do you mind if i knit

Savouring my Roses.

A few minutes gathering some roses from my garden leads to days of happiness.

I get very little time to spend in my garden these days, so I really savour my time out there, walking around very slowly, and just looking, observing, staring, enjoying.

I always, always say to myself that I must find more time to spend out gardening, I forget just how much I love my garden.

And I love to bring flowers in from the garden, to enjoy in the house.

There's never lots to pick, but it just takes one flower, and I'm happy as can be. Today I was quite extravagant, and took most of the roses blooming in the garden. I just fancied having a nice sized bunch in the house, where I can be closer to them, rather than gazing at them from inside the house.

I placed them amongst some of my 'things', in my studio. They smell like the most expensive rose perfume. I've never smelt an expensive rose perfume, but I imagine it smells just like the real scent of a rose.

I'm so out of touch with the plants in my garden, I'm starting to forget some of their names. That is a sign that I'm very, very out of touch with my garden, I usually know all the names and varieties. "Mrs. N. Thompson". Phew, that's the name of one of the Clematis I have in the garden, I haven't forgotten everything.

Sometimes we can get so caught up in the "doing", we forget about the things we've "done", don't you think?

For example, my blog. I started it on 13 October 2007, so I've been composing blog posts regularly for four years this October.

All those photographs, all those thoughts and words, thousands of hours, and I never really look back and mull over what I've been doing, it's always about moving on, the next thing, onwards and upwards, push, push, push.

I think it would be impossible to select a few photographs from the thousands I've taken, so I just did a few mosaics of randomly selected photos, not necessarily the best, not thought about much, just, "I like that, I'll pop that one in".

I haven't begun to touch the tip of the iceberg here, but it's been fun to stop and think for a moment about what I've observed and photographed.

A snippet of what's been on my blog over the years.

Years! Amazing, it doesn't feel like years I've been doing this blog. How has four years (almost) passed without me realising?

It's good to stop and take stock occasionally don't you think? Stop and smell the roses, sort of thing.

Vanessa xxx

A chair isn't always just a chair.

Hello! Nice day for a cup of tea.

That'll be a cuppa  infront of the wood burning stove I'm talking about. Turning a grey day into something positive is good for morale don't you think?

It's like the other day, when we went out for a coffee, and Hugo bought a huge slab of of carrot cake to go with my drink, I found myself saying "that'll be good for my curves". A positive way of looking at an enormous, almost intimidating, slab of cake. I ate it all of course.

Anyway, I had planned to wax lyrical today, about my drive back from Edinburgh on Saturday night, after going to see the film 'Little Fockers' (which left me with lots of feel good factor for the entire hour drive home). I was going to go on about the deep dark sky, full of charcoal smudged clouds, and the beams of the headlights carving through the black night, with barely another car on the road. But then I found these photos I've never shown you, these chair photos, and I got very excited.

These garden chairs were in the grounds of an Open Garden we visited last summer. I remember obsessively photographing these chairs.

Such shapes!

Such curves!

So improbably comfortable, but once sat on, very nice for the back.

Like works of art.  All that swirly whirly thing going on, and the big bulgy, curvaceuos back. Lovely.

I vaguely recall a short debate with Hugo, about the proportions of these chairs. The legs are quite plain and delicate, whilst the top half bulges with abundance, and I think Hugo thought they were too top heavy. My argument would have been that they're just so fantastic, maybe a little too top heavy, but charming enough to be perfectly adorable.

No, they're perfect.

The chairs were part of a beautiful garden, and as usual, we were in awe at being allowed into the private haven of the owners. I can't remember the name of the garden, but apparently it's opened up for charity over two consecutive weekends. I think that's incredibly generous of the owners. To have complete strangers traipsing over your beautiful garden, (I saw the appalling sight of a man with a pram forcing his way along a narrow path, trampling plants along the way, when there were plenty of other paths he could have taken), not once, but twice, is the epitome of generosity don't you think?

