A late spell of winter

The most snow we’ve seen in ilkley.  Definitely a knitting day.

Fortunately our penthouse is cosy, we have the heating on only 4 hours in the evening and not at all in the bedroom.  Top marks to MrFF for installing double glazing and adding extra insulation to the loft.  

The promise of better weather

 

It’s been grim for about a week, cool and often wet.  We needed rain so that was good, we’ve had enough now but it doesn’t stop.  Other weather has included hail, thunder and lightning, today there’s snow on the top of the mountain.  

It’s often the same, we think it’s fine to sow seeds, buy a few tomato plants, now we are covering tender seedlings with fleece or playing musical pots putting everything into the cellar overnight, moving everything out during the day.  

We had a Skype call with friends in Yorkshire yesterday, they sitting in their lovely garden bathed in sunshine, us indoors wearing several jumpers.  The forecast is for temperatures to improve gradually, currently its 6 degrees,  there is talk of high 20s next week, I’m wishing my life away wanting the sun back, wanting the wisteria to flower, wanting to plant up the summer pots.    I thought we could put away our jumpers and socks, I am so sick of wearing the few winter clothes I have here and been looking through my summer wardrobe with longing, I’d like a heatwave please.

Happy rain

In total we probably had two hours of rain since we arrived early July and really that made no difference whatsoever.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen the ground so dry and of course we were worried about wild fires.  When we went to the beach for Mr FF’s birthday we saw a big fire on a hillside, the helicopters and planes were dropping water and still working that evening when we left.  From our house we saw a few fires in the distance and one day the valley was full of smoke but fortunately there was nothing local.

We had various weather warning for thunderstorms but it wasn’t until Monday this week that we got proper rain and it was the best kind.  Often after a dry spell we get violent storms, damaging the garden and flooding the roads, sometimes with huge hailstones that destroy precious crops.   But this was gentle continuous downpour that lasted all day, the right kind of rain.

Of course it’s still nothing like what we need but it’s so welcome.  The temperature dropped enough for Mr FF to put on a jumper, for the first time we didn’t eat dinner outside and I returned to sleeping in the bed rather than on it.  Blue sky was back before the end of the day and the temperature is set to rise for the rest of the week but it was joyful to see the garden so refreshed.  I discovered the panorama option on the iPad camera,  I like it, you can see early evening the cloud clearing around us.

Now it Tuesday morning and the temperature has crept back up to over 20 degrees.  A quick sweep up, return the outside cushions, sun sails, table cloth and open up the house for some good fresh air after trying to keep out the heat for weeks.  It’s wonderful, we are both back into our shorts and gardening, we feel invigorated.

Stormy Sunday

I woke this morning expecting the much forecast Storm Ciara to be battering the windows and rattling the roof tiles, fortunately it was fairly quiet so I briefly imagined that it wasn’t going to be too bad.  Wrong, apparently it has been the worst storm for almost a decade.

The overnight rain must have been torrential, it was shocking to look down onto our town and see how much the River Wharfe had risen bursting out beyond the rugby club.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen the lido under water.  In many parts of our region homes and businesses are flooded again.

Mr FF and I risked a short walk out this afternoon for the newspaper, for a while the rain stopped and there was blue sky.   Water was pouring off the moors, drains were unable to cope and streets had turned to rivers, in fact roads in and out of town are closed, there are no trains or buses and shops closed early.
Now it’s dark, the rain is pouring down again and the wind has started gusting, the effect exaggerated for us up on the third floor.  The storm is due to continue through the evening, keep safe.

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.

So far so good

We are through the first two weeks of January and though we are bound to get bad weather at some stage this winter, to date everything has been very manageable with plenty of bright days, just the lightest sprinkling of snow and no really hard frosts.  I might go so far as to say it has been enjoyable though I do appreciate many people in the UK have suffered with storms and flooding, I sympathise with this greatly.

The hellebores have made an appearance, there is some colour in the garden

and plenty of things happening.  Bulbs are well through and its a delight to uncover new growth among all the fallen leaves. 

In the conservatory I have a few bulbs flowering and despite much neglect whilst I was in Italy my orchids are bursting into bloom again.

Slightly worrying for me to feel so upbeat at this time of year and as I said it could all go pear shaped but for now I am enjoying the lengthening hours of daylight and these early signs of spring.  

