Category: Weather
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Joys of warmth and cold . . .
Awaking early this morning to -4ºC, and a heavy frost that has the snowdrops sagging, it was such a joy to start the wood fire in our cosy room, the room we call the Craft Room, and to enjoy the warmth. Our heat pumps are struggling, but we have hunkered down next to the fire…
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When things work . . .
I’m a great fan of the mundane, things trundling along as they should, and being able to live within the constraints that make sense. My joy came crashing in, today, apparently because I managed to re-install our pair of passive antennae, so-called SlimJim dipoles, to facilitate communication of our smart meter to the electricity supplier’s…
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Joys of the unexpected
In mid-October, after a bout of heavy frost, so heavy there was thick morning ice on the windscreen of the little Fiat Panda, I’d have thought the bees would be safely ensconced in their hives for the duration. Not a bit of it: come the warm mid-day sun, and the Mahonia, rampant in our front…
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Waiting for the rain
After a prolonged wet spell, when we yearned for the simple protection of a veranda over our heads, so that we could enjoy the outdoors in relative comfort, May turned dry and the friendly builders installed both frame and glass panels of the Simplicity 6 system. Plants in their outdoor pots began to wither before…
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On a clear day . . . you can see
Forever is a long way, but early yesterday afternoon we stood on the western seashore of mainland Scotland and looked across the Irish Sea, beyond the granite island of Ailsa Craig where all good curling stones come from, to see Northern Ireland beyond on its left, and the Mull of Kintyre a bit closer behind…
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As neat as ever you please
Our new builder friend, who’ll be a neighbour just as soon as their own house build starts two doors down, is working with us on a few jobs we’ve been thinking about over these past months while we settle in to our new home. These new patio blocks will, eventually, when we collect enough shekels,…
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The gentle rain from heaven
You wouldn’t know it from the concrete blocks of the patio, but the glass-topped table has a telltale reveal: rain fell last night. It does feel, as Portia opined in her famous ‘Quality of Mercy’ speech, as if the mercy that gives us a respite from this prolonged dry spell has come upon us unstrained,…
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Catching up is good . . .
I think that moving is especially fraught because everything is in disarray, all around, and it feels like you just can’t settle down to a normal task. It’s all just accommodating to the new space, putting things here and then then, and then back again. Testing out new living arrangements, fixing a few things that…
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When snow is light, fluffy, pretty . . .
The snowfall was off and on last night, and the flakes began to fall again late this morning. It’ll put folks off the resumed LING Lunch, perhaps, but for those of us who know a bit more about the trials and tribulations of snow, this soft and gentle fall could only be pretty and pleasing.…
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When life’s fraught, and there’s a momentary break in the clouds
It’s been a busy couple of days, but mostly filled with increasing anxiety about the immediate future. Will the house sale go through? Will the anticipated surgery actually happen, for our own surgeon daughter, so she can keep working for the NHS? Will we get everything ready for the imminent arrival of family? Will there…
Roads to Joy 