Joys of Winter

super!!!!! you have expressed my feelings too! Thank you!

supernana - that was quite delightful.

bagitha - What a lovely walk to school. Sounds as if DD has inherited your sense of humour!
I got a real sense of your place with your words.

The cream hollyhock is still flowering and the sparrows are still kicking up a storm in the Japonica bush - when will winter arrive?

I really enjoy reading this thread; it's an absolute gem and showcases some wonderful talent. Flowers for the wordsmiths.

Good to have you back, ga.

I nearly bought some
Pale orange tulips today
For my forlorn and empty jug
Nah, I though
Far too expensive
Wait for home

A couple of flea bitten rubekias
Some cuttings of sunset liquid amber
Mottled old blood hydrangea leaves, fragile heads barely hanging on
Rose hip or two - what a year it's been for those

Now all stuffed into a
Very happy jug.

Beautiful, butty. I can almost see it! My mind's eye loves the colours.

Butternut...

Pale sunlight peeps through the gauze-like cloud
It seeks the early gorse
And highlights each and every golden new-born bloom.
Hydrangeas of ox-blood red and deep dark aubergine
Nod their blowsy heads in approval.
The same sun filters through the spidery branches of the now bare willow
Beneath, bronze crisp bracken glows.
The wee burn bubbles as it cascades over glossy silvered stones
Creeping towards the beach
Where sits the Otter - on his favourite rock - ready to wash his silky coat
Before returning to his safe and private home.

Lovely supernana - still loving this thread.

Raking up the leaves on a cold sunny winter afternoon.

Going back indoors afterwards lighting the wood burner and eating buttered crumpets and drinking tea in front of it.

FlicketyB for a comforting word picture.

In our garden the red-breasted robin
Prances around the glossy blackbird
And the rosey-breasted chaffinch
As they enjoy their daily feast of seed and nuts.
Big black feral cat basks in the pale sunshine
Just inches away
Neither cares for what the other is doing.
On the big grey rock
Not far from the shore
The white gull sits beside eight black cormorants.
It is their favourite meeting place.
A large grey seal flops on his rock
And watches with lazy eyes.
Red-billed black and white oyster catchers
Delve around the grey pebbles and sinewy black seaweed.
The black, white and red-funneled ferry from the Isle of Islay
Creates a pure white wake
Parting the silver sea that hugs the shores of Jura.

,,,,,,,,'hugs the shores of Jura' - lovely.

I love the scene of black, greys and reds with a little silver and white that your words evoke, super.

The words on here are exquisite. I wish there was a 'like' or 'love' button to click so we could express our appreciation without getting in the way of the flow of beautiful verse

[Love this thread]

I walked to school and back without getting wet today
But now it is raining hard so I'll have a day off from outdoor work —
Currently, scraping moss and well rotted leaf mould off our drive
Heaving it in the wheelbarrow up the hill that is our garden
And dumping it on the flowerbed.
Instead I will work indoors and then sit down to try my hand again
At hito hude gake!

Beautiful, Bagitha

Today the silver eye of November's sun
Peers between meringue-like cloud of pearly grey and sugar pink.
Below - the laser eye of a sparrow hawk seeks his quarry
And with sudden darting flight
Scatters a starburst of finch.
The yellow eyes of feral cat
Open lazily
Track for a brief moment the flurry of activity
And then half close
Drifting back into the dream world from which he has stirred.
Liquid brown eyes of Sikka deer
Watch warily from under the ancient trees.
Lamp-like glassy eyes of rabbit stare stonily into space
Velvet ears twitch and twist and turn...
I see the ordinary and everday happenings around me
And share with you in word pictures.

Thank you for sharing that, super! It makes me want to come and see for myself!

And now a sun is peeping through the deep misty clouds
And shining on the fallen cherry leaves:
Yellows, golds, oranges, reds —
Inspiration for another temari .

bagitha Perfect colour combination for one of your inspired temaris.

Ahh - this thread is so good to come home to!

Dancing with lorries from
Spain, Portugal, Germany
Twirling around ...... and around
Roundabouts
Figuring out nonsensical signing
Missed that turning!

The mad dash, the hunt for home
Concentrates the mind
Thankful that it's not wet, cold.
Home to dusk, gentle skies
and a lit back door.

The overnight minimum temperature fell by five degrees
From what it has been for a while.
We woke to a cloudless sky and a fresh nip in the air.
Uplifting.
Even the mountains seemed to think so,
Standing out bold and dark
Against the shimmering sea and sky.
The workmen fixing the village's electricity supply line
(they've been at it for weeks)
Seemed chirpier too.
And I lost count, again, of the number of car drivers
Who waved as they passed us on our walk.

Uplifting indeed, bagitha - Isn't it lovely when a day presents a spring in your step.

Bagitha waving is a very Scottish thing, methinks.

The nip in the air is refreshing
And the low-slung November sun
Casts long graceful shadows
Over a landscape of spicey hues.
As we passed the loch
The reflections were perfect in the glassy water -
A wee white croft
Tall pines and hills covered in burnished bracken.
In Tarbert harbour
Boats of many colours
Seem to bleed their images into the dark depths.
A pair of pure white swans
Drift effortlessly between the bobbing bouys.
Back home now
And the islands of the inner Hebrides
Stand strong against a pastel sky
Streaked with feathered cloud.