I love that such a simple thing as a chair can be a thing of beauty.

Well, I must pootle off, to work on a paper mache pig, her name is Louise. I'm also creating some more Evangeline's, she's too much of a character to leave at just the one figure. Cheerio. Love Vanessa xxx

Birdy on a boat.

Hello! I've just got back from Hugo's Nephew's, (Rory), little Birthday gathering, with the family. He's six years old today. Aaaahhhh. He's very sweet too, and loved all his gifts. Aaaahhhhhh!

And having had a warming Sherry, I'm all ready to go!

It's so cold outside it's painful. I thought it couldn't get colder, but the weather managed it. Last night I slept with my usual pyjamas, plus bedsocks, hot water bottle, extra blanket and HAT. Yes, hat. It became very clear as to why, when central heating was yet to be invented, hats or frilly cotton bonnets which tied under the chin, were worn by ladies to sleep in at night. I could have done with one of those, because my hat came off in the night. Maybe tonight I'll wear my deepest winter weather fluffy lining, ear flapped hat, which has a clasp so I can clip it under my chin. The added bonus of the ear flaps is the muffling of noise. For example, noise like snoring.

I wasn't here on Monday was I? What was I up to? Well, apart from enjoying all your fab comments from Friday's post (thank you soooo much, a big, big thank you soooo much), I was working on my papier mache. It's all papier mache, painting, papier mache these days, and it's really hard to unstick myself from all of that to come and be sociable with you. I think I might be starting to have glue and thread running through my veins, rather than blood, I am that involved and obsessed with what I'm doing. I don't finish working till 10:30 at the earliest each night these days, usually eleven. I'd forgotten how long it takes to create these papier mache figures. Good thing I'm enjoying myself isn't it?

Anyway, I recall I promised to show you my first papier mache creation, the one I did on the Julie Arkell course, so here we go, here's the little fellow brought to life over that weekend.

I'm very fond of this tiny Dachshund I named "Biscuits" (because one biscuit is never enough in doggy minds). He's my little sweetie, and I love his jolly little lollop.

It took hours and hours to do every aspect of this little chap, because doing papier mache was new to me, along with the embroidery side, which was excrutiatingly slow, as I recall.

Dearest Biscuits, I'm so glad I'm his owner, he makes me feel happy when I catch a glimpse of him going about my daily life.

I'm making another Dachshund at the moment, but unfortunately his head is out of proportion to his body (I couldn't understand what it was that botherd me about him, then it dawned on me in a flash, his head is too big!). So he is going to have to be decapitated, and given a new head. I don't know why that makes me feel uncomfortable, he is after all just papier mache. (I invest all my little animals with personalities, it must stem from doing the children's books).

After that course with Julie Arkell, I went to stay with my sister, and no sooner had I walked in the door, I was pounced upon by my sister and niece, to create a zebra. I wonder if that zebra is still in existence.

It's been a case of fits and starts with the papier mache. I've kept my hand in, doing some here and there, and becoming more and more enthralled with the whole process, especially the possibilites for little details, which I'm a sucker for. Creating a character, seeing it come to life as I work on it, feels magical.

A couple of weeks ago, Hugo suggested I do a boat, and make it my own, and I thought, "why not, I'll do my version of a boat".

And that's how this "birdy on a boat" came about. My version of a boat!

"Birdy on a boat" will be for sale in my etsy shop soon, when I can unstick myself from my papier mache goings on to put him in my etsy shop. Evangeline, the mouse from my previous post will also be for sale.

And now, how about a little snow report, in pictures, from our garden?

Dramatic hey?! It's sooo cold out there. The poor birds must be having a tough time. We are putting food out for them, which gets wolfed down by lots of birds almost as soon as it's put out.

And I'm making sure I defrost the water in their bird bath with boiling water, each day. Apparently birds really need to drink water, just like us humans, they can't drink the snow.

