Joys of Winter

Spiraea twigs in certain lights
Are the russet colours of
Red squirrel fur.

I took the school rain gauge home with me for the Easter holidays and kept the record going during my first year at grammar school. I would have earned a "service star" for my efforts except that I forfeited it by being wicked.

annobel, hope today has been a little easier than yesterday for you! xx

Thank you bags, yes today has been good. I summoned up the stamina to make soup - spiced roasted squash. It didn't take too much energy to eat it, I'm glad to say. Tomorrow a friend is coming to take me out to lunch. Progress!

bagitha - who you, wicked? Ha!

Was I delicious, Annobel?

Glad you've had a better day.x

Annobel. Have you tried googling the epley manoeuvre? There is a video that tells you how to do it.

Butter. I'm sure you are delicious, but I don't think annobel tried to eat you

Well, everyone always tries to make soup out of me......

You were delicious, Butter, even though my hand slipped with the cumin.

I am pleased, Annobel, and you must be feeling a bit better because you haven't lost your sense of humour!

Dawn came slowly
while the moon stayed awhile,
looking clouded and washed out
and the teenage owls sat
on the fancy chimney stack
on the roof scape
just behind my wall,
hunched and fluffed.
A quiet beginning
to a day of calm reflection,
and the cutting of japonica branches
to put in clear water
in a glass jug
for the kitchen table
and wondering if the buds
will turn to blossom in a week or two.

OH that does sound calm!
My lake today was very different. Wherever there was a pair of swans feeding in open water they had a crowd of ducks and gulls jostllng round, presumably hoping the swans would stir up something edible from the sediment. A hungry day for them i think. Spotted a pair of shovelers!

The male Shovelers are such dandies, aren't they!

Lucky you, jess! I've never seen a shoveller.

Love your calm picture, butty. Hope the day remained so.

More strong wind predicted for us tonight.

Butternut for a lovely word picture.

Teenage owls! What a great image - not yet wise. Butternut

A lovely picture, Butter. Talking of Japonica, I noticed that the one climbing up my friend's house was in flower yesterday and it still has some of last year's fruit on it.
Has anyone else noticed birds eating the flowers on the winter flowering Viburnum Bodnantense? Mine was looking ragged and pathetic and I noticed birds - I think they were bluetits - nipping the flowers, probably looking for insects, I imagine.

The night winds cleared away the clouds
and gave us a tricolour dawn
of gold, turquoise and deep blue
before a flaming sun rose
and washed into my kitchen
an orange flush, with a bit of a ruby flush
through DD's blackcurrant juice.
I've been out with my hedging tools
and trimmed the Golden Bush
so it can thicken and thrive
for the sparrows that squat
in house martin nests all winter
and use it for a take off.

bagitha just beautiful...

The smoky grey islands
peer from behind a veil of gauze.
The ferry carves a deep white wake
into the teal green sea.
Glossy black cormorants
stand upon the rocks -
wings outstretched
slender necks craning skyward.
Watery sunlight
filters through the bare branches
comforting the tight buds
with a solemn promise
of things to come.

You're both so talented and living in such inspiring places too.

I'll second that annobel.

Every spring when my sour cherries are in flower, sparrows and tits (mainly) spend hours picking off and flicking away the blossom. I suspect they're after insects or whatever nectar is left behind!

Some of us are resting
from asthma, labryn-something-can't spell it,
cloudy eyes and sinusitis
and still manage
to look and see
and feel and touch and hear
many joys of winter.



Everyone get well soon........!

Supernana..... lovely, evocative, uplifting at this grey time of year!

Oh you are on form, both.

The sky here at 4.30 was a breathtaking red one.

That's a lovely little poem, Butter. I won't bother you with the spelling! I know what you mean. It was lovely to stagger down the garden today and smell the spring coming, though tonight I can smell frost.