Hope.

Yesterday I was awakened at ten minutes to eight by a bright, circular disk of light shining through the bedroom window blind.  I was puzzled - a street lamp? No, too high.  A light from a window across the road?  No, too definite in shape.  I got out of bed and peeped through the blind slats - the moon!  A full moon!!  And dawn was beginning to break.

The bright light continued throughout the day with the moon being replaced by the sun, shining from a bright blue sky.

I spent the morning at the hospital with my daughter for a check-up by her specialist.  He could see signs of improvement and felt things were going in the right direction. Albeit slowly - but encouraging just the same.

Back at home for lunch, a rest while the washing machine did its work, then a cup of tea and the decision to try and catch some of this bonus day of winter.

In the car we headed for Port Plaisance at Stenay, enjoyed a short stroll then found a bench by the River Meuse opposite the sun and its shining warmth.

A nearby angler tried his luck in several places, but without catching anything...but ever hopeful.

Ducks nagged me for forgetting to bring bread - but not as much as I nagged myself. It must be sod’s law that, whenever I bring bread, there is not a duck in sight.  If I forget, there are aplenty!

Behind us, the sun’s rays lit up a tree, glowing golden behind a mellow stone wall.

As the sun started to sink, we made our way home.

 A lovely day, full of the golden glow of hope.

A little tonic.

After many grey days with snow turning to rain and, even when dry, bitterly cold winds with more snow forecast, what a tonic it was this afternoon, January 16th , to see blue sky and sunshine!  We just had to get out of the house!! 

We are now very limited with how far we can walk so we went in the car to a couple of favourite spots where we could get out into the fresh air and take a little exercise.

On Henry’s Hill, as we call it, which is above Chaumont-devant-Damvillers the views are spectacular although today somewhat hazy on the horizon…

Damvillers - looking a bit grey in the hazy distance and the start of a clockwise panorama...

I knew there was blue sky up there somewhere...

Rutted lanes and pathways but less muddy than we feared.

Somewhere up there the moon was masquerading as a cloud!

It seemed that if I stretched out my arms I could touch the moon with my left hand and the sun with my right!

Then onto Azannes-et-Soumazannes and the mysterious lost village of Soumazannes which, apart from a signpost pointing to it, still seems to have completely disappeared.

In both areas, rough tracks led away from the villages themselves and, above Azannes we had to make way for a tractor and trailer of mud and slurry coming towards us and down the hill - it passed with inches to spare! 

But we found the hidden lakes again…

Yes, that is a trace of snow on the hilltop with the sun lighting a lake below.

Had to take another shot of the water lit by sunshine! 

On the way back, a small flock of birds on the fields alongside the main road on the edge of Damvillers.  We think they could be grey storks which is puzzling as it is the white storks that have been encouraged back to this area.

But our spirits lifted and we felt refreshed as we returned home a couple of hours later for the inner refreshment of a welcome cup of tea.

An hour or so later, the sky went dark and snow started to fall…