All is pure gold

So... I hope you enjoyed my holiday photos - and here I am back again, posting 'live' and with photos I've taken over the past couple of weeks. Much of November has been spent taking care of my eye after the cataract surgery. Endless amounts of eye drops to apply! It was all extremely easy and painless though. I was amazed that the surgery itself only took about 15 minutes and was quite fascinating, watching a kaleidoscope of lights and colours as my old lens was swapped out for a new one. Once the anaesthetic wore off and my pupil returned to a normal size, I found I could see perfectly well with my existing glasses. There are various warnings against driving and a plethora of other things: no dusting or hoovering (yay!); no lifting; no swimming; no makeup or creams on face; careful hair washing; no rubbing your eyes; try to avoid coughing and sneezing! Everything does look sharper and brighter, especially if I close the other eye (which in comparison now makes everything look rather yellowed). The best bit is that lights at night, which were very glaring, now look much more bearable, so that will make driving after dark a great deal safer. In January, I've to go through the whole procedure again with my other eye so it will be weeks yet before it all settles down enough to get my eyes tested to see if I really need glasses, and if so whether I need a new prescription.

Shortly after the op, I gave in to a head cold that has been nudging at me for ages. I didn't want to sneeze in the middle of the delicate surgery (!) and I'd managed to keep it at bay beforehand with a mix of vitamins, echinacea and antiseptic gargles. It never got fully scared off, so I decided to let it overtake me and snuggled up with a few good books and the TV for a few days, sniffling and dozing. Every now and again, I think, one just needs to stop and rest so that's what I've been doing. I feel much better now.

I left my camera behind on the short walks I've done, just using my phone to take photos. One day I wandered in the grounds of Saltaire's URC church, alongside the canal. There are some wonderful, mature beech trees there so the ground was literally a carpet of gold. Adjacent to the churchyard, the buildings that make up the old stable block (see above), which are just cottages really, look from this angle rather like a grand mansion. Sir Titus Salt certainly had a bold vision for his village, and we still reap the benefit more than a century and a half later.