Joys of Winter

oh, ode to gransnet

supernana

Is it really winter? Half way through December last year I was helping to dig cars out of the snow in a car park, before digging a way out all the way up the hill to the car park of the pub by the main road.

This year I am still picking tomatoes from a bush plant grown in a pot that I brought indoors at the end of November because it had produced another crop of tomatoes. There are still a dozen or so tomatoes quietly ripening.

Truly wondrous are the ways of nature. [hmmm]

And concerning I think. It all seems to be oscillating a bit more in the Uk in the last few years. Drought order in SE corner.
Extreme cold this time last year. And a very very un-windy winter.
Extreme warm this autumn. indeed.

Warm and thoroughly wet here. It has just been throwing it down. I intended to shop before the light goes - but it's still raining..........well, they said we needed some water, here it is!
Apparently 1" of rain is 100 tons per acre? Is that right? I got in from 'Victorian Farm Christmas'.

I am resigned to Xmas now, not depressed any more. Whoever said I was angry was right. I did a bit of psychological therapy by building a fir tree in the minecraftfree game, a very large one, decorating it - and then blowing it up with TNT. End of tree. Large hole in the ground. And a feeling of satisfaction!
Weird, eh! But I feel I can cope now.

Now is the time to gird our loins and get on with it, one way or another. And to count whatever blessings we do have. It will soon be over for another year.
One thing I do need to do this evening is to pick a charity and make an online donation in lieu of the cards etc I didn't send etc. And post good wishes on Facebook to that effect. I think it is going to be Wateraid, in honour of all those women who have to carry water every day. Young ones, old ones, pregnant ones and sick ones. Yup. Now is the moment.

* JessM* so pleased to hear you're considering Wateraid; it's one of our main charities, especially for DH, who is a speaker for the charity. We're off to Kwazulunatal in March to look at an irrigation project, and have ongoing stuff in Burkina Faso too. As you say, now is the moment.

Done. I used to work for the water industry which is where the charity originated I think. Without water and sanitation what hope for higher needs.

Just went for a run and
1. There is an oak tree still hanging onto its leaves in the lee of the wood. I notice that it was cut down at some stage and has re-grown. This makes trees live longer apparently.
2. The blackthorn looking very black and thorny. It has three seasons, summer, green, nondescript, merging into the hedgerow. Upstaged by dog rose and honeysuckle. Next the fruit, plump and blue black as the leaves yellow and drop. Tempting little wild plums but so so sour. Then the bare black twigs, showing off their tracery of lichens. At last, on the bare thorn a creamy drift appears like a million droplets of milk. My favourite herald of spring.
3. Took Kirsty McColl with me. Hell did she make a difference! A spring in my legs and a PB. I'm beginning to enjoy this at last after 7 months of practice. Made sure i crossed the finishing line with her and Sean singing the best Christmas hit of all time (Fairy Tale of New York). What a wonderful effect music can have on us. I don't believe in an afterlife but if there is one, Kirsty (and Sean) I wish you peace, lots of craic and safe places to swim.

JessM Three big cheers from Kintyre!

Wood pigeons riffling through ivy
On a tall and slender ash;
Jays, with their white flashing,
Darting and dashing
Tree to tree;
Chickens knocking, peck, peck
On the door for food;
And the smell of new-baked
Gingerbread
For a magical midwinter
Child's sweetie house.

baggy Very atmospheric. Good to know that you are recovering.

Bloshy cat
Home at last...
Many a mile
He will have wandered
Since he last dined
On the terrace.
I pretended not to care
That his bed
Remained unruffled -
No need to shake and straighten
Fleeces scattered to the wind.
No point in washing bowls
Or making sure
That drinking water
Was crystal clear.
After all
He wasn't there
And ten to a penny
He didn't care.
My vigil ended late last night.
The security light flickered
And along the path
A creature sauntered.
Bedraggled and mud-splattered
Howling for attention.
He reached the door -
I dashed out and bearing food
Told him he was special.
He stared - as cats do
Utterly bemused
As if to say in cat-speak
Umm! Cut the idle chat!
I'm fully aware of that.

Over the last 2 days I have seen
The first hazel catkin breaking ranks
Winter heliotrope - lovely scent
Mahonia opening its yellow spikes for business.

