Minus 10°C

Posted on December 9, 2022December 9, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Chilly, Cold, cost of living crisis, Freezing, Ice, Icy, minus 10°C, Poverty, UK, Weather, WinterLeave a comment

Ice or a plastic star? Just a Christmas decoration…. Its too cold outside to go and take photos, but the frost as sparkling on the pavement earlier this evening. I’d been out to panto rehearsal, and walked across the road to the shops and I had to hold onto a handrail because it was so slippery. There was a report on this evenings TV decrying the poor standard of housing in the UK and the cost for the poorest people to heat their homes. If you want to know its 10% in France and 18% in the UK.

So tonight it’s going to be minus 10°C in places. That’s quite cold for this country.

Rain and more rain

Posted on November 21, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Bug, Cold, Forecast, Rain, Scotland, Sore throat, Tired, Water, Weather, Wet, WinterLeave a comment

It hasn’t stopped raining for the last two days, places in Scotland have had as much rain in a day as they usually have in a month. I’ve kept inside and kept my sore throat and sniffles to myself. I think the weather has bought the bad bugs out. Plus with travelling last week I’ve probably come into contact with other people who have had colds. I did a lateral flow test this morning that was negative, but instead of my usual poor sleep I’ve been totally exhausted. Anyway at this rate I’ll be building an ark!

Birds again.

Posted on November 21, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Birds, birdseed, Blackbirds, Blue tits, Doodle, Drawing, House sparrows, Life, Robins, WinterLeave a comment

Whether or not its the time if year, I’m seeing far less birds in the garden now than I did a few years ago. We always had a flock of house sparrows flitting in and out of the hedge, and blackbirds and a Robin and bluetits. Maybe some have migrated for the year. I must get some more bird food. Now the weather is getting colder they all need more support.

Leaves leave…

Posted on November 7, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, bare trees, Cold, Drawing, Etruria Industrial museum, Memory, Volunteers, WinterLeave a comment

Drawing of Etruria Industrial Museum chimney from late last winter. Soon the leaves will be gone again. The museum will hunker down in the rain or possible snow. The industrial archaeology is more visible when the surrounding trees are stripped bare. Life is a cycle, one day its bitterly cold, the next warm and comfortable. I hope to visit the museum again soon. Its run by volunteers who work hard to keep it going.

Winter ideas

Posted on November 6, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, book of Kells, Christmas, Fine Art, icons, Ideas, Life, Painting, seasonal art, WinterLeave a comment

An old drawing I did of the local church one Christmas. It’s coming up to that time if year to decide what paintings to do for Christmas. I don’t want to make them too twee. They have to be something someone would want to hang on a wall. I half want to paint little icon paintings, or maybe images taken from something like the book of Kells. It’s hard to decide, do Robins work? Or are they just things you find on a Christmas card that get brought out once a year? Who knows?

Clocks going back

Posted on October 28, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Autumn, clock change, Dark, fall back, Life, Sad, Solstice, Time, WinterLeave a comment

This morning it was dark at seven am. Tomorrow night our clocks go back an hour in the UK. On Sunday morning it will be getting light an hour earlier and we will get an extra hour in bed. Fine, but then we lose that hour in the evening, so it will be going dark at five pm.

I Hate that. I find my spark going out in the winter. I feel like a wraith wandering through the gloom. I don’t think I have SAD, but I am Sad. I wait till the sun starts to go down later every day, as the winter Solstice passes, and the returning Sun starts to cheer me up again.

Farewell summer

Posted on September 25, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Autumn, Colours, Flowers, Garden, Gardening, Hanging basket, Life, Plants, WinterLeave a comment

The flowers and plants will wilt and die over winter. Autumn is still slightly warm and they are clinging on, but I’ve noticed the delicate leaves are yellowing. I will try and get a few photos of the back yard before the hanging baskets die off. I might plant some of the more robust plants into the main garden to give them a bit more shelter to overwinter. I will miss the bright colours that have sparkled in the sunlight this summer. I know things probably will last till November. Early this year we still had a few flowers in January!

Temperature

Posted on September 17, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Autumn, Blank verse, Electricity, Environment, Gas, Keeping warm, Light, Poem, Poetry, saving, Thinking, Time, WinterLeave a comment

Here’s a bit of blank verse,

We are lucky not to be too cold.

It’s nineteen point two

A slight chill in here

Two small lights on

Saving energy?

So I have a dressing gown

Or a cardigan

To wear.

I will buy a hot water bottle.

No gas fire this autumn or winter

Central Heating?

When it’s too cold.

An electric heater otherwise.

Gas costs more than electricity here

I can’t afford double what we paid

Last year.

Well at least I’m not heating up

The environment, too much.

Sun’s up

Posted on August 30, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Autumn, Cold, Equinox, Flowers, Garden, Leaves, Pears, Photo, Plants, Random, Spring, Summer, Trees, Warm, WinterLeave a comment

Sunlight through leaves, making patterns on the kitchen wall. It would be brighter but the wall is painted a pale apple green. When there was a partial eclipse a few years ago the light hitting the wall turned into increasing crescent moon shapes as the Moon passed in front of the Sun. This time of year, before the autumn sets in, there is a lot of shade from the trees in the garden. The pear tree is casting most of the shade on the wall, and a few pears have started to fall as the morning temperature reduces. I can almost feel a chill in the air this morning.

Soon it will be the vernal? Equinox, when the day and night time are in balance in the Northern (and also Southern) Hemispheres of the Earth. That is when both day and night are exactly 12 hours long. Soon the days here will shorten, whilst they grow longer in the south. I hope the nights are not too cold, I would like the leaves to stay on the trees as long as possible. I always feel sad when they become skeletal in the winter and the long wait till spring comes round again drags on. I miss my flowers as they wilt and fade, and I find it harder to motivate myself in the dark days of winter. But that is a while away yet, so I will enjoy what is left of the summer while I can.

Memory of winter

Posted on April 12, 2022April 12, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Birds, Blossom, Cold, Flowers, Frost, later, nests, Poem, Poetry, seasons, Snow, Spring, WinterLeave a comment

The snow has gone for now

Warm winds blow from the south

Clear frosty mornings

Left behind

Rain and showers

Water the blossom and flowers

Cold chill twigs

Now wet with buds.

Birds collect bugs

and think of lining their nests

With moss and fluffy stuff

Warm and snuggled

For eggs and chicks

Farewell Winter.

See you later in the year

As the seasons turn.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Winter