As the snow dwindled, the frost set in with the melt reforming overnight into hardened pools of ice, grey and strangely rounded, like melted candles. The paths around the fields set into uncomfortably frosty ridges. Mum and I trudged on stoically in the quest for extra steps and fancy camera angles and the family soupContinue reading “Snowdrop time”
Category Archives: walking
Whiteout?
In an ironic turn of events, the day I awoke to the photography prompt “red” I drew the curtains on a scene of the most brilliant white. Undeterred, I hustled mum into her wellies and assorted jumpers and we set out on a quest for colour. All things considered, we did not badly and theContinue reading “Whiteout?”
What counts
January always seems to bring drifts of numbers. I gather them up into neat daily stacks and string lines between the peaks to observe the trend. The daily kilo count (I stick to metric as it feels less real than imperial) hovers minutely up and down, refusing to transform to a downhill slide. My tallyContinue reading “What counts”
A dryish white season
As we waved off the last visitor of the festive season the members of Team Ruthven all felt a rest from Bacchanalian practices might be in order. Approaches differed. Keith declared the commencement of “Dryish January” and then promptly took Lachlan to the pub for a last hurrah. Mum and I took the moral highContinue reading “A dryish white season”
Low Noon
A little overnight snow brought the temperature up a touch yesterday and today there are signs of a slight thaw. The crackle and crunch as we pass has been replaced by a soft shoe shuffle. Evidence of overnight revels abound. One of the compost heap bunnies has dashed across the frozen pond top, pursued byContinue reading “Low Noon”
We are not alone
We have had two days now of hard frost, following the weekend’s snow. Keith is trudging stoically up and down with barrows of logs, manning the fires and the cats are, as ever, keeping the bed warm. With Lachlan in Edinburgh, filling in time til his exam by acting as our remote shopper (today IContinue reading “We are not alone”
Windswept and interesting
Friday was Lyra’s third birthday. It is hard to think we’ve had her for such a short time so embedded is she in our lives. Mornings without a sleepy snuffle when you come into the kitchen must have been a sorry thing indeed and what did I do for exercise before the daily field yomp??Continue reading “Windswept and interesting”
Kindling
It’s getting just a touch cooler. On Monday I lit the log burner in the evening for the first time in ages and today the chimney sweep is coming so we can finally get the living room fire going. Of logs, post Storm Arwen, there is a superabundance but I do rather miss the FinancialContinue reading “Kindling”
A middling type
Autumn, like spring, summer and winter, is definitely my favourite season. Everything just feels so much less frenetic. It is warm and sunny enough to make walking the pooch or pottering in the garden a pleasure, but there’s enough intermittent cloud cover to justify a little indoor sloth and pootering, guilt free. Lyra and IContinue reading “A middling type”
WWI and WWII
A few days of insistent downpour, and one misconceived outing in trainers which resulted in trench foot, has meant that we are back to Welly Walks. It’s a little toasty in 2 pairs of socks, but it’s very much “access all areas” so Lyra and I have been out yomping round the fields and checkingContinue reading “WWI and WWII”