How old?

Sure enough, we woke to a white world this morning, covered with about four or five inches of the most lovely snow.    We decided to go out and clear our lane before a vehicle compacted the snow and with the help of our neighbour, had soon cleared and gritted the lethal bend which usually separates us from the rest of the world.  We left the rest of the hill intact.

We walked up to take a look at the "top road", often cleared by a local farmer, but today, looking as white and unsullied as everywhere else.

It was a delight to be out in the fresh air,  in the quiet, still village where no-one but us seemed to be about.

We didn't feel like going inside and wanted to play, so we grabbed our sledge and walked over to see if our small friends fancied coming out with us.

Of course they did!  We pulled them on our sledge over to the field on the other side of the village, where everyone goes in weather like this.  It was a magical atmosphere there - almost all businesses had closed today, virtually no-one was inclined to take heroic action to go very far and so everyone was out to play.  Mums, Dads, teenagers, small children - all having fun in the snow together.  Most had plastic or wooden sledges, but some were improvising on plastic sheets, one family all sat on a lilo from last summer and one boy came down the hill sitting in a washbasket!

But after a couple of hours, one of us was feeling cold and tired.  Leaving big sister with her friends and her Daddy, who had decided to bunk off work for an hour or two (the joys of internet mean that no-one really got the day off, it seems!), we pulled the sledge back home with one tired three year old laid out flat, all of us having had great fun in the snow.

The last time it snowed like this, was 1990, when we had help clearing that bend in the lane from a small boy wrapped up warm.  He turned 25 today!!  Happy Birthday, Edward!!

Snow

I was working at home today, down in the studio where I could see that it had begun to snow.  By noon, there was a light dusting.

Half an hour later, the dusting was more of an even covering and the email arrived, cancelling my meeting tomorrow.  That came as a relief!

By three o'clock, things were looking pretty and the world outside was peaceful and silent.  The snow was still falling.

By four thirty and the onset of dusk, we looked out on a completely white world - or rather, a blue one.  Earlier in the week, I marvelled at Terry's blog photograph and her story of a very similar snowy day in Oregon.  Never did I realise that only days later, we would experience similar conditions here in mild, medium South West England!

Yes, that light is absolutely magical and I am thrilled that I was able to capture it on my camera.

Tonight we're staying warm in front of the stove, filled with anticipation about what tomorrow morning will bring.  The forecast is for more snow - a lot more snow.  Watch this space!

Up early

Getting back into our normal everyday routine means getting up a little earlier than we have been doing.  Not that we're stay-in-beds here in this household of larks, but today's 8.30am appointment did mean that lingering in the bathroom wasn't an option this morning.

There was a reward though, in the form of the most magnificent sunrise over the valley.  Not only that, but there were layers of mist to add interest too - thin wispy stuff close at hand and thicker, white dense clouds filling the further reaches over towards the southeast.

Though the sun rose into a bright blue cloudless sky later, the temperature never rose above freezing all day.  The three young men working at our local car wash still managed a smile and a joke in spite of the cold - I preferred to sit inside by the radiator and do the crossword!

365 - a photo every day

On January 1, 2008, a group of friends suggested taking a photo every day to upload it to our blogs.  I was a bit slow in starting, with the result that I had no photograph to upload that day - I cheated and uploaded a photograph from the previous January 1st instead.  But since then, I have taken a photograph each day and posted it to my 365 blog, over on Blogger.

Somehow, I have managed to keep it going, never missing a day even though I might have to wait a couple of days to upload one or two because of a dodgy internet connection.  My aim was to create a visual diary of the year, choosing images which represented what I'd been doing and what was going on.  Some are a little oblique and mean little to anyone but me.  Many record sad times and I prefer not to go there for now - that first month in particular was especially tough.  But I'm pleased I kept the record and looking through the images provokes many more happy memories than sad ones.

I've just spent the afternoon uploading the first four months of 2009, first to Flickr and then to the archive here on my Squarespace site, creating a Pictobrowser for each month.  During the next few days, I'll try to complete the archive for 2009 - click on the 365 link above to see the photographs.

Everyday life resumed

Friends having gone home yesterday, today's job was putting Christmas back into the box.

Out went the tree

and into the boxes went all the familiar features of Christmas.

Quite therapeutic in a funny kind of way.

Let "normal" life begin again.  We're ready.