Around the garden and the land
In the space of a few days we've gone from a sprinkling of snow to several inches and then a melt:
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| A light sprinkling |
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| A generous covering like a cap |
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| Melting and looking like a beret at a jaunty angle! |
On Thursday morning the view from the bedroom window was like this:
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| Now you see it - the mown path is clearly visible |
By Thursday evening it looked like this:
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| Now you don't! |
The beautiful tree is one of the many oaks we have on our land and we call him the Ent Oak, courtesy of Tolkien. When we moved here 11 years ago 2 large lower branches had been cut off and some of the wood piled underneath for the wildlife. This little wood pile is home to hundreds of insects and fungi and I love the way the ivy climbs up the tree trunk.
But look a little closer and you might see someone special - the face of the green man. We bought him years ago and this seemed the perfect place for him, peeping out from the ivy, often going unnoticed but lifting our spirits when we catch sight of him. We call him Treebeard (from Lord of the Rings).
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| One of the ponds, frozen over |
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| Snow blown against a tree trunk |
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| The plake with what looks like an island of snow on top of the ice |
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| A fir cone peeping out from its snowy canopy |
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| Tea in the garden anyone? |
Esther & Kizzy
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| Kizzy's always first out of the shelters and getting impatient! She is really old and has a thinnish coat so has to wear a neck cover as well as her blanket in really cold weather |
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| Esther's more laid-back and patient, with a thick coat like a fluffy teddy bear. She's a Haflinger, a breed that originated in Austria so she is good in adverse weather conditions. |
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| She's such a Barbie-girl with her flaxen mane and tail! |
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| Phew, brekkie at last |
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| Time to play 'push the bucket around' for a while |
Now for some fun doing what horses love to do - roll!
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| I'm going down |
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| First you rub your face in the snow on one side |
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| Then you start your roll to the other side |
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| Wheeeeeeeeeee! |
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A few more rolls backwards and forwards then it's time to get back up
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Have a jolly good shake
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| Then back to the important business of eating hay in the field shelter |
The wild birds
The bird feeders have been a hive of activity.
The ducks wait patiently below for seeds to drop from the feeders
Other smaller birds watch and wait their turn from the safety of the hedge.
Brioche update
I'm now starting to learn about 2 colour brioche. It took several attempts to get the order of knitting into my head and I ripped my swatch back twice before it suddenly clicked.
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| The light side (the right side edge is uneven as I think I've slipped stitches when I shouldn't have!) |
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| The dark side |
I'm just going to practice this a bit more before I move on to shaping then it'll be time for a scarf for me.
Crochet news
There was much excitement yesterday when I received an email from Jane Crowfoot telling me that the parcel of yarn should be despatched later this week. I know the Crochet Club doesn't start until the end of February but I'm really excited about it! I still haven't started my overlay crochet cushion as I've been so absorbed in knitting brioche but I have to get it finished before then.
1 comment:
You know what? It is just sinking in that when you say "our land", you mean you have some actual land, like more than just a wee acre!
I'm starting to think you are living the dream, my friend.
Love your Haflinger. I'm going to show my daughter these beautiful photos, as she is one of those horsey girls who just can't get enough.
(And I deeply approve of your back-garden Ent. You need to hide another green man away somewhere, so they can be a regular entmoot!)
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