Last posting day for Christmas

Time to sign off for a few days, with a couple of pictorial reminders of places we've visited during the year. First, Val d'Orcia in Tuscany, where we spent two weeks in the summer: this picture was taken from Pienza at Christmas time. And second, the west wing of the White House, which we saw during our trip to Washington in October, blanketed in snow last week. Happy holidays.