That's a promise

Tuesday 10 April in Scotland

our garden

So sick of this weather, I was heard to tell Mr FF


'Next  Easter I'm going to be in Italy .....  and I'm having one of those giant chocolate eggs.' 

Hopefully it will be one of these beauties from our favourite bar in the village.
It's not snowing now, today we have torrential rain, thunder and lightning.

Blackout

During the big storms our power went off and stayed off for 30 hours. Dark days indeed.
On Tuesday morning we woke to very very windy weather, probably the worst we've experienced here and as I lay in bed listening to the tiles dancing I thought the whole roof would blow away. Mr FF brought out the camping gear, our little gas stove that had difficulty warming a pan of water, our lantern whose batteries had past their use by date and gave less light than a candle, his wind up torch and our battery radio. Thus we existed for a day and a half. We opened the doors of the stove and heated simple food and water on the fire, giving everything an interesting smoky flavour. I knitted by the light of two candles, stocking stitch was all I could manage, Mr FF read with his torch and we listened to a live football match on the radio, Tuesday was a long evening. Our bedroom was Baltic but a hot water bottle each and the torch within easy reach in case we needed to get out in the night saw us settled in.
Mr FF did have the benefit of his iPad but there wasn't that much left in the battery and he said he wanted to save that in case he needed to send an emergency email. I've never heard of one of those, I thought if we had an emergency we might use the phone or go out in the car so I found little comfort in the idea that we an email in hand.
Wednesday we decided to go out for the day, we managed showers as we had loads of hot water from the stove but without the pump there wasn't much flow and I found the top of my body warmed while my legs stayed cold. It was also dark in the cubicle but as I explained to Mr FF that wasn't a problem as I know my way round my body pretty well. Getting in and out of the shower was invigorating but at least we were clean while we traipsed round a few supermarkets that were quite chilly. We ended up in the cafe in Ikea, which was relatively cosy and a plate of meatballs and mashed potato cheered me up no end but then mashed potato is my happy food. We had to resist the temptation to snuggle down into a bed in one of the room sets, watched a bit of telly in another and came home late afternoon. We practically held our breath driving home in case the village was still in darkness, the first part had power but the middle of the village was off so we didn't have great hopes as we turned off the main road where the street lights were still off towards our house. Hurray, we had power, it had been on for about an hour when we go home. Last night was bliss, heat in more than one room, light, telly, internet, proper cooking. Driving along yesterday we'd seen so much destruction, lots of trees down, fences blown away, several garden greenhouses completely destroyed. We were lucky to escape any real damage, so grateful to have our power back and still have email to spare.

Expiry Date

I don't take a blind bit of notice of expiry dates. I use my common sense and don't eat things that are obviously on the turn but if I have something that is well past its best by date I have been known to simply peel off that bit of the label and continue as normal. I remember hearing John Humphrys on Radio 4's Breakfast programme one day discussing this subject and saying that yoghurt was no good till it was weeks past it's expiry date and just about blowing the lid of the carton. I agree.

So I was amused to see in the local diy/garden centre this week that some perennials (and there is possibly a clue in the name) had been reduced from £2.99 to 50p because they had reached their best before date. How can plants about to spring into action and looking perfectly healthy possibly have a limited shelf life. Naturally I snapped them up and they are doing fine in the greenhouse. I have however seen a few signs that winter has now reached it's expiry date. We've had real spring weather that has done me the world of good and I can report that my favourite sheep are back in the field behind our houseI have a word with them most days. My favourite hellebore is flowering again, gorgeousand my favourite husband (so far still within his shelf life) has had his first bonfire of the season.

Grizzly weather

At the end of last year we received a lovely calender from our friends in Canada. Mr FF and I both agreed we were looking forward to March, gorgeous black bears in a blizzard. I didn't expect when I turned to this month that we'd soon be having our own version of the British Columbia weather.Yes more snow. Pam and Andrew are coming for dinner tonight but instead to attending to the duck I've been clearing the drive, bound to give me an appetite.

The forecast for the weekend is more snow, Mr FF is of course planning a trip up to Perthshire on Sunday with his walking chums and an early flight on Monday. We've been there before haven't we, I shall be knitting my much needed new socks in front of the stove.
Enjoy your weekend, with or without snow, with or without bears.

