Wednesday 30.12.2020

 Not quite the end of this crazy year. Snowing gently outside the shed just now. Yes, there is a Shed.  For various reasons it has been unavailable pretty much since it was constructed. It takes a little effort to walk up to, especially at this time of year, getting the wood stove going, making sure I have everything I need with me. On the other hand I know how many people would envy this shed (despite the fact it still needs some titivation e.g. plugging the leak that lets rain down between the chimney and the wall, where it pools on the hearth and eventually overflows onto the floor unless mopped up regularly) and it is a very good place to settle down to read and write so I resolve to make more use of it in 2021.

The Shed should figure more in the blog.....

Meanwhile December days seem to have run their usual course with one or two curve balls thrown in. The solstice passed, the earth came to the end of the long run down and reset its controls to head for the sun;  meanwhile lights were hung up to counteract the darkness while the weather threw everything into the mix that it could - sun, torrential rain with gales, torrential rain without gales, snow, mist and thick fog, low cloud, high cloud, crimson sunrises and golden sunsets.

This morning, before sunrise, the nearly full moon lit up our path around the backfield, the ground  dancing and sparkling in the hard frost. The still air cut through the lungs as Old Dog (16 this month) plodded on in front and Younger Dog  raced about re-establishing her territory for the new day, as she does every morning. 

The snow has stopped temporarily - we are forecast more over the next 24 hours - and there are geese that need feeding before the light goes altogether.....although I swear it is already possible to discern a small lengthening of the day........

Full moon tonight, Hogmanay tomorrow with us staying put on the hill and out of harm`s way, which is no hardship. Nevertheless, here`s hoping 2021 will be the year  we can spread our wings and enjoy the company of family, friends and strangers alike.

Friday 18.12.20

 What a gentle afternoon. Greys and greens and patches of pale pinks and blues. Very mild and still.

Then, as we were heading back, the wind sprang up, like the comedian sent in to warm up the crowd before the main event, the trees began waving backwards and forwards and the promised rain began to spit and spat.

Never really came to anything.

The wind is still whining and wailing outside though, while the fire in here is roaring away. Lucky to have it to come home to.

Friday 4th December

 Always a bit of an ani-climax when snow is forecast and all we get is a light sprinkling of the white stuff, like icing sugar shaken out of a sieve.  No big dollops  and dramatic snowthunder that they`ve had further south.

By late morning it had all turned to water anyway......

and slush.

We went out anyway, partly because deluges were forecast for the afternoon but it was hard walking through the woods - slippy and ankle-turny, like walking through soft sand dunes, and by the time we turned for home, the legs were feeling it.

Nevertheless, good thing to have done: the lichen glowed in the gloomy light;

the trees were doing their full-on winter silhouette display;

with an Ent trying to look inconspicuous in amongst them.

A lot of rain for the rest of the day, puddles and reflections

and pretty dark by about half three.

The other side of autumn.

In other news...and your starter for ten: do worms like bananas? Or do bananas like worms?

Thursday 3d December

 "Earth stood hard as iron,water like a stone": no "snow on snow" yet but some is forecast. Suffice to say that late this afternoon, up on the hill, under a cloudless but darkening sky, it was so cold and so still it wouldn`t  have been a surprise if the ground had started to splinter and crack.

At lunchtime, with the sun as high it was going to get for the day, it was a gorgeous sparkly landscape, the cold spurring us on to walk even faster than usual.

Frosty where the sun hadn`t penetrated,

frost-free where it had or under some of the trees.

The light enhanced it all as the sun began its descent, peeking between branches and casting long shadows.   

Meanwhile, the early mornings have been offering other delights: the slowly waning moon has been high in a clear sky an hour or so before the sun comes up and three days ago sported a perfect double rainbow ring. If that isn`t a portent for something it should be.

Given the forecast for wind, rain and maybe that snow overnight, might not linger up there for quite so long tomorrow morning............