vast straight diagonal across a cloud-splashed blue sky.