What a difference a few hundred miles of latitude make, eh jess? Nothing showing up here yet though I'm keeping a lookout for snowdrop leaves.

A bluetit  has just done a somersault twirl
Around a silver birch twig
In search of goodies to eat.
The chickens did not appreciate
The bold chaffinch trying to snatch
A shred or two of their cheese
And put a stop to his boldness
And to him!
Nature's cold survival instincts.
Meanwhile, in the house,
I melted some chimney cement onto a chopping board –
Or was it chopping board onto cement? –
At any rate it is now a permanent
Memory mark,
Stuck fast to that board,
To remind me of Christmas 2011.

Lovely! bagitha

The dreaded season to be jolly
Slipped warily into our home
On tippy-toes with down-cast eyes
Lest I bar the door and turn the key
With shouts of bah! and humbug!
The shrill telephone called often -
Well-loved voices skipped across the miles
And dancing through the wires
Urged ever widening smiles to creep from ear to ear.
Loneliness was banished
By sparks of hearty laughter
Fanned by the healing power of family love.

Super and Baggy (and any other GN's suffering the wind!) I hope you have battened down the hatches? It's pretty awful over here on the East so I can imagine it's even worse over on your side! It's a day for indoors, soup and silly games! Take care

Nasty gusts whooshing down the Tay estuary so I'm not venturing out. Enjoying the Panto - excellent seat with no-one obscuring my view!

yep. Gale force here with possible hurricane force gusts so I half expected the Asda van would get blown over before arriving this morning. Delivery arrived though and the poor driver had to slosh through puddles and horizontal rain between his van and our back door. Nice getting your groceries delivered when you don't want to go out!

super, Ahoy! Call home in at GN and let us know you haven't been blown away!

..... if your internet connection is working

Gally A hurricane-force wind is HOWLING outside our window. The sea is mountainous...far worse than the previous storm. Have a gathering of lively Scots to look forward to later.

Not quite hurricane force here, but the trees are now lashing ominously and the rain is horizontal. Brrrrrr!

20-hour power cut. Neighbours down the hill who live on a 'street' — 4 hours. Neighbours a mile along the loch — 10 hours. How do Scottish Power do it? (Rhetorical question. They don't know either! )

Oh keep warm!

Thanks, jess. We managed the warm bit as we have a wood stove, but the darkness was what got to me. We have re-chargable lamps and candles but even daylight is dark up here at the mo. We went out to Glasgow Panto yesterday which took most of the day. Nice and bright in the King's Theatre but perishing outside. Had left a couple of lights switched on so we could see our house had power again while we were driving up the other side of the loch on the way home. SO cheering!

bagitha HELLO! No power whatsoever for nigh on 20 hours for 800 homes in Kintyre. We were enjoying a very merry Wednesday evening with friends, when the lights went out. Lots of squeals of glee because it was guessed to be trick-playing-time...only it wasn't ...
The five-bar gate through which the guests arrived, had been slammed shut by the howling gale, making an exit rather awkward, since no-one could budge the bolt. A rowdy jam of vehicles cluttered the host's drive. Someone may have toppled into a ditch! Someone managed to get into the wrong car! Someone was heave-ho'd into a jeep [behind the wire mesh used to contain frisky hounds!] - all rather chaotic Naturally, I wasn't the certain someone
We were house-bound yesterday. Friendly neighbours contacted each other on their cell phones. We were offered all manner of assistance. Thanks to a wee camping stove, we had hot drinks, soup and such. Sat by the fireside in candle-light...very flattering! Watched the sea crashing on the shore and marvelled at the acrobatic ability of the sea-birds. Cat stayed put. He did however venture a few inches when food delivered to his apartment door.
By the way, I missed Gransnet something awful

I came to this thread looking for a bit of calm and succour - only to find tales of power cuts, gales, a bloshy cat gone walkabout and internet failure........but upon reading more found it. Lovely and thank you.

We found in London
an urban warrior jay
hip-hopping the pavements
and a slinking young white cat
with a smear of ginger on his back leg
Scenting the trash cans
Looking dead dodgy and
Quite obviously working for Fagin.....