Tuesday 27.12.2011

Colder, greyer, crow-caws echoing across the trees in the still air. More wintry maybe but the water`s still lovely....apparently.

And it turned very pretty later on.

Monday 26.12.2011

December hurtling towards the end of the year, Christmas festivities already all but over. Wildly windy but so mild it could be late Spring - more Zephyrus than Boreas but presumably the latter is simply waiting to make a dramatic entrance sometime in the New Year. Meanwhile Happy Yuletide and, well, keep walking..............

Friday 16.12.2011

White road, frosted grass, the sky a mixed palette of pinks and pale blues, soft greys and lilacs - and cold, very cold and so still you could hear sounds from miles away as if they were echoing off the sky.
As we returned, a tiny owl - a Little Owl presumably?! - glided silently past us and in the distance, silhouetted across the last of the light, a chain of black dots, crows returning to their roost in the woods.
Very cold, very still, very quiet. The best of winter.

Saturday 10.12.2011

Some days you simply have to go - never mind the chores, they`ll still be there when you get back. Sun, blue sky and light dusting of snow and what are we waiting for?

Early enough for long shadows and cold enough for a satisfying crunching noise underfoot.

Clouds beginning to boil up and hide the sun as we returned, somewhat smugly, having definitely had the best of the day.

Friday 09.12.2011

Elemental furies unleashed yesterday: too dark by quarter to three for pics and in any case couldn`t have held camera still. Did begin to wonder if we should have stayed indoors as the wind snatched every breath from my lungs and even the woods offered little shelter. In the event took an hour and a half to walk what would usually take half that.
A relief then to walk out today, sheet ice on the road and still a freezing wind but not apocalyptic and the woods once more a quieter haven. Cold with that pure winter light that has an almost mystic quality.

Could easily have imagined strange creatures emerging from the trees but perhaps that`s more to do with the fact that I`ve just finished reading Hood by Stephen Lawhead,the first in a trilogy re-telling the legend of Robin Hood.** It is a straightforward boys-own romping adventure, fast paced historical fantasy requiring nothing more sophisticated of the reader than that they wholeheartedly join in. And I`m delighted to say there are two more volumes - both with enticing covers - which I`m going to save as a treat to read over the festive season. Brilliant.

**He was Welsh - who knew?!

Tuesday 6.12.2011

Sparkly snowscapes and a freezing wind. Dog 2 stopped chasing deer and tried to catch the spindrift instead.


Snow sculptures

snow coral (thank you D for that description)

and delicate ice beads.

4.12.2011

First snow last night.....an inch on top of the hill as I set off for work this afternoon but the rest of the world below knows nothing of it.....yet.