This cold weather is playing havoc with the skin on my hands, the cracked skin is painful, so what I've started doing is slathering on moisturiser and then putting washing-up gloves on before I tackle the dishes, it helps a lot, if you're suffering the same thing.

And my knitting? Well, it's sadly being neglected, so progressing very slowly, must show it to you some time!

Well I must be off now. Lovely to see you, take care, and cheerio! Love Vanessa xxx

I'd rather be..................

That's the thing about working from home, distractions. It's oh so easy to stop work and have a break. I've been working from home for over twelve years now, so I've mostly got the 'break' thing under control. The simple answer when people ask me how I keep motivated at work is this, if I don't do my work, I don't get paid, and I can't afford not to be paid, my yarn addiction would not be the smallish problem it is at the moment, it would be my ruin.

Some days it is harder to buckle down and get on with work. Hot sunny days are the worst, when the garden is full of roses, (they are particularly good this year, there's a real bonanza of flowers), when it looks so pretty and inviting, and it's just the right temperature for sitting out, with a cup of tea and my knitting. Today was one of those days. We've been treated to heat, sun and happy birds all day, and I wish these photos of my knitting and cup of tea in the garden represented reality, but unfortunately the deadline to finish the  book I'm working on is looming, and I'm nowhere near finished, so I have been shackled to my desk most of the day.

I said the garden has a lot of roses blooming this year, but in these photos, you can't see the roses I'm growing, they're all over to the left of the garden, which gets the most sun.

I must show you one rose which has just started to flower, she's a beauty.

This is the rose 'Lady of Shalott', above, aren't her flowers beautiful! I bought her from David Austin, after seeing her introduction, when I watched the Chelsea Flower Show on t.v, in 2009. She's meant to be good at resisting disease, and flowers profusely I understand. I shall have to wait and see on both counts, as the summer progresses.

I must cut a few of my roses, and bring them indoors, so I can enjoy them, there are so many about to burst in to flower, I can spare a few for the house.

Over the last few years I've grown to love yellow roses, which is strange, as I used to dislike them. I can pinpoint exactly when I started to change my opinion of them. I heard that Kate Spade always has a bouquet of them on her desk. I love the style and colours of Kate Spade, so when I heard she has to have them on her desk at all times, I stopped to think about this little fact. I imagined lots of yellow flowers in a perfect dome shape (in one of those low round bowl-like vases), and I pictured them set against chalky pink, duck-egg blue, grey chalk or a 50's soft green. And the effect of this imagining made me think I had been judging them unfairly.

I love pink roses too, but there's something about yellow roses. And I quite like that I opened myself up to liking them, I like having my perceptions changed.

Oooh, is that the time! It's time I got going to my Wednesday night knitting group. I'd better dash. See you Friday, fingers crossed, I'll have started on the fair isle bit of my dress. Love Vanessa xxx

Scissor happy.

My Mum would say the garden is looking a mess! And I'd agree with her, and mumble that I've handed it over to nature for a while, untill I have time to claim it back, and tame it.

All the topiary needs a haircut, it's starting to remind me of Struwwelpeter's hair. I like giving my Box shapes a trim, or even re-shaping them. I have grand ideas of Peacock shapes, and marvellous cake-like confections sweeping over the garden, a bit 'magical-like'. But these things take time, as box is slow growing, so it's a good thing I lean towards optimism isn't it?

So whilst I haven't got time to take my scissors to my Box shapes, this subject leads me neatly to my next topic, cutting my knitting.

Do you remember this little number I was knitting?

It was the Tea Dress by Jane Waller.

I say "it was".

I finished the back and front, and sewed them together, and then I tried it on. And oh dear, what a sight! I looked like some sort of frumpy, lumpy baggage, with the dress too long for a start. And that mantra that sometimes lurks at the back of my mind, of keeping dark colours at the bottom, not the top, suddenly became a harsh reality when the dress was on me. The dark red should have been in the skirt section, with the pale duck egg blue predominantly in the top half. When I hang pictures, this mantra always reigns supreme, so I have no idea why I chose to ignore it when it came to knitting myself a dress.

