It’s tempting to keep looking back to good times but there comes a point when attention has to shift in order to move forward. 

I had a great time in the Rockies, skiing and walking some of the winter trails around Banff.  Conditions varied from unusually mild weather when I arrived to seriously cold with temperatures in town down to minus 35 and a lot colder than that in the mountains.  Towards the end of my stay a few days of fresh snow perked things up very nicely.

My skiing improved a little, especially on hard-pack and icy surfaces.  Skiing powder at the end drilled home that there is still much room for improvement, bad habits to identify and change, better technique to learn.

I did some good walks, revisited favourite locations, saw some new places.  It’s always satisfying to leave a place knowing that there were things which I didn’t get round to doing.  An incentive to return, if one were needed.

Surrounded by dramatic mountains, etched with snow and backed much of the time by blue sky it was ideal for photography, making up for lack of technical knowledge.

I met up with some old friends, made new ones.  Always one of the pleasures of travelling.

The sun sets on an icy world: as the temperature plummets ice sculptures become more of a feature

Sunset refracted through a fine piece of carving

Now it’s time to meet up with family and friends back home.  And to start planning, making preparations for going to Greece in the summer.  The plan this year is to base myself on the island of Symi in the Dodecanese.  I’ll travel out from there to see friends on neighbouring islands such as Kalymnos, Nisyros and Tilos, maybe travel further afield.

In addition, the plan is to spend more time writing.  I have not got beyond chapter 8 of my “Travels Around Greece by Bus”, barely two weeks into an 8 week journey in 2012 ……  and I need to revisit those in light of constructive criticism from a good friend.

Last year my plans were unexpectedly laid waste, or rather were steered onto a very different course.  I remind myself yet again that “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails” (Book of Proverbs chapter 19 verse 21).

Trying to focus the mind, I have booked my first flight out.  I leave early April.  A great deal to do to sort the garden after the winter’s devastation, planted and pruned ready to leave for the summer and come back to harvest.