hailstones the size of mice

This is the rather tragic, if colourful, aftermath of a bizarre sudden hailstorm that hit us this afternoon, completely out of the blue.

I've never seen anything like it! It was incredible, standing at the window, watching it bouncing off the rooftops.

It was so loud, we could barely talk inside the house, and had to watch, marvelling, as the hailstones battered the strawberry plants, punctured holes in the rhubarb leaves, and ripped the lilac blossoms from the tree.

And then, just as suddenly, it stopped, and the sun came back out, and it seemed as good an excuse as any to don my wellies and get outside to see the damage.

I wasn't the only one taking photos (although I was the only one dressed in bright yellow wellies, bright green skirt, sparkly blue cardi, and a red polka dot scarf - a ludicrous combination that was commented on by a fellow photographer, and I'm convinced he got a sneaky picture of me as I was walking along...)

Strangely enough, I feel a lot more lively after the storm. I think thunder and lightning does that to you sometimes (when it's not scaring you so much that you have to hide under a blanket, that is). I spent much of the day before that lying in the sunshine on the living room floor, and eating cakes at the Women's Institute, so a little bit of energy was welcomed.

I used it wisely - to make chocolate cornflake nests, with chocolate eggs, and little furry chicks perched on the top, of course.

But then it went dark before I could take pictures, so you'll have to wait til tomorrow for that delightful treat (if any of them last that long, that is...)

staying in

I opened the back door to put the rubbish out this afternoon, and was greeted by this. There's a bench under there somewhere! It usually looks like this...

So, much as I love the snow, I decided that today would be an 'inside day'... Plenty of PhD, plenty of tea, hot water bottles and scarves.

I am planning a little venture out in it later... but only once all my work for the day is done, so that when I can come back I can get straight into my pjs and snuggle up on the sofa. Not a day to be out if you don't have to!

(and I know those of you who regularly have far more snow than this are probably laughing at me now! But this is really quite unusual for us over here, so it's all rather a novelty!)

Fortunately I don't *have* to be anywhere until Tuesday, so hot chocolate and treats are the order of the day for the rest of the week I think! I'd love to be sewing first, but PhD is the priority (gosh, will I ever be able to stop saying that?? Soon!), so no sewing for the time being...

Maybe a little Christmas card crafting later though...

More snow

Well, I know I promised no more snow pictures, but really, how can I resist?? And this is just a little nothing-much post to test out my return to the old blog editor - the new one pretty much defeated me yesterday!

This picture was actually taken yesterday, looking over the bowling green in the park as the sun was setting. The snow wasn't that deep there, and anyway, it's been melting and refreezing all week, and I thought we were seeing the last of it.

Well, this is the view from the living room window first thing this morning, and it hasn't stopped snowing since.

Obviously, that meant abandoning plans to rescue the van from the garage, and instead togging up and heading out for a Snowy Adventure. Or three Snowy Adventures, to be precise.

I never get bored of trees in the snow. This light isn't brilliant, because it was still snowing, and rather grey and gloomy, but I think the gravestones add to the atmosphere... (and is that far enough away to avoid being disrespectful??)

Anyway, I think tomorrow will bring more wanderings through the woods in the snow, and so probably more snowy pictures. There's also an awful lot of crafting going on round here, which I still can't reveal, and a fair bit of pondering plans for the year, and seeing friends.

There's also been a little bit of proper garden planning, like with a tape measure and graph paper (yes, in the snow), and even tracing paper. Like being back at school again. But I've got big plans for our tiny garden this year. I might even share this graph-paper-and-scribbles plan if I can get it to look vaguely recognisable.

If there's anyone out there keeping track (mother??), we've now been without central heating for 8 weeks and 4 days. Not that I'm counting. More on that later this week too.

But for now? More snowy trees I reckon.

White Christmas!

This is my first White Christmas! And oh, it's exciting. Very exciting.

It's snowed on and off all week, making festive preparations extremely festive. This just isn't normal round here, and that makes it even more great.

Sadly, we did have to cancel our holiday plans. Our van couldn't even get out of our street, so driving 500 miles to the far north of Scotland we thought might be a bit ambitious... But you know what? Now we've decided to stay at home, it's fun. Lots of fun.

There's been lots of decorating, a bit of visiting, plenty of baking, and huge amounts of sewing. We're just about ready. Of course, there's bits of presents that will need finishing off tomorrow. And the cake isn't iced. And I haven't even finished half of the presents for people i won't see for a couple of weeks.

But the important things are done, and we're just settling down to watch Scrooge with a hot chocolate.

Tomorrow's going to involve unwrapping, baking, icing, cooking, eating, and chatting. And another snowy walk I reckon.

Nearly there...

Well, get this, we can't find the Christmas tree. Yep, we've lost the Christmas tree. The plastic Christmas tree that's older than me, and has been up ever year for as long as I can remember. I can't decide if I eventually managed to get rid of it in last year's attempt at purging the house of 'stuff' (hmm), or if it's just hiding somewhere.

So instead, we have Mystic Branch. We had Mystic Branch in the kitchen last year, as well as the Christmas tree, but the kitchen Mystic Branch never got taken down, and I wanted to put something new up. So now the living room has its own Mystic Branch. And very lovely it is too.

Other than decorating, it's been a busy week (I should stop saying that, I seem to say it every week, this must just be normal!). I popped over on the train to see my sister and her family. We had a cold walk along the sea front. I love living in the hills, but oh, how I wish sometimes I could transplant this entire city to the seaside! It was good to have a bit of sea air. And to see everyone, of course.

I managed to get a bit of crocheting in on the train. I LOVE crocheting on the train, it's so practical, you can stare out of the window at the same time, it's not all elbows like knitting, and if you drop it all, you can just pick it up again without losing all your stitches. Very good.

Anyway, I carried on and made more flowers. I'm very taken with these little flowers (and they matched my skirt nicely!)

I even managed to turn a few of them into something when I got home, although you can't see it properly as it might just end up as a present...

So, there's been decorations, a bit of visiting, a bit of present making, and even some cards. I don't think I've got round to sending Christmas cards for, oh, probably years. Of course, these ones haven't actually left the house yet, but they are still made.

I went for simple and easy, no point making life more difficult!

And last night? SNOW! I had to cycle in it, and was rather inclined to be grumpy about it, worrying that it would still be here on Monday, and my boss would want me to drive in it... But I've decided to take my own advice, worry about that if it happens, and get on with being childishly excited that it's nearly Christmas and it's snowing!

Frost and snow

Well, I haven't posted since January! There's been a lot going on since then. We've had a fair bit of frost...

And some heavy (for here!) snow which caused chaos for days but made the garden look very pretty! 

The sun is shining now and spring is most definitely on the way. My lettuces have started sprouting, as have the sweet peas. No sign yet of pumpkins, courgettes or nasturtiums (but then it's probably too early to have planted them!)