Snow and smugness

Wintery penthouse view

Now we are back in Yorkshire we don't have to endure the snowy conditions and hardship of winter in Scotland.  Although we did have our fair share of the white stuff the worse thing that  happened in Ilkley was that our local bus, we call it the collider but that's another story, hasn't been running.  So to descend the steep hill to town I've forced Mr FF to walk with me and hold onto me till we get to the flat.  The other day Ilkley was like a ghost town, the banks and post office didn't bother to open at all, trains were cancelled, even Marks and Spencer closed mid afternoon but we got supplies for ourselves and others in our building who didn't want to venture out.  It was no problem and nice to get some fresh air straight from the Baltic.
I spoke to my friend Pam who still lives in what was our village in Scotland, yes they'd had massive snow drifts, the A road to the motorway was closed at times and single track at best, no bread or milk to be had even if you could get to the local town.  Been there, done that, not doing it any more.
It has been a time for battening down and I resurrected a knitting project I started last year.  After I made my original Estuary scarf I loved it so much I planned to make several as Christmas presents, that didn't happen.  Last year I purchased 10 more balls of the lovely Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK , carted them out to Italy and carted them back again.  December in Ilkley I cast on, knitted a bit, put the scarf aside and then made many pairs of socks.  Whilst confined to the sofa by snow I forced myself to pick up the work again and last week finished another scarf which might be given away or might be mine.

I've also been devouring books this year, here is no 10 on my read list.  It is excellent but halfway through I'm not sure if it is going to end well.

How I am loving my local library, I have a long list of reservations that I add to when I have recommendations or like a review in the Sunday papers.  Fortunately the books don't all arrive at once, waiting times can vary, so generally when I pop down to return a book and pick up another.  
Can I just say that no yarn or book purchases have entered the penthouse this year though some of both have left.  I have been collecting 50p paperbacks from the charity shops to take out to Italy but that doesn't count because I keep them under the spare bed and they are destined to depart when we do.

I am calling all this a great result, the decluttering continues, speaking of which the unidentified Christmas gift from Taiwan was indeed a key ring, made in a traditional way.  MelindaJ got it right and I'd send it to her as a prize except its already gone to a better place, not saying where but they do sell paperbacks for 50p.