Joys of Winter

Oh joy indeed Annobel. My washing line snapped last week and we were only on the fringes. It is whacky weather isn't it, alternating between frost and cold one minute and mild damp winds the next.
I picked a bunch of David Austen roses last week...

Ever wacky, ever changing British weather. Rain and rainbows, sunshine and clouds, wind and stillness. We get all those inside of one day a lot of the time. Winter's colder than summer on the whole. What could be more normal?

Hope the wind is not too ferocious when it arrives. Our chimney cowl is waiting in the woodshed until someone can put it back. It'll be a scaffolding job. Hey ho. Oh well, I can take the opportunity to hone my wind-down-the-chimney fire-lighting skills.

Brilliant sunshine today, though it is definitely getting colder down here. And, oh, doesn't it show up every speck of dust? Managing to ignore it, though!

Oh that wonderful horizontal golden light of December.
My jog around the lake illuminated by flares of scarlet dogwood stems and pearly breasts of the Canada Geese. Drakes courtesy of Faberge. Pen and ink precision of a close-by full fledged heron as I crossed the bridge.

Sounds stunning JessM - there is something quite special about late Winter sun.

well it is sort of suburban, But all credit to the planners of MK!

I'm looking through a rain-spattered window -
Watching the trees dance frantically to the
Tune of the gathering storm.
The sea is icy grey
The waves are climbing high
Spewing candy-floss-like spume
On to the land
Where it hangs daintily
From the beech and blackthorn.

The "bloshy" cat -
One yellow eye on watch
Nestles deep within his den
Swaddled in softest fleece.
He'll not stir until
The sun sets and
The little old lady indoors
Battles against the wild wind
And with a silly smile
And sillier voice
Delivers a dish of nourishment to his
Apartment door...

My husband has just called me to look out of the bedroom window. There, in the garden, right outside Rory's apartment, sits a weeny feral kitten...a mix of black and grey. It is a beautiful wee creature.

brrr, stay warm yourself as well.

Oh, lovely. Perhaps feral has designs on bloshy's apartment !

Our cat was feral when she decided to stay with us but she often goes walkabout - maintaining some of her wildness. She's also very smelly!

Supernana - don't even THINK about it

yup you don't know what wild and wooly crossbred genes those fluffy wee chaps have up there in the frozen north...

What a contrary Winter's day!

slightly belated but:
Saturday and frost sneaked into garden overnight,
trailing a yellowed finger across summer leaves and buds
I'ts now or never so I start to jog
Cautiously, avoiding glaze, using the verges and picking my way
Some golden leaves cling on, oblivious to the date
I am rewarded by the sight of Girls PLaying Soccer!

This morning it was sunny and bright but by lunch time we had hailstone and terrible winds,the view of the River Mersey was spectactular with the waves crashing over the embankments not very inviting for the people out for a brisk walk but a really envigorating sight.

Really? I hope that weather isn't making its way across Cheshire, glamma! It's been a reasonable day here so far, though chilly. I wonder where all the oak leaves that have accumulated at my front door have come from. Can't see any oak trees out the front at all!

Annobel they were carried from our forest on the wings of today's Kintyre gale.

A night for the walking group - and my husband kindly offered to be the driver.
One member had problems with her car, and the rain was sleeting down and the wind terribly bossy, so we tucked her car into our barn and my man drove her home. A nasty night.
Tomorrow the knitting group, so a lift and sort out of my friend's car and hopefully all will be well.
Winter is here and so are my friends...
so all is well.

The storm, the roof leak, the felled branches, all gone
With our first deep silver frost of the season this morning
And a brilliant clear blue sky.
The Poplars are ankle deep in flood water,
That double their numbers with reflections
And Mistle is back, fluffed against the frost.
He's guarding his berries with a very keen eye.

Beautiful! Butternut

The sea reminds me of shot taffeta -
Streaked with turquoise and indigo.
A gaggle of gulls
Bob this way and that
Permitting the slight swell
To carry them from rock to rock
On which perch the posse of
Black-clad cormorant their
Cape-like wings outstretched
As if in homage to the winter sun.
The sky has shed
It's towering dark, angry cloud -
Cloaking a snowy mantle
Sparked with glints of ice
On the peaks of the stately islands
As they hug the horizon
Casting fractured reflections into the mysterious deep.

Robin come on
Here I am
With seed in hand
I click my tongue
My its frosty then
There he swoops
Among the leaves
Peeking to see
If its just me
Then out he pops
Onto my hand
And quickly pecks
His fill
Then wings spread
and off he goes
With a quick click
He's gone.

tanith

butty, super, tanith, thank you!

My stupid cammelia is blooming, several roses and a poppy! What is happening? I'm hoping we might get waxwings this year, they were all over Bristol last year. Winter. Brings the long tailed tits to my garden- sweet balls of fluff