Trudging home in the snow.

In a moment of madness I decided to enter the January Picture This Photo Contest on the www.gardeninggonewild.com blog. Why? I have no idea - I blame the mulled wine!

But anyway, here is my entry:

Almost Home!

Winter for me is about our family having fun together in the snow, then warming up in front of the wood burning stove whilst drinking hot chocolate.

The photo is First-born starting the long slog up our drive to our warm house and that hot chocolate - enough to make anyone smile! And, yes, the backpack was full - and quite heavy.

We had braved the elements yesterday (thermaled up to the eyeballs, naturally!) and walked and slid our way down to the local shop for in a (not very) epic expedition for emergency supplies ..... milk, eggs, crumpets and a trashy magazine! Needs must eh?!

Below is a photo of the topmost part of the very steep road down to the shop. The photo does not do justice to how steep this road actually is. We NEVER drive on it even in the Land Rover when there is any amount of ice or snow. It wiggles down the hill to the main road at the bottom - with no flat bit to stop any sliding before you get there!

A red cotoneaster hedge en route.

I have never seen our telephone wires so iced up!

I was going to enter this photo in the competition, but the other one made me smile more! :)

Ceefer cat is totally unimpressed by the snow!

The animal prints are actually on the ice on the pond.

I had to rescue the brassica cage before it broke this morning.

Last-Born and her friends built a new snowman yesterday as they had decided that the remains of the old one was just "too freaky"!

Is it just us that thinks he looks like a gargoyle?!

.....or maybe a left over angel from the 'Blink' episode of Dr.Who? Oh let David Tennant come rescue me with his sonic screwdriver and the Tardis!!!

I'm dreamin' of a white Christmas ........etc!

At last ....we've had snow! Only a couple of inches, but perfect crispy snow! It made me very happy. I love the muffled silence that descends along with the snow, I love seeing the number of animal tracks across the lawn, I love the birds flocking onto the feeders in search of food, I love having to squint against the brightness of the snow and I love the sound of laughter as people play..............!
(I didn't much love the taxi driver who slid into me on an icy road yesterday though! Good job I was in the Land Rover - BIG dint in his bumper, not a scratch on the Landy and just a bit of whiplash for me but First-Born was fine. Would have been much worse in an ordinary car!)

If you look very carefully you might just be able to make out the rose on the bush by the front door - it has kept flowering for months and hadn't cottoned on to the fact that it is winter!

Acer x Conspicuum 'Red Flamingo'

A tantilising glimpse of the tea house roof......

....and another!

Ceefer cat walks on water - well, okay, the iced up pond.

I suspect the woodpile will have to wait a bit longer to get chopped up now.

Cornus Albus.


Snow on an old tree root in the yard - found on a beach and carried about a mile to 'safety' by the 4 of us. It was flippin' heavy, but lovely! I have yet to find the perfect spot for it - but I will.

Looking up the back garden to the 6ft high snowman me, Himself and the Gnomelets built in the dark last night after a snowball fight :)

We only went out to take the nets off the fruit cage and the brassica cage, but things sort of developed from there really!!!

Colour in the snow.

Whilst all was white and wonderful outside, Christmas colour was developing in the house.

This is our 'Danish branch' in the kitchen. We nicked this tradition years ago after spending Christmas with our Danish friends and it's now an integral part of Christmas for us - and reminds us of our friends.

Even the piano has a bit of Christmas cheer...

Everyone is expected to join in!

Himself always asks me to buy a small tree ..... and I really do mean to but somehow the big ones always call out to me - so what's a girl to do?!

Danish candles

Ceefer cat was singularly unimpressed by Christmas preparations!

Meanwhile, back out in the garden;

Regular readers of my blog are well used to seeing me attempt to win the 'the worst dressed gardener' award ....... I think I was on a full set of thermals, 5 other layers, 2 pairs of socks and hot packs in my gloves at this point!!!!

with Himself trying to get an honorable mention....even HE had thermals on that day!

However, in the interest of proving that we don't always look like complete slobs, this is us on our way to Himself's company Christmas 'do' last week........ it was a Bond themed evening and great fun, but proved that I am rubbish at Blackjack and Roulette!

...we scrub up quite well really!

and I'm trying to match the Bond girl siloutte - almost!

and on that note ........a Merry Christmas to everyone and a happy, healthy, prosperous New Year!

I've got a Snow Day!

All the local schools are shut because of the snow and the icy roads so, for the first time in as long as I can remember, I'VE GOT A SNOW DAY!!!!
The day dawned cold and crisp, with a clear blue sky and lots of crisp, crunchy snow - glorious!The snow had stopped at around 3am (apparently!) by which time it was so cold that it froze the surface layer. It also meant that, despite the sterling work of the gritter lorries, Himself (sensibly) chose to work from home again (yippee!) and Last-Born's school was shut for the day.

Yesterday evening we'd had to take the netting off the top of the fruit cage - the first time in the 7 years we've lived here, so I ventured outside to check everything - okay, it was just an excuse to go out...!

Back garden, looking to the left, at about 8.30am.

Back garden, looking to the right and still in shade at about 8.30am

I don't think my solar lantern will be much use tonight!

Cornus with icicle.

The front of the house at about 9am - with only animal prints to mark the snow...foxes, cats and the badger.

The front island - pristine and beautiful about 9.00am

The Japanese Garden looking very wintery!

Ceefer cat walks on water!

He ventured onto the frozen surface of the bottom pond.....

went a bit further out...... and fell through the ice! By the time I'd stopped laughing he'd scrambled back onto dry land and gone off in a huff!

I decided that it was time to indulge my inner 8 year and make a snow angel - I was hopeless!

The snow was so frozen that I couldn't make any indentations and the rude comments from Last-Born only serve to make me laugh more....!

The world's worst snow angel maker!

So I got Last-Born and her friends to make them - they were just as bad as me, only louder!

So they built a snowman instead - he's only partly done here, but I was getting chilly...!

then they tried sledging down the front drive....

but 3 on the sledge didn't work - 1 did though!

and they proved to be very acurate with snowballs!

The girls have since been joined by some of the boys from school - so I've come in out of the way.... the boys are an even better shot than the girls are!

They'll come in eventually - when they're cold or hungry or it's too dark to play any more. I'll feed them all hot chocolate and listen to their loud tales of who cheated at snowballs, who got snow down their backs and who did the best sledge ride ......... and I'll smile and be happy and have that warm, fuzzy feeling we parents know so well.

What a wonderful day!