WHAT A GREY DAY

And I do not just mean the weather (when it is not raining). 

At this time of year, I am writing this on Wednesday 21st the shortest day, there is little colour in the garden so plants with grey foliage become so important.

Well, that is enough of that then. We have had frost though this has been washed away -

So we end a year with everyone in the country seemingly unhappy with their lot - yes you can blame Covid and poor management at government level - and do not forget BREXIT! Dogma and self interest is making everything a mess. Pay the NHS workers more - 1p on income tax would do it?

Enough again - throughout this misery I see a small leaf encrusted in morning frost and see that there is hope (I hope).

Or I come upon  something in the garden I forgotten - this stone I carried down from Goats Water near Coniston many years ago and I have just seen it in the undergrowth.

It was on the ground near Charmer's Grave - look it up, Wainwright mentions the dog's burial site.

And IF I get up early (ha ha) our view southeast over Morecambe Bay can be spectacular -

LOCATION x 3

And if you have a real Christmas tree are you going to shred it, burn it or plant it - beware with the latter they can get a bit tall like the ones behind my shed now sixty feet tall. So they will not fit in the living room.

COLDER AND COLDER

 Just have to brass it out I suppose, sitting here with a gilet and a fleece on. (Oh! And a shirt, socks and - well you know.)

Have to remember to feed the birds. There is a clear part of the pond and some running water in the stream. This morning looked out of the window and we had two herons by the pond. This afternoon we had our plastic heron and a white egret!

When the sun does come out it gives little warmth but does brighten up the world. 

Even the frozen veg beds have a sort of geometric appeal - perhaps? There is not much gardening going on and we have just heard that we are being taken off the special offer electricity rate we have had for two years - our electricity costs are doubling.. Time to light the wood burner.

The sun does give backlighting now it is low in the sky - not long to the shortest day.

The fatsia, as usual is covered in flowers but the sedums need tidying up - very dead.

So now I will give you a few photos taken from outside the kitchen doors and if you are reading this in Australia you can chortle away in your comfort. 

So I meet my neighbour walking her dog and wonder what sort of nerve endings the dog has in its paws. It trots along on the frozen ground without a care in the world. Birds' feet too must be numb.

There is supposed to be the Gemini meteorite shower tomorrow night but pessimist me expects it will be cloudy, not that I will get out of my warm bed to look.

R has bought a new hot-water bottle which makes me wonder what ever happened to chilblains? Mmm, should not have asked that, will get a deluge of replies.

I am trying to read a book on Black Holes by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw but the maths is beyond me. Still has some interesting concepts all of which are not really relevant to my electricity bill.

SPACETIME

I sit, time runs down our stream.

We have met before, will again,

but that stream will be another,

with other water, different sound,

and, anyway, one future day

all that I am will dissipate,

cross an event horizon,

sink into the flow of a dark hole.

I assume my subatomic particles

will still exist, my quarks and muons,

neutrinos, protons, neutrons

but I am probably wrong.

And when all the black holes

have fused, become unstable,

will there be a new big bang, 

new universe, another me?

BELOW 0C

 I should have kept my mouth shut about the mild damp November we have had - it did not last and now hard frost and ice on then pond. We have winter sunrises, hungry cold birds and it is time for hibernation - myself included - but no chance.

Having moaned it is clear and sharp and beautiful out there, just cold.

But there are surprises - a flower on the philadelphus, hips on the dog rose in the wood, some leaves still not fallen and the glory of the beech hedge.

Then there is yet the glory of the liquidambar - American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), also known as American storax, hazel pine, bilsted, redgum, satin-walnut, star-leaved gum, alligatorwood, or simply sweetgum,

There is ice in the bird bath and on the pond. And it must be chilly in the little skate house my late brother in law Roy made for us. Fortunately my lady gardener has been at work tidying the flower beds.

Elsewhere it is good to see the sun again if with a finger numbing cold.

So, now I am listening to The Byrds singing My Back Pages and about to look up how to get tea stains out of a carpet - taking R up a mug of tea when fell going up the stairs. I apologised but I think she was more worries about the stain than if I was hurt.

FEBRUARY IN NOVEMBER?

We have the first signs of spring! Yes, I know it is November but the snowdrops are sprouting. 

And it seems so dark and gloomy most of the time, rain rain rain, the garden is a quagmire, sodden grass. At least I have the canna lilies in under cover.

And, Hey-la-day-la the moorhen's back. Well R has seen it by the pond.

There are still autumn colours in the garden -

In the second of these pictures, on the left is the liquidambar tree on which the colour goes from deep red on the outside to yet green further in through a range of shades.

One thing we do get up here on our hill is big skies - if you look west. Sometimes the clouds seem to take shapes like this on of a monkey head.

I can sit in my seat in the kitchen and stare up out of the window imagining all sorts in the clouds.

This weekend in Ulverston we have a Dickensian Festival with the streets lined with stalls and people dressed up in Victorian clothing. They often get tens of thousands here over the two days. Locally it is known as the Dickfest. We will probably walk in tomorrow as the weather forecast is a bit better.

And, no, I have not been following the football - a load of millionaires kicking the modern version of a pig's bladder and some acting like they have been shot after a rap on the ankle. You would think it would hurt more the way they roll around. Glad I am not a ref. Despite that all the best to England but they will not win it.

Enough, I have to answer the late November question, "What do you want for Christmas?" Of course most of the answers are such as Health, happiness, peace for all etc which no one can give so it will probably be socks again.

Back to the view over Morecambe Bay -

Sometimes the light can be stunning.

Cup of tea?

WARM WET NOVEMBER

Warmest night on record in Edinburgh but who has any faith in self interested politicians doing anything meaningful in Egypt?

We still have autumn leaf colour though the euonymus and acers are done.

I remember that the best colours used to be in the third week of October. Now it is the second week in November and no sign of a frost yet. But we have had so much rain the lawns are spongy and sodden.

There are some flowers still going - a rose and a dahlia here (thanks J for the latter). I keep deadheading the cosmos but it is now a losing battle.

So for some autumn leaves - liquidambar

 

cherry

Guelder Rose

Cercidiphyllium

But even after all the leaves have fallen there is interest - this is the tangle of ivy stems on a fallen ash - the weight of the ivy may well have contributed to the demise of the tree.

It is important through the winter to appreciate shrubs with continuing colour like the rosemary and pittosporum, other greys and variegations.

Today is Tuesday and last night and this morning it RAINED!! Water ran down the roads in torrents, not helped by the fact all the drains are blocked - we need a lengthsman.

There are so many World cups going on at the moment in sport - rugby, cricket and football - that I have been desperately recording on the tv box. They always go into overkill with their schedules. Why the BBC cannot just give the redundant Channel BBC4 over to sport and get rid of the endless repeats of old programmes I do not know. Then at least there would be an alternative (though probably some ancient comedy).

I have a new camera - only a Nikon D3500 - I know now out of date but does the job, well, I thought it would until I tried to convert the RAW images and my ancient computer did not want to. So now I need a new iMac (and a decent iPhone).

I did go in the garden and cut back old perennials - using the hedge trimmer worked a treat yet it is quite heavy. And I still have to cart the stuff to the compost heap.

Wait, a bit of sunshine but still raining - nip out and a rainbow over the back field.

In the garden it is time to collect up the cherry leaves - again!

R wants a cuppa.