Other people's knitting

After a couple of good days in the garden last week generally tidying and willing the snowdrops to start flowering, I woke up to this on Saturday morning.
What is a girl to do but knit. Pam started this little cardigan in Patons 4 ply cotton. The colour is grape and the pattern is Mimi from Pipsqueaks by Kim Hargraves. Halfway up the back Pam decided she didn't like knitting 4 ply, I think its probably my favourite so I was happy to take over. The safety pins up the front are to mark the positions for the buttons which I don't have, there is no separate front or neck band. So back to sock knitting for a while, though I do enjoy making things for the little ones so I might start something woolly for Amelia soon, especially if the weather stays like this. While I'm waiting for my own bulbs to begin their display I treated myself to a bunch of British grown daffs, I just couldn't wait any longer.

In the bleak first day of winter

Today the solstice marks the first day of astronomical winter and the shortest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere, since the lowest recorded temperature in our little road during this cold spell is minus 15 it doesn't bode well.
Mr FF went down to Yorkshire at the weekend and though his journey home took twice the normal time he got back safe and sound, presents had been exchanged, office event attended and relax. I stayed home hoping the boiler man would arrive with the awaited spare part but he had emergencies to attend to. Our boiler is still working but not the automatic function, so this morning as usual I got up to switch the heating on whilst admiring the ice patterns on the inside of our bedroom window. Unfortunately there was a large pool of water on the boiler cupboard floor, we still have the heating working and Mr FF is hoping to investigate today. It doesn't look good and the nice boiler man is busy until at least Thursday. Hey ho, there are many people in worse situations, a neighbour has now run out of oil and the first possible delivery date in 06 January 2011, we are not living in Heathrow Airport or queuing for hours in the hope of catching a train, we are fine if a little concerned about going to Italy after Christmas.Apart from walking down into the village at the weekend to collect the papers that are left at the village hall and regularly clearing the drive, I have been no where. Which is a pity as I've rediscovered the pleasure of wearing the chullo that Mr FF brought me back from Peru many years ago. I look a complete ticket in it I admit but wearing it makes me extremely happy which will surprise a lot of people who know that I would never ever wear one of those silly paper hats from a Christmas cracker.

Hope you are waiting for Santa somewhere warm and cosy, not long now.

Me the snow and the sofa

We had so much more snow yesterday that central Scotland came to a complete standstill with motorways gridlocked, public transport cancelled and schools closed.This afternoon more than 24 hours later there are still over 1000 vehicles in the Strathclyde (our) region trapped in the snow. So I'm grateful that Mr FF and I are home and safe even though our central heating boiler broke down yesterday and its minus 10 outside. The boiler repair man is on his way, the stove is lit and I am wearing three layers, the middle one of which is cashmere so I'm fine though getting out from under the duvet this morning was a challenge with ice on the inside of our double glazed windows.

I've continued to keep the drive clear mainly because I love clearing the snow, and not for the benefit of Mr FF who is banned from going out. He was toying with the idea of a meeting in Glasgow tonight but someone more sensible has cancelled it. Besides though our drive is clear the road out of our little development looks like this.

Once I've cleared the snow, topped up the bird feeders and brought in more fuel I've been welded to the sofa with this beside me

I'm knitting a little fair isle cardy from Debbie Bliss's Family Knits. I'm not totally enamoured with the Patons Diploma Gold 4 ply I selected, the strands have a bad habit of welding themselves together as I twist them rather like mohair which doesn't make for smooth knitting. All my Christmas sock and glove orders are finished so the pressure is off, I just need to get out and deliver them when I can prise myself away from the stove.

PS at 21.34. The lovely boiler man came, said we needed a new part but managed to get the old part working for now. The house is warm, the conservatory is back above freezing, I am reduced to 2 jumpers, good boiler man.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Have you seen this Steve Martin film, it's one of my favourites, about a man struggling through the snow to get home for Thanksgiving accompanied by a slobby John Candy with whom he is forced to share hotel bedrooms and various modes of transport.

This week Mr FF seems to have been living in his own version, it goes like this.

Mr FF was due to fly to Bratislava on Monday, the arrangement was that his boss would travel up from the north east of England, I would drive Mr FF to the motorway where they would meet up and both go off for meetings before travelling to Edinburgh airport for the flight. Mr FF would fly home later in the week via a meeting in London and I would collect him from Edinburgh airport on Thursday evening. His boss would fly back to Edinburgh on Friday and drive home to Co Durham.

