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............

Saturday 21.11.2020

 That self-satisfied feeling when you`ve made the best of the day: brisk walk, shower, delicious homemade (before the walk) carrot and lentil soup and just about to settle down to watch the rugby.

Smug-ometer up to 11.

A beautiful day for walking, sunshine, blue sky and a keen swirly wind setting the metal gates singing, the wooden gates creaking and the trees swooshing and swishing.  Warmed up by the time we got up to the woods so sweater and scarf discarded in the entry.

 Haven`t had anything half-inched so far: frankly if folk are desperate enough to take my old sweater they`re welcome to it though I`d miss the scarf......

Though it was only just after midday the shadows were long......

.....the light diffused, perfectly setting off the autumn colours.

 

As I write, the sun is nearly below the horizon spreading yet more glorious colours across the sky - golden at the moment - it was all scarlet last night - and soon it will be dark enough to justify a wee dram and maybe some crisps - it is Saturday after all. I can wait `til half time I suppose. Autumn. What`s not to like?

Tuesday 17.11.2020

 Very curious weather patterns: so mild today but with sleet and possibly snow forecast for Thursday. 

 Tonight up on the hill  the insects buzzed round the newly emerged gorse flowers making it all feel like a late summer evening, despite the lowering grey clouds while at the same time the crows made their evening commute across the sky to their roosts - a typical auttumn activity and the silhouettes were all about the impending winter.  

In another age it could be taken to presage all sorts of things....but then we are in the middle of a plague aren`t we so who knows..........

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Tuesday 10.11.2020

 For the last two or three days, morning and night, we have been enveloped in a shawl of thick grey cloud. Some days it has lifted long enough to let the sun through for an hour or so but not today.

So it was cool and still grey, though the cloud had lifted a tad, when Dog 2 and I stepped out this afternoon for a stride round the woods. And in the damp, sharp air it was the scents of autumn that were the most striking: decay, degradation, mould and spoilage and yet somehow nostalgic and exhilarating. The only thing missing was a whiff of wood smoke.

So many sides to autumn too: days like today but also still-warm sun, long shadows, crimson skies, copper leaves, sparkling spiders` webs, golden stubble and that cry of wild geese overhead.  Never quite knowing what each day will bring, `tis my favourite season.