Sheds

Snow still lay on the ground when I woke this morning and the sky was an unpromising dull, leaden grey. Nothing to make me rush out of bed! We have a number of small outbuildings and sheds about the garden, One of the former kennels now has shelves where the apples are stored, another houses paint cans, the scaffolding tower and assorted junk. There is a garden store  full of  tools and flowerpots and a separate small freezer room with a tall and a chest freezer crammed with garden produce. A wooden shed houses the lawn mower. But the shed that we appreciate the most on days such as these is situated just outside our front door, tucked out of sight behind a rather straggly fir tree. Can you see it?

We painted it a dark colour so that it will not attract the eye.

I really dislike dank days and low light levels, the weeks around the end of January and the month of February are the lowest times in my year. But this little hut is the solution! We wrapped up against the thin falling sleet and took a shortened version of our daily walk. When we got back home Himself said, "Fancy a sauna?"

It's the best shed we've ever bought!

Just room enough for us both.

And no, should you ask, I have no intention of rolling in the snow.

Snow

This morning we woke to a light covering of snow and I wandered round the garden to take a look at the transformation that it brings.

Shrubs, flower heads and bushes were all capped in white.

The frames that support the herbaceous summer plants look skeletal in the borders. Just a few leaves of snowdrops and daffodils peeping through.

All quiet by the lake.

Duck prints all along the path!

When the sun came out we had our usual daily walk up the road. The snow was already thinning. Footprints told us that a few dog walkers had been out before us. There were also rabbit prints, a bit of excitement for the dogs!

It was lovely.

We had a takeaway for lunch, a traditional Sunday roast beef  with Yorkshire pud from the local pub.

Delicious - just the thing after a walk in the snow!

Clogs

 When we are just slipping out of the house briefly, down the path to collect the post or to the wood store for some more logs, we step out of our indoor clogs and into battered old gardening ones. We keep pairs beside all the exterior doors. The weather is poor and yesterday when we opened the kitchen door we found this bluetit taking a rest from the wind and rain inside an extremely scruffy clog belonging to Himself. We thought that it would fly away immediately but it stayed for sufficiently long for me to be concerned that it was damaged. The kitchen door has a canopy so it is a dry place to be and the little bird stayed there for quite a while as we moved past it in and out of the house. I was just starting to think that I should pick it up and check it over when it flew away.

I wore clogs as a child when playing in the garden and so did our daughters. We bought these little red ones while visiting friends in Denmark when our daughter was three. She is now forty-nine!

She loved them and staggered about in determined fashion for a while until she had mastered them, running and playing about outside. Her little sister then took them over and next in line is little sister's son.

We have had the soles replaced ready for action should he still be small enough to wear them once the virus is under control and we can enjoy family life again.

My gardening clogs by the front door, at the ready.