Keeping warm by the fire

This morning's sunrise.  It promised a good day, but the grey skies soon returned and it was very cold out today, with some more showers.  I am laid up with another cold - this time the sort with a temperature, and I have spent the last couple of nights "glowing" in bed, with extra layers of bedding over me.  I have been sleeping a lot more (to make up for a night without much sleep when my kidneys were working overtime).  I've had to go back to bed a couple of times too.  Hopefully - says she, with fingers x'd - the worst of it is now over and I may wake up tomorrow feeling a bit more normal.  My nose has stopped streaming today, so that is a positive.  I daren't move away from the fire though, and have been tucked up on the sofa with a throw over me, plus a hotty botty and a bevy of cats to keep me warm.  UPDATE: woke up this morning (Wednesday) feeling back to normal, thank heavens!

Just to prove that the sun did come out yesterday for 5 minutes - the long-distance view from my office window looking across next door's farmyard and the valley beyond.

Here, thanks to my clever husband, is a new-to-me floor standing anglepoise magnifying lamp.  We bought it - sight unseen (never a good idea!) - at auction last Friday.  Several other people piled on it too and it swiftly rose from the £5 we began bidding at, to £28, which meant it came home with us.  However, when we collected it, it was very grubby with no plug on it, and it looked like someone had found it at the Tip and bunged it in the auction!  The head was also drooping where the back fitting connected to it.  We were cursing ourselves for buying it, but K said there wasn't much that could go wrong with it and he got busy and sorted it out.  We just needed a new starter motor (I think). I went to the lighting shop at Johnstown and it was mended - for the grand outlay of 50p!  Now my other one is deemed a spare and has gone up for Tam to use with her jewellery business and I have a far superior magnifier for my use.

I was feeling slightly better yesterday and Tam and I went to see Emma.  It was really good - far better than the prim and proper 1990s version.  This was a lot more tongue in cheek and ladies' dresses were fabulous, as were the house interiors (Wilton House figured large) and the beautiful concoctions of puddings and grand food on the dinner table.  I can recommend it.