Hogmanay

It's Hogmanay morning and it's still cold here. We're waiting for the gas service engineer to arrive - one of our radiator thermostats isn't working and they're going to do the annual service at the same time. It looks like the cold weather is going to be here for a while. The pavements are pretty icy but the forest trails are all clear - in fact, they're mostly soft, so we're still able to get out for some exercise. It's been an incredible winter so far - I can't remember one with so little wind. It's almost eerie - every day is calm and still. Even yesterday when we had a tiny bit of snow as Jo and I were coming to the end of our walk, the snowflakes were falling so gently and slowly down to the ground - it was like a Hollywood movie. We managed our international Xmas Eve/Xmas Day Zoom call OK, which was nice. It was our quietest Christmas dinner ever - just the two of us:

We drove over to Inverurie to deliver the presents to Gary, Carole and Luca, including Luca's 14th birthday present (30th December). We stood outside their back door and had a chat for 5 minutes before the cold set in and it was time to go - but not before Carole gave us 2 slices of her traditional Christmas desert - lime cheesecake. She hadn't had time to fully decorate it with chocolate sauce but Jo added some sprinkles - and it was as good as ever:

My presents from Gary and Carole were cycling related:

Boxing Day was our 48th anniversary but there were no special celebrations or gift exchanges. Our task was to reduce the pile of excess food left over from the previous day - and we made a pretty good fist of it. We had another go on Sunday as well, so when we awoke on a beautiful clear Monday morning, we decided we needed to get out early for some exercise, so I suggested we take a walk up Hill of Fare. Now Jo is well known for her dislike of any hills, but she had earlier asked me about a hill-walk me and my pals had done earlier this year - Tap o' Noth and the ancient Pictish fort at the top - did I think she could make it up there? So I thought - let's try an easy local hill first. The approach to Hill of Fare from the easterly side near Dunecht allows a relatively gentle spiral approach to the top and I was pretty sure this was well within Jo's capabilities - and so it transpired, despite her usual moans and groans. Here's a few of the photos I took:

Looking north towards Bennachie and south towards Clach-na Beinn:

We could see the snow-capped mountains to the west but my camera battery had expired and all I had was my phone camera which didn't have the necessary zoom capacity. The early start to our walk meant we were back home in good time for lunch. Since then, not a lot has changed to our daily and weekly routines. I had my fortnightly CAMRA social last night and tonight we have our regular Thursday evening session with Dawn, Barry and Helen, after which we are going to see the bells in - virtually, of course - with the Masons and the Kilgours, who we normally dine with at this time. Have a good time everyone - and take care.