As is quite often the way at this time of year, we set off at the beginning of the week with a task list and find by the end of the week any out door jobs are very unlikely to have been ticked off. So it has been here, we've been frozen solid for several days and nights with alarming temperatures down to -9C! Poor plants I hope they will survive and that this is the only very cold snap we get over winter. On top of the frost we've had a sprinkling of snow, so no gardening, no clearing, no leaf lifting, just hibernating. But I do have lots of pretty photos to share, lol.
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| The tree is up! |
I'd like to say that instead I've ticked everything off the indoor task list, but I'd be telling a lie. There is a distinct lack of motivation at the moment, yet I do seem to have got Christmas up and running. The tree is up and the house decorated, present buying nearly done, the 200 + truffles for gifts are made (more on those later) and I've deep cleaned another couple of rooms.
On Monday I had a day out with David who was meeting some fellow ecologists in East Lothian to look at a couple of potential bat hibernation sites. I don't need much excuse to get out and about even on a bitterly cold, frozen day. First we visited an world war 2 pill box buried underground in a field, the area is full of second word war buildings and such as the River Forth was seen as a possible attack area.
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| Great sky over East Lothian |
Next we headed to the coast, yes it was bitterly cold on the beach, but I love the beach and sea at any time of year, as does Bracken. So we had lots of running about and rummaging in rock pools before heading to North Berwick for some hot soup for lunch, some christmas shopping and nice views of the Bass rock at sunset.
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The Sea buckthorn was stunning along the back of the beach,
so many orange berries making the bankings very orange |
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| Where will I go now |
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| Looking to Fife |
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| It's Freeeeezing! |
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| The Bass Rock from North Berwick |
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| Lone fisherman on the rocks at North Berwick |
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| Bright colours in the fading light |
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| Beach huts at the harbour, North Berwick |
As I mentioned earlier, we've had very cold frosty days and nights again, topped with snow, not deep but on top of the ice and frost, it's lasted for days. I've been working on the website, designed and ordered a new banner and new leaflets for 2018 for the nursery. I've made the annual christmas truffles for gifts and for the boys munching when they are home. You can read about them in an upcoming blog about Christmas food. Being cold there's been lots of lovely clear skies and lovely lights to photograph. If I could get rid of this cold I'd do more walking but we did walk up to the local village the other day and the views down the valley were lovely.
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| Some lovely light in the mornings from the back garden |
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| Echinops 'Blue Globe' frozen in time |
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| I'm enjoying my new camera, having a proper camera again, can you tell? |
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| Shadows, the only time I get to be tall with skinny legs! |
On Saturday we headed south to Penrith to one of our favourite places, The Brunswick Yard, in search of interesting items for the nursery. It was also their Christmas fayre so there was mulled wine, fresh pizza from the stone oven craft stalls and of course the usual great selection of antiques and stuff. We had cake and coffee in their excellent cafe to warm up, pizza and mulled wine round one of the outdoor heaters to keep us going on the road home. I treated myself to a cake stand, I've been looking for one for ages, and this one even has a quirky bird on the top! We found some interesting things for the nursery too, more on those later.
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| Enjoying some mulled wine |
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| Pizza and mulled wine! |
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| My new cake stand |
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| This is awesome! |
The weather and temperatures are set to be dry and much warmer so I am hoping to get back in to the nursery and catch up on some end of season tidying up over the next few days. It will be good to catch up with everyone too, oh and maybe a mocha or two to keep me going. I'll have mistletoe and vouchers for sale while I'm in the nursery, Wednesday and Thursday 10am to 4pm.
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A very festive post. Your snowy photos are so pretty. We only had a day of snow here which didn't settle. Some great purchases too. I love the cake stand and that liqueur looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteCathy x
Hi Cathy, thank you, the snow only lasted because we had very low temperatures for several days (-9C!) Now it's all gone and raining. The liqueur has been drunk and very nice it was, like liquid chocolate mints! Have a lovely festive season. Rona x
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