The textured skirt section also weighs more then the top half, so it had the effect off pulling the top half down a bit, I think. The skirt section, apart from being way too long, stopped at the top, on the widest section of my hips, very unflattering. My protruding tummy was hideously enhanced by the shape of the dress.

I felt miserable just wearing the dress (minus the arms at that point), and thought that maybe it was just the length.

So I made the mistake of trying to unravel a panel of the skirt from the bottom up, which didn't work with the textured pattern. (I've done this with stocking stitch, and found I can unravel from the bottom up with that stitch, but to my dismay, it did most definitely NOT work with the pattern of the skirt).

I decided that the whole thing was not going to defeat me. No, no, no.

I thought, "I know, I'll cut it in half, and make two dresses, with proportions that suit my figure, not the figure of some wispy broom handle in the pattern's pictures".

And that is exactly what I've done, I've cut my dress in half.

Here's the skirt section.

Can you see the bit of unravelling I've attempted, (top left hand corner), which has left a 'nice' frayed edge?

My plan is to hoist the whole thing up, and just add a top section which will turn it into a dress, with long sleeves added. I'm not sure how I'll resolve the frayed edge, I hope I don't have to knit and entirely new panel.

And here is the top section above, which I am extending downwards, increasing every four rows.

I had already changed the neck-line from the original pattern, so as things turn out, there's not a lot of the original pattern left in this top part.

And the great thing about this drastic scissor action? I actually prefer how this dress is turning out! I'm glad it was a disaster, because in my mind, these two-for-the-price-of-one dresses will look much better on me, and I've turned a bit of a disaster into something positive and exciting, which feels fantastic. Love it.

Just before I leave you, to get on with knitting my exciting striped dress, I thought I'd show you some more photos of my wild Struwwelpeter style garden.

 

So I'll wave goodbye now.................

Say a cheery cheerio, wish you a good weekend, blow you a kiss, and head towards my knitting! Love Vanessa xxx

I'd really like to have a snooze on a bed of moss.

Thank you so much, thank you for your wonderful comments on the opening of my website, really and honestly, not only were they very beautifully and generously encouraging, there were some very constructive things said, which helped us to tweak the site for the better, I think (!).

Hugo came home the other day with a 'sheet' of moss. He'd found it in the street, so it must have fallen off a roof of a house.

He knows me well doesn't he! He brings me a gift of moss, knowing I'll be absolutely de-ligh-ted! And I was, because I've been thinking about creating a moss garden for a while now.

I just love moss. Its colour, it's soft touchy quality.

It's a quiet sort of plant.

A bed made of moss would be lovely. But difficult I have to admit. I'd have to water my bed every day.

Lichen is another thing I think is very pretty. The twigs above, dropped off the trees on our street, after gusty weather, and I couldn't resist gathering some up. They sit in my studio, wherever there's space for them, and I like seeing them every now-and-then, and enjoy the lime green yellow of the lichen against the greyness of the twig.

So would you like to know how to make your own moss garden? To make mine, I followed the instructions in this link, and my moss is still going strong a few weeks later.

I am thinking about putting my moss outside though. Whilst it seems happy enough in my studio, maybe it would be even happier outside.

What I'd really like to do is make a moss-covered arm chair for the garden. There are instructions here for making a chair seat covered in moss. Sounds very nice to me, I'm sure it could be extended to an arm chair. I'll put it to Hugo.......................

I'm off now, to relax and do some knitting on my dress. The back is finished, just no photos yet, but I'll take some for Wednesday's post. So cheerio and toodle-pip.

Love Vanessa xxx

Hanging me on the line.

