Christmas 2019.... A perfect, beautiful, Christmas day.... Cold and crisp with fresh snow....
This year, it is RAINING..... Absolutely YUCK!! We still have lots of snow, but when it freezes again, which is forecast for tomorrow, we will need skates to get around on cleared surfaces.
Bringing in the tree.....
Peace and good wishes to everyone....
Technically, it isn't winter yet, not until the solstice on December 21, but cold and snow have been advancing, retreating, then advancing again. We've had a long period of miserable, sleety, icy, rainy weather, sparsely interspersed with lovely snowfalls of big, fluffy flakes.
The temperature, hovering around the freezing mark and just below, makes the footing rather dicey if one wants to walk on any of the ploughed surfaces, and the snow is not deep enough yet for snowshoes. Thankfully, our township keeps the road in good shape and well sanded, so we can get up and down the hill, in a vehicle, or on foot, easily. A daily walk down the hill and back up provides a good cardio workout!
Today, the temperature is holding about -4C, and it is supposed to drop down into double digits tonight, so hopefully, we are heading into some nice winter weather.
The seed catalogues have been showing up in the mail. Is it just me, or are they coming earlier and earlier every year?
I retrieved my seed jar from the cool, dark recess of the cupboard under the stairs, and did an inventory so I'll be ready to order any I need to fill in my garden plans.
My ginger plant is about 6 inches high, with two leaves out, and another shoot is rising from the rhizome. I just planted a pot of oats for a friend's cat, and they should be just about right for nibbling at Christmas.
Slowly, I've been filling the cookie tins with Christmas baking, and planning a menu of meals and treats for over the Christmas holiday days. We will be interacting with folks in our 'bubble', and our son will be able to come for a few days, as he is able to work from home the few weeks left until Christmas. We are blessed to be living in an area of very low Covid cases, and the cases that do exist are quite a distance away from us. There have been none in the small villages and towns closer to home.
The deer haven't 'yarded up' yet, as the snow is not deep enough to get them on the move. They are still visiting the mineral block in front of the trail camera.
Its been a dreary week with very little sunshine. The temperature has been hovering just around the freezing mark, but today has dropped a few degrees below freezing, and is staying there. Its much nicer out with a bit of a nip in the air and is less slippery underfoot.
We've
had snow, then freezing rain, then rain, then pellets of snow, then
snow....
The snowplough put a ridge of snow across the driveway entrance that needed to be cleared.
Midweek, late one afternoon, the sky cleared and the sun sparkled through the ice and snow on the tree branches just before setting, but the next morning we were back to overcast skies.
Every day we get out and check out who has been about. The deer are dragging their feet through the snow, which is getting a few inches deep.
A nest from last summer, that had been concealed in the raspberry canes, but is now visible.
The morning sun just cresting the tree-tops to light up a beech sapling midst the hemlocks.
Snow, outlining the stone fences.
I've steamed our Christmas pudding. This year it is a carrot-potato pudding, with raisins and candied fruit.
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| Just perusing the offerings! |
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