Happy Christmas

Another Christmas comes round, and since we are still trying to limit our use of paper cards we hope you will accept this personal electronic seasonal message. I've picked out a few of this year's pictures that seem apt for the season.

Starting with sheep, since the Christmas message came first to the shepherds, I saw these spring lambs on a sunny but very cold day near Horton in Ribbledale against the backdrop of the previous night's snow on Whernside.

The grazing deer is as near as I can get to a reindeer. It was obviously not afraid of people since I took it a few yards from the heavily walked path round the lake behind our hotel high in the Tatras mountains.

Nearer home (well in the UK anyway) I spotted the 'Christmas tree' standing out above the skyline while I was walking in the forest above Inveraray during the the annual ringing weekend there in the summer.

The solitary ragwort on the shore of Loch Fyne was also at Inveraray. I've included it because it seems to symbolise the peacefullness of the spot.

The final picture in the Tatras too. The faces carved into a gnarled tree trunk also seem symbolic, with the lower face grimly determined to brave the elements while the upper one sleeps peacefully.

Happy Christmas, and best wishes for the New Year.

John & Anne Harrison  

Click an image to see a larger picture.          

Yorkshire sheep on a sunny spring morning after snow

Deer near Srbske Pleso

Treescape in the forest above Inveraray

Ragwort on the shore of Loch Fyne

A carved tree in the Tatras mountains