Long time

I smashed some of my New Year's resolutions into tiny pieces. I'm talking about the one where I post more. In the past few months, I became very paranoid and also a little self-deprecating. You know, that "vanity, vanity, all is vanity" kind of thinking. That plus work and brick walls sapped my enthusiasm about blogging.

I'm not saying I'm ready to blog every day again. I'm still a little suspicious of how little privacy we have on the internet and how much we give away for free. But I am facing the reality of life in the millennium. And if you can't beat them, rejoin them.

So I'm kind of back. And I'm literally back. I did keep that resolution about visiting the ancestral castle in Featherstone. The sight of the castle as it came into view was magical. I could imagine the horses galloping down the road to the castle, over hills and dales, real ones, past a running brook full of stones. It was one of the highlights of my trip.

Unfortunately I was not able to get inside. The castle is privately owned. I knocked several times on the door but no one answered. I was too shy to venture further. Alas, I found out the next day that a friend of the owner was at my B & B and could have gotten me an invitation. Must not have been meant to be. I did get several photos, some of which I will enlarge for art and the rest will be in my book. I didn't see the side of the castle shown in an earlier blog. I didn't want to trespass more than I did.