IN REMEMBRANCE.

<<< This is where I was on Sunday at eleven-o-clock. It was Remembrance Day and I stood for my minutes of silence, just thinking about friends I have known in all three services, some sadly are now no longer with us. But ... despite the tragedies of lost lives, many of the memories were good ones. Lots of fun and laughter, practical jokes played on each other and a yet also a very strong feeling of comradeship, even given the loyalties that caused acts of one-upmanship between the three. The sad thing is, that given the recent conflicts I would say that every serving person knows of someone who has within the last years, lost a life. This is no longer just about the two well known world wars and of course here there has been the loss of miners who added their contribution to the war effort. Coal was much needed to fuel the sustainability of a whole nation and many non combatants did their bit.

Meanwhile we visited an area that had been severely burnt out a few years ago. What started the fire, who knows but in this year of much wetness, it has finally started to regenerate. There were signs of new young heather plants, sphagnum mossed mounds and ...

young fresh red leaves of the whinberry plants. Sadly this year there were very few berries. I normally have pounds of these in the freezer and I have missed gathering them this year. Sheep it seems don't eat them, so ... usually,  all the more for freezing and jamming. No signs of grouse though,. yet farmers during the various gathers of sheep off the mountain, disturbed quite a few.

In amongst the burnt out heather remnants, there was new growth of young regenerating  heather plants, sphagnum mosses as well as crow berries and the tender shoots of new grasses. I felt O.K on Sunday, not brille but able at least to go for a short walk with the dog. I thought I was over the worst of this bug ... until yesterday when things got kindov worse and an appointment today with "Doc" has seen me diagnosed with Pneumonia! Now, suitably medicated, I am staying indoors, keeping warm with a huge supply of tissues and various medications. Bothox!

Meanwhile, looking back to Sunday. you know me well enough by now, I love capturing reflections, with the camera held close to the ground. For the time being I am stuck indoors recuperating. I've lost count of the loo rolls I've gone through ( cheaper than ,man sized tissues) the dog is fed up because I can't walk him. But, bless him he seems to understand that his boss is not functioning at all well at the moment.

So ... with various medications and of course a weeks worth of  anti-idiotics, I shall be recuperating. But one last thing left over from Sunday,  a large stripe of cloud, that most definitely was not just a con trail but an elongated layer  of unusual cloud in virtually, total blue sky. It was quite an uncommon sight to witness.