Still in Trench 3 today, but got to decided between clearing dirt off the plastic layers put down in the 60s/70s or troweling the middle area in the middle of the big excavated area, in fresh stuff. Chose the latter, of course, but even with aggressive troweling (really digging in and taking off a layer of about four inches, as opposed to just scraping away an inch) not much turned up. Many bones as usual, an iron horseshoe nail or two, and a bronze decorated pin head.

Very windy last night, kept waking me up. The general lightness outside at 3:30 am didn't help either. A gorgeous day here, sunny and 70 or so, by late afternoon. Walked down to town at lunchtime to mail Baby's First Postcard, and got some nettle cheese while there. Haven't tried it yet, but perhaps they have finally found a good use for that vile plant.

Nettles look much like any generic plant, but they have nearly invisible tiny spiny hairs covering them, and they're very painful to encounter. I have not run into any with bare skin this year, and with luck won't, and certainly hope they never make it to the US.

Last night I walked over to Budle Bay, a large estuary, to take some sunset snaps, which coincided with low tide. On the way back from the castle today, I took some more to show the contrast with high tide.



Budle Bay with tide out



Budle Bay with tide in



Sunset over Budle Bay