With a cold sea breeze,
I started to freeze,
My feet getting wet,
A few dogs we met,
The waves were crashing
The sea was smashing,
Beach holiday?
Not today!
Back inside
By the fireside.
To get warm
Away from the storm.
A few more…
Tag: Weather
Worst day to travel?
This is the worst day to travel according to the news today. Fifteen Million people were due to visit relatives or jet away. Then it rained, and it has flooded in several places. Traffic in and out of Gatwick Airport has been seriously delayed. There are flood warnings on rivers in the south of the country. I hope people are going to get where they want to, safely. In the past it would have been snow, or ice, now its pouring with rain.
Our history
Potbank, Stoke-on-Trent. I think I drew this at the Gladstone Pottery museum last year? This was part of a ‘throw down’ held by Stoke Urban Sketchers after an afternoon of drawing in rain and shine. We were in a covered area so we could put the drawings down on the ground.
Urban sketchers usually draw outside, so we need to wrap up warm when we go out in the winter, and shelter when it’s raining or windy.
Next year I want to go out with them more often. You get to see places you might not go to otherwise.
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July at Westport lake.
It’s good to look back at old drawings as the days grow colder and shorter. Remembering warmth and colour, the view from the cafe there, then a gentle walk round the lake. Watching the place mature over the years, the trees have grown up so tall. Now Staffordshire wildlife have taken over running the site there has been a programme instigated to improve the area and make it more wildlife friendly. I saw four cormorants perched on a man made island there a couple of months ago. I thought these birds were costal, but maybe they are coming inland like gulls.
Must visit again in the near future, maybe if it snows…. Then I can re draw this scene…
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Skies and Mirrors
Skies and mirrors,
sun and snow.
Branch and leaf,
Christmas views.
Winter shining
light and star,
Moonlit glowing
Glimmer far.
Powdered frosts
Mackerel skies,
Blue and white,
Black, green and grey.
Reflected world
Earth settled,
serene
seen
See.
Rains falling heavily
We’ve been waiting all day for the rain and it’s arrived after dark, in torrents. The wind has been blowing strongly, bending trees over, waving branches, bits of twig falling on the road. There is almost a stream of water rushing past the back door. The noise of the rain drumming against the window.
In the UK we don’t have long months of cold rain or months of sunshine. We are at a position in the world where weather comes at us from all different directions. From the East we get freezing winds and snow, from the South, warm winds and heat, from the West, Atlantic storms, or high pressure keeping frost and calm weather over us, and from the North, Arctic winds and snow. And then all of that mixes up and scrambles things even more. Makes for an interesting life!
Sunrise
Soon all the leaves will be gone. A big storm is due in overnight so I guess they will be torn from the trees. My hanging baskets still have a few flowers opening in them despite the minus temperatures we have had. The sky has been lovely in the last few mornings, with gentle hints of colour, rosy glows and golden hues.
Then it will be time to cur back and prune some of the trees. Tidying up a little bit, but not enough to harm where the birds sleep. Now dawn is getting later, after 7am. It means I get to see more of them. X
Geminids
We (the Earth) is heading towards a stream of bits of rock from a comet called 3200 Phaethon. This is what causes the annual Geminid meteor shower. It is expect to peak on December the 13th and 14th. The night before is the full Moon. But the Geminids are bright and can have brilliant fireballs during the shower so they may be visible even through the moonlight. The main problem in the UK is that its often too cloudy to see things like meteor showers. I’ve often stood outside and looked for meteors, but seen nothing.on one occasion long ago we drove off into the night to see if we could get out from underneath the cloud. We drove from Stoke to Buxton and Macclesfield, but to no avail. Apparently they had a good show in Liverpool that night. But we missed it.
Meteor showers can appear at all times of the day, but are best viewed at night. As the Eath turns different bits of it can be pointing into the comet debris at different times of day. Generally they are more visible after local midnight, but one part of the world may see nothing and another part several meteors a minute. It can also be dependent on the width or narrowness of the dust stream.
Happy viewing, wrap up warm!
Remembering spring
As we sink slowly into Northern Winter, I thought I would post a picture of the spring earlier this year. The buds were starting to burst, the flowers were opening on rhododendrons. The sky was a warm blue, not the cold, grey, scudding clouds of today.
Warmer evenings, longer days… I can’t wait! I don’t want to make time rush by, but please, don’t let it be a long, cold, harsh winter. We already have flooding in South Yorkshire and parts of the South Midlands where towns like Fishlake have been inundated.
Our local pantomime is on in February, just when winter is starting to get really annoying. We are doing Aladdin this time. I’ve got a small part in it. Hopefully I won’t be falling over while I try to dance!
Snow
Snow, I’m sitting here wondering if it will or won’t. It tried to earlier on, little ice crystal shaped flecks melting on my windscreen.
So cold and chilly, even with the heating on. We don’t use our gas fire any more because it’s too old. The gas central heating boiler is due to be serviced in the morning.
Snow doesn’t happen much these days. If it does its usually in the new year for a few days. Not months like in the early 1960’s when there was snow on the ground in Britain for more than three months. When the drifts in country lanes were so deep children had to walk across fields to get to school. My hubby remembers that. When milk froze in milk bottles at school and pushed the silver lids up and off.
I remember walking to school and the snow over topped my wellies and soaked my stockinged feet. In fact I haven’t had to wear wellies (Wellington boots) for years. I miss my old blue wellies in the snow. I miss pretending to track people by looking at the tracks their shoes made….
Mallaband-Brown 