
Hello! Would you like to know what Ellie's favourite word is? (That's Ellie above, who will be familiar to many of you). Her brother, Douglas, will be on the floor somewhere.
You'd like to know what Ellie's favourite word is?! Actually I should say phrase really.
I don't know if I should write it on my ever so clean and unblemished blog, it's pretty rude.
I'll tell you at the end, so I don't put you off reading the rest of this post.
There's Douglas, my beloved small boy, waiting patiently for his Auntie Anne. Auntie Anne is my dog nanny. You never heard of a dog nanny?! Oh, and her nannying services are entirely free of charge.
I know, I'm a very, very , very fortunate dog/child owner.
Anne takes the doggies for walks in the morning, on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday is her day off, but she takes them out on Friday. It makes the most enormous difference to the amount of time I have to get on with work. Huge.
Anne adores our dogs, and they love her to bits.
I do the walking when she can't, and recently, she's been away, so I've done all the dog walking, and it's something I've enjoyed, even though it seems to be very time consuming.
So, the mornings Anne walks them, they wait, tense and excited, sitting like they are, in the above photo, while I'm at the computer, reading all your lovely comments, from my blog post the evening before. Then the doorbell rings, and there is much squealing and barking, and Douglas tries to rugby tackle Ellie, and she barks frenziedly, and there is generally much excitement, while I open the door to greet Anne with a big thankful smile.
Anyway, as I mentioned, I've been doing the dog walking recently, because Anne has been away. And the other day, I was very glad to be doing the walking, because outside, the weather was 'ghostly'. I took my camera with me on the walk, so I could share the atmosphere with you, and here are the photos I took.
Here we are, on our lane, at the start of the walk. Don't the trees look bare?

The mist makes everything look exquisite. Corners are softened, perspective enhanced.
It's the church yard, but we're not going into the church yard.
We're walking past the church yard, and on a bit, till we reach this lane.
A grumpy man with his frail looking Greyhound mutters as he whisks past me, (strange behaviour, because the other day I got chatting to him, as we walked our dogs, and he was very friendly).
His wife, lagging behind with a little Jack Russell, apologises for her husband, and his stepping into my camera shot. "Isn't it horrible weather," she remarks. I couldn't help thinking the mist was atmospheric, and quite exciting.
I linger on the spot, till the man and his wife, and their doggies, disappear into the mist in the distance.

Walking on, the doggies snuffling around behind me, we arrive at this circle of trees. Within the circle of trees there are a few benches dotted around. I've never seen anyone sitting on them.
Oooohh, what's beyond the Beech hedge?
Nothing?
This is the 'nothing' beyond the Beech hedge.
I do love a bit of mysterious!
I've always wanted to be able to believe in ghosts, by bumping into one. Sadly, I've never met a ghost, though I've heard other people talk of their terrifying ghostly experiences. When I was a college student, many years ago, I went on a trip to Wales, and we stayed in an old stately pile. The girls were all put in one enormous room, and we each had an old bed to sleep in, that looked like it had been used in the First World War. We were told that a ghost had been seen in our dormitory, which seemed to unsettle everyone.
Well, everyone, except for me. I wanted to meet the ghost.
So later on in the evening, while everyone was carousing like students do, I slipped away for an early night.
I got into bed, feeling like some brave explorer, wondering what my reaction would be, when the ghost appeared.
I waited.
And waited.
And nothing happened, so disappointing. Then some of the other girls came into the room, to go to bed, which was extremely annoying, as I hadn't seen the ghost yet. And of course, the ghost never turned up.
So, it's not that I don't believe in ghosts, no, that's not it all. What I believe is this. Ghosts sense I'm not frightened of them, so they deliberately don't appear for me.
Just kidding!
No, I'll believe in ghosts, the moment I see one, but till then, well, I'm healthily unfrightened by the thought of them, which probably means I don't believe in them, doesn't it?
It's getting dark, so time to turn back, head home.

Back down the lane. I've always loved this lane, lined with trees.
When we get to the church, we go back around it in a different direction.

There's the church, LOOMING darkly.
And there's the church yard, with all the old grave stones.
You may think I'm morbid when I say this, but I find graveyards fascinating. Sad, but fascinating never-the-less. As I read and mull over the loving inscriptions carved into the headstones marking each grave, I feel very sad when I see a baby is buried there, or think, how amazing, that grave dates back to 1782, I also get a sense of relief, that I'm very much alive, and how much I enjoy life.
These branches in the photo above, are like a curtain.
This walk, in the mysterious and eerie atmosphere of the mist, makes me feel like I've been transported onto the set of a film, a film set in North Yorkshire, the script adapted from a wild and passionate book by one of the Bronte sisters. It's very exciting, that feeling!
Must get on home before it gets dark and the vampires emerge.

Noone else is out and about, noone relaxing on these benches.
Not even a ghost, on this lone bench.
That would have made a great photo opportunity, a ghost sitting on this single bench, all alone, don't you think?
Righty-ho, we're going home, back to the warmth. Back to a steaming hot cuppa and a fire blazing in the wood burning stove. (You'll have to imagine the cuppa and the fire, because I don't have photos of those).
Now, at the beginning of this post, I promised I'd reveal Ellie's favourite phrase didn't I?
"Bugga off".
Yes, that is Ellie's most used phrase. She's an independent little girl. Likes her own space. Doesn't always take kindly to affection, or being picked up, or being told what to do.
Ellie sighs A LOT.
So, my dear readers, this post today was a little out of character for me, wasn't it? Very little bright colour content, I know. I just had to share my misty walk with you, and mist isn't really very colourful, is it? Infact, it has a way of softening things, and making them disappear. But tomorrow, I have a post in mind for you, and that's all colour, colour, COLOUR! So sweet dreams tonight. Cheerio. Love Vanessa xxx