A sunny-and-snowy-by-turns kind of day, with rough weather possibly forecast for tomorrow. Of course, it's to be expected up this way, even in spring - I'm in Richmond, Yorkshire, which is quite a long way oop north, staying with old friends Jag and Laxmi and their two lovely daughters. It is just like being with family, especially as today is Mothers' Day in England and I am missing my own children and grandchildren.

Yesterday Jag and Laxmi drove me to the Thirsk area where I oohed and aahed over the pretty villages of the district. My SUFFILL ancestors lived there for centuries before moving down to Barnsley in about 1840 and I was delighted to walk streets where they would have walked and to see the lovely old church at Felixkirk where they did most of their hatching, matching and dispatching. Thirsk is also James Heriot country and we dutifully posed for photos outside his old vetinary surgery.

Tomorrow I hope to travel south to stay a day or two with e-cousins on the KILBURN line who live close to the heartlands of our branch of that family, near Dewsbury.