Hello! Just been saying to myself, "will blog after I've finished this little bit". And then ten minutes later, "I'll just finish this, then I'll go and say hello to everyone". More time goes by.

"Have to finish this".
Little more time flies by.............. and so on.

I love being gripped by work, it's very exciting when that happens. But I also feel like I've been mugged and holed up in a dark room with one light source: work. I find I want to go on, and on, and on, and I get very tired, rub my bleary eyes a lot, and stop caring about all those little things that need to be done around the house. It used to be I'd have the doggies to fish me out of my work stupor, because they need walking. Now I've got the pull of my blog, which is an excellent thing. (And of course the little doggies still need their walks, don't worry, they don't get neglected!). I imagine Hugo might feel he's living with a strange being from outer space when he sees me in this frame of mind.

It always happens when I start a new book, the excitement of getting to know the new characters, meeting them as they form on the page. And they don't just stop lurking around me when I leave the studio and step back into reality, no, they pop up all over the place. Very distracting.

(So I have to admit, I feel 'fuzzy' at the moment).

The reason I called this post "hanging me on the line" is this, I've been interviewed by a fellow blogger.

Pause.

Don't really know what to say about it, other than, if you'd like to read it, you can, by clicking on this link.

I read the interview with myself, and don't think it's too inflammatory, it was a strange experience reading it.

Anyway, you might be wondering why I'm showing you a photo of my pink bag, sitting on the floor in our hallway? You weren't?!! Oh well, that's a good thing, because there's really not much to the photograph, other than, I was turning the corner, after having come down the stairs, and saw this exact image before me. I thought, "that's a lovely spectacle".  Do you ever experience that? A visual surprise you come across in your own home? Normally I place things around the house to please myself, so it doesn't often happen that I get nice visual surprises, it's usually just a "I do like looking that.........", sort of thing.

Maybe I was having one of those 'aware days'.

Things like the orange washing basket, sitting in the garden, and contrasting with the soft green of the Cotton Lavender, and they grey of the watering can, suddenly became lovely spectacles. 

My neighbour's 'welcome home flowers' (she looks after the doggs a lot, and had been away for a week), seemed too nice to part with. (But of course I did part with them!).

The bright coral colour of the Geraniums, contrasting with the green of the back door, and the grey pot.

The vibrant deep pink of these Sweet Peas, a gift from my Mother-in-Law, Susan.

The table covered with yarn and crochet, a table covered with colour.
All these things caught my eye as I went on my business about the house.
I like these days I become very aware of things around me, it's............ well.......... exciting!

And lastly, before I take the doggies for their leg stretch, here's a number : 227. That's the number of votes I've had for my blog, on the little blogs awards at the Dorset Cereals site! Yippee! Thank you so much, you've been extraordinarily supportive. There is a blogger, (name is 'needled', excellent blog I have to say), who has over 500 votes, so it's impossible for me to win. But if you feel like you want to vote for my blog anyway, just step over to this link, and vote for me, because you never know, I could suddenly get an extra 300 votes! Optimism is a funny thing, isn't it?!

And you know what? It's another three day weekend this weekend! Monday is a Bank holiday. So that means I'll be back here to say hello, on Tuesday. Have a good weekend, even if yours is the regular two day variety. Love Vanessa xxx

It's bunting time.

Hello everyone, so nice to be back! And great to see you! Did you have a good weekend? I hope so. Our weekend felt like a short one, just because we didn't really do much. Plus, those two May Bank holidays last month, where we got an extra day over two different weekends, got me nicely accustomed to a three day weekend. Saturday was full of mooching around, crocheting, and planning to make a cake, but not getting round to it. Sunday, now I think about it, was actually crammed full of activities!

We visited an Open garden on Sunday. We've been doing a lot of that recently, and it's been to the gardens of very grand residences. So we've been very spoilt! We didn't stay long at the garden we saw on Sunday, because it wasn't a particularly amazing garden, very nice, but not amazing.  There was one thing that caught my eye though!

