Joys of Winter

Good morning, Scots Gransnetters - I hope you are all safe and sound and finding today a bit more manageable after that wild night.

Snowing now!

Hope all has calmed down a bit for g/n's up there in Scotland - take care and stay safe x

Feeling a bit left out but NOT complaining. Although it was wet and very windy here on the east coast it was nowhere nearly as bad as over on the west. Hope all is well with you today. Can't say we deserve your sympathetic comments right here but who knows what's in store today - blizzards forecast over our way! May be looking for sympathy later.

Living here in the middle of the country we rarely get extremes of weather. I often wish it was more interesting!! Then again, thinking about it, I wouldn't want anyone to suffer because of it, so I suppose we are very lucky

em I hope you don't get buffeted by storms like Scotland did yesterday - keep safe x

em - the story I heard was that there was a gust of something like 160mph on the Tay Bridge! Maybe they got that one wrong or I misheard!

Annobel wasn't aware of anything quite so dramatic but the bridge was certainly closed. I was in school yesterday helping with the panto and 2 young teachers were sent home at 2pm so that they could cross safely to Tayport.

There was a gust of 165mph recorded at the top of Cairngorm (also at Fort William, I heard). Not quite the Tay Bridge, but hey what's a few miles and a few thousand feet?

All's calm again here in Fife! My oak is still standing and has the usual large group of ring-collared doves scattered through it, though a blackbird is lording it at the top of the tree! Bagitha - do you look out towards 'The Cobbler'? I was thinking that if Rest and Be Thankful was between you and Supernana, then you'll have superb views all around you.

Yes, peace again in Fife () but the sky's a strange colour, so do you think snow is on its way from the West? Just off to the garden to scoop up the plastic bins and buckets which flew around all day yesterday. Hope the power is back on for those of you who lost it.

Yes, we can see The Cobbler, Beinn Ime, Beinn Narnain and lots of smaller hills. We are very lucky!

Well, we can see them when they aren't obliterated by mist or, as at present, snow-laden clouds.

ooh how lovely!! We have travelled that way a few times, it is glorious

Nature has many guises
None more stern and unforgiving
As that she wears in winter.
She hurls ferocious winds across the brooding sky
And whips the sea into a frenzy.
She lashes the land with spears of rain
And drowns the fields in mighty flood.
She grips the very air with icy fingers
And with frosty breath
Curls the withering stems and leaves
Of the year's last blooms.
Nature has many guises...
All of which deserve respect
From mere mortals
Such as we.

Love it, supernana!

Have just this minute taken a photo through the window of the ferry [now operating after the storm] on her way to Islay. What a difference a day makes! Have put the image...'after the storm' in my photos for you to see.

Calm.
Calm after the storm.
Calm scene seen from my 'checking out gransnet' chair.
It's a favourite winter scene.
Pale, pale blue sky,
White hills
With brown on the lower slopes
Where the bare trees grow in summer.
They sleep in winter.
A soft blue-grey loch
Reflecting that pale, cold sky.
More dark outlines of trees
Nearer —
The ones I look through
To see that scene.
And every now and then
A dark shape flutters past
My pale blue window.

A very gentle scene you've written bagitha - calming indeed.

Vsici is kicking up a storm however - being very territorial with the mistletoe, again!

Visci in the mistletoe. Title for your next book, butty!

granny23's blind that hides the mountains
(see the 'Weather Today' thread)
Is right down to our house today,
Or the house is right up to it.
Wish I could find the cord
To release the blind.
Still, at least it is not
'Haud ontae ma breeks' windy anymore
On the Wee Wifie's Wind Scale
That goes from 'huffin',
Via 'awfally blowie'
To that haudin' on!

Bagitha

That gave me a good chuckle, bagitha.

The trees up our lane
Are still holding on
Just
To their leaves
That are now deepening
To burnished ginger and toffee
All looking tired, old
Speckled and splotchy
And very, very wet.

More gales forecast for late Monday and on Tuesday. England is the target this time if they're right. Oh joy!

I think I will hibernate and say hello to everyone again in March

glammanana