Monday 17.01.2022

 Wow! The most perfect winter afternoon. Stacking firewood this morning in breezy cool conditions but after lunch as the wind dropped so did the temperature and the still, icy air, the clear blue sky and dazzling sun beckoned us out. Up the road, round the woods, deep breaths and striding out - what else can you do in such conditions 😊 The light made me wish, not for the first time, that I was a painter

and as we turned for home an enormous silver Wolf Moon guided us down the hill. Perfection.

Sunday 16.01.2022

 Bit at sixes and sevens and out of sorts this morning - too many things swirling in the brain - and there`s generally only one cure for that....so off we set. Up the hill into a cold wind but once in the woods it was calmer, the wind less noticeable, the firm ground beneath our feet a pleasure to walk on after the slippy snow and ice we had last weekend. 

The light was wintry, predominantly grey with washes of whites and pale yellow but it was dry and bracing and good walking weather.

The geometrical rearrangements made by Storm Arwen are still in evidence everywhere, 

and were some times easier to  manoeuvre around......................

......then others..........

However, the walk did the job. Head cleared.

Later, another quick gallop round our top field - nights definitely drawing out, wind still cold but sky clearing, a nearly full moon and some beautiful colour..........

Sunday 09/01/2022

 A New Year.  Perfect winter`s day. This morning, just before sunrise, the air ear-bitingly cold but very still, the sky clear, distant lights twinkling and, somewhat surprisingly given the temperature, one or two of the braver birds trying out a chorus or two.

Stayed sunny all day though the temperature hardly shifted and began to plummet again as the sun went down. 

The last rays illuminated the landscape: the grasses, the gorse that never seems to stop flowering,

 the still bare branches of the two big beeches at the back of the field .

The fallen tree continues to provide a good frame for scenic views 

and this evening, if you look hard enough, caught the demi-moon as it waxed its way across the sky.

We crunched our way back down across the frozen snow, watching the sky where the sun had disappeared (to the south-west at this time of year) turning a pearly pink.

If all our winter days were like this there`d be nothing to complain about.