This little hut! There were some people squeezed inside, cooking crepe, to sell. I fell in love with this tiny garden hut, with its mossy roof, and cheery plastic bunting hanging outside.

And the clock hanging on the side was a nice touch!

I thought this hut was enchanting, like something out of a fairy tale.

We wandered off and out of the garden after that, and headed back home, where Hugo got to work on doing some carpentry, and I got on with baking a Victoria sponge. I actually had to do a second cake, as the first cake, using the first recipe, was a bit of a disaster. The cake that was meant for afternoon tea, using recipe number one, was abandoned. A second cake, using recipe number two, we had for pudding, with our supper.

While I was busy baking two cakes, Hugo was working his magic in the garden. On Friday night, we watched Gardener's World on the t.v. There was a demonstration on making a roof garden for a shed, and after it had finished, Hugo turned to me, and suggested he make a roof garden for each of the wood stores! How amazing is that?! What a wonderful idea!

So here you go! One wood store, complete with scallop edged, wooden trough roof, containing newly planted Strawberry plants, and some flowers! Hugo cut the scallops out of the wood himself.

Another picture of wood store number one. Hugo is actually making planters and finishing off wood store number two as I write this, having got back home from being at work all day!

Yes, Hugo does deserve a medal! Look, you can see one of the planters he's made, it's got some Lettuces in it, it's sitting at the base of the wood store? You see it?

To finish off, here's a close-up of some of the plants on top of the wood store. When they've grown up a bit, I think the effect should be magical.

And that, my dear readers, is my post for today. I wonder if I'll dream of rooves with gardens on them tonight? That would be a lovely dream................. Well, take care, and see you tomorrow. Sweet dreams! Love Vanessa xxx

Little dream world!

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, lovely to see you, I hope you're ready to enter the refined world of another open garden? before you ask what the garden was called, and where it was.............. well, Hugo saw in the local paper that this garden was open for charity, on Sunday. He found out where it was, what it was called, and drove us there. I just went round the garden very happily, and never thought to ask him the name of the place.................... Do you ever do that? Live in a little dream world? Not paying much attention to anything?!  It's especially easy to do that when you're being chauffered around!
Before I move on to the tour of the garden, I have to say a big thank you for all your lovely comments you left me yesterday, I'm so pleased you like the blanket, and that you were salivating over the yarn. I'm salivating over that yarn too! For those of you who would like to know how to join the squares together, I'll do a tutorial for you this weekend. And thank you for your nice remarks about the quality of the photos, taken with my new camera, it's a bit like owning a dream piece of equipment, owning my new camera.
And just while I have your attention over the crochet, there's an excellent Swap going on over at Melanie's blog, "a country dream". It's a Swap where you can give crochet or knitting, (or both), gifts. I couldn't resist putting my name down to join this swap, I must admit. It's the crochet that lured me in!

Before we went round the garden, (the garden of the house who's name I don't know), we went for a cup of tea. All these open gardens provide tea and cake, and I think it's an essential part of the garden viewing. I wonder if there would be less visitors if they didn't provide refreshments? I was lucky enough to get this beautiful tea cup and saucer to drink my tea from. (Now Vanessa, be honest, you actually swapped the cup you were given for this one that Hugo was handed, didn't you? Didn't you Vanessa? O.k. yes I did swap it................. but you know how it is? It's important to drink out of a nice cup, and when your husband has been given the nicer cup, what's he gonna do when you swap his for yours? Throw a tantrum? Not infront of all those nice elderly people anyway!) Actually, I have to say, Hugo was very nice about me having the superior tea cup and saucer, he knows how important these things are to me......................! It was kind of unspoken that Hugo would have the pick of the cakes after I'd pulled a fast one over the tea cup. That plate of cakes you can just see behind the tea cup and saucer was placed on the table, just for our consumption!  But it was so hot, I could only eat one cake. Boy! It was boiling hot on Sunday!

 

Can you see the glare of the sun? The above photo is taken at the entrance to the walled garden. This walled garden was enormous. But there didn't seem to be much in the way of vegetables growing there................. strange.

 

And as we stood at the entrance to the walled garden, we looked directly down the avenue of trees, to the green houses in the distance. Last week I showed you some spectacular green houses, from the open garden at Lilburn Tower. Having seen those spectacular green houses, I'm now able to understand the scale of grandness when it comes to green houses. The green houses at this house were grand, but not as magnificent as those we saw In the garden of Lilburn Tower!

 

Not bad though! There were no Lemons growing in these greenhouses, just lots of flowers, and a few Apricots!

 

This hot pink Geranium, isn't it such a luscious pink?!

 

The impact of walking through what seemed like a sea of brightly coloured flowers, was absolutely GLORIOUS! The colours of the flowers, in the green house we were allowed to walk through, made my mouth water.

Here's some more hot colour for you. And can you see the blinding light outside, through the door at the end? Gosh it was a hot day, our idea of swelteringly hot!

 

The strong shadows in the photo above, show just how bright the sun was. (Good thing we'd plastered ourselves in suntan cream).

 

Once we'd had our fill of all that colour, we ambled back to the car. I couldn't resist photographing all these wheel barrows. People had been using them to run their plant purchases to their cars. There were a lot of plants for sale, at very cheap prices, so everyone was going crazy and buying, buying, buying. I did buy, not crazily, but a few!

 

The walled garden was set amongst trees, so it was a lovely stroll back to the car, through the dappled shade. We're so fortunate to have access to things like this garden, and I always think it's very generous of the owners of these gardens to share them with the public, and have people traipsing over their lawns and along their garden paths. Yes, some people's generosity is extraordinary.

Well my lovely Ladies and Gents, the evening is well on into its journey, and I need to go and have a bite to eat. So nice to have a chitter chatter. See you tomorrow, all bright eyed and bushy tailed! Love Vanessa xxx

 

 

Our half seen garden.

"condensation on the window again............ I wonder what the weather is like," I thought, as I opened the blind covering our bedroom window, one morning last week. Then I GASPED. I gasped a bit like Kate Winslet during her acceptance speech the other week........ yes, it was a gasping gushing exclaiming with joy series of noises, just like Kate's. The reason? Snow. Great big fat flakes drifting lazily past the window, and they were settling, which is a miracle in this sea side town. When I'd seen the above view, through the curtains, from the bathroom window, I'd just thought, "oh, another heavy frost". But then, when I looked out of the bedroom window, I discovered we were having a 'weather event'. That's how the weather reports were describing the heavy snowfall that has visited most of the U.K. in the past weeks. Yes, 'a weather event'! The snow didn't stop, it kept falling, and then it fell some more. When I took the dogs out for a walk, we found ourselves braving a blizzard of snow. It was quite unpleasant, stinging my eyes and flying up my nostrils. When we got back home, a thick layer of snow covered my hat and coat, and the dogs had clumps of icy snow stuck to the fur on their legs. When you're warm and cozy indoors, and you've got a steaming hot cup of tea in your hands, the fire blazing nearby, the snow looks magical. I had hoped it would snow enough to pile high, and it did. ............... It slowly stopped snowing, and by the end of the day, the temperature outside had risen enough to start melting the snow, causing it to slide off the places it had been piled high. You can see all the paw prints, in the photo above, and how the dogs enjoyed the snow in the garden............... I love the fact that they seem to take a little route round the garden.............. I can see how 'nice' freak weather events stop people in their tracks, make them want to cease work, and marvel at the magic. Our day of snow was one to marvel at, the way it transformed the landscape............. it even felt different, with sound being muffled, and a dull crunching noise under foot............. I can see why thousands of people just decided to take the day off and enjoy the magic of the snow.