By Sunday looking at the snow and the forecast it was obvious to me that I wouldn't be driving anywhere on Monday but Mr FF said we'd wait and see. On Monday morning he decided to get the bus to our local town and ask his boss to collect him, a little bit out of his way but needs must. I suggested Mr FF phone his boss to see if he was on time but Mr FF dismissed this saying he'd have heard if there was a problem, he set off in winter gear with his luggage to walk the mile to the bus stop. A little while later he was home, his boss hadn't been able to get the car out of the drive and was now on the train. So Mr FF dug out our drive and our little road and drove to the airport, which wasn't a big problem except that en route he got a message to say his flight was cancelled and when I'd checked on the net the airport was closed. When I spoke to him he was being turned away from the airport car park which was impassable. At this stage a lesser (more sensible) man would have given up, oh no, Mr FF said he was going to go into the airport to see if there were any other flights and he asked me to check on line for alternatives. The quickest route I could find took about 12.5 hours and there was still the minor detail of the airport being closed so he came home and his boss got another train back again, the Bratislava trip was off.

The snow kept falling, the airport remained closed but Mr FF booked himself on a flight on Wednesday to go down to London returning Thursday using the last leg of his Bratislava flights. Again he went to the airport, again it was closed, actually it has been closed all week only opening late last night. Might have been logical to come home but Mr FF left his car at the airport, got a bus into Edinburgh and found a train to London. The train left at 10.30, he had an interesting interlude when about 8 Geordie ladies boarded at Newcastle travelling to York who plied him with a giant home baked corned beef pie, plus wine, vodka, chocolate covered strawberries and the like. Unfortunately just before Doncaster the train broke down, the passengers were decanted onto the platform and told there'd be another one shortly. The next train was already full but eventually Mr FF found one that delivered him to Kings Cross at 7.30 that evening.

Unfortunately because of the weather his meeting had been cancelled. I spoke to him that night and said I was worried about him getting home on Thursday, he said it would be no problem as he'd already checked in on line, I did mention that he'd also need to get the **** airport open. Thursday he received a text message to say his flight had been brought forward by a couple of hours, he said the airline was probably consolidating flights but I said I couldn't imagine that would happen as Edinburgh airport was still closed. I'm not 100% sure what happened over the next half day but I received a message to say that he had misread the text and his flight had actually been changed from Thursday to Friday, it was 7.30 at night and could I find him somewhere to stay.

Have you heard the joke about the man who has to take a lorry load of bricks from the north to London. He gets to the big city, stops the vehicle and asks a passer by 'is this London' 'yes' is the reply 'OK' he says 'where do you want these bricks'. Hotel, London, hello. I did eventually get him into a Premier Inn after some heated discussion between us during which he complained about the price.

So Mr FF is due to fly home this afternoon, I've cleared our drive every day, I've kept the stove lit and we are well stocked with provisions even though I haven't been out for a week. The milkman has delivered, the coal man too, haven't seen the postie for a week and it's snowing.

I hope you and yours are where you want to be this weekend. I need to get that man to retire.

Post blog note @ 18.12 He is now home and managed to pick up some fresh veggies on the way. Phew.

Be careful what you wish for

I mentioned yesterday that I wouldn't mind a bit of rain to check out my new mac, this is what we woke to this morning.

I thought it was thawing, now I'm not so sure.

Oh dear, when cosmic ordering goes wrong.

Autumn

The autumn leaves are stunning this year, we've had lots of bright sunny days that display the changing colours perfectly. Mr FF and I spent the weekend chopping down and logging an unwanted tree in the garden, makes me feel so smug that the tree was a little cutting, filled the garden nicely until it got too large and now the wood is seasoning to keep us warm some future winter.

Lovely as all this is, somehow I can't settle into the season, you might think a girl who woke to this view from her bedroom window would be up and out there. I should be clearing the tomatoes plants out of the greenhouse, planting bulbs, making my Christmas cake, enjoying lighting the stove in the afternoon, snuggling up, knitting, all those things but I'm so restless. All I'm doing is sweeping up the fallen leaves to add to the compost and trying to keep the garden going just a big longer.

The season may be changing but I'm not adapting, I'm still in summer mode. Chatting to Mr FF yesterday we discovered we'd both been thinking about Palm Springs and how fantastic it would be to spend a couple of winter months there. If only. I must stop dreaming of flip flop days and come to terms with the fact I'm wearing socks and two woolly jumpers, but oh those golden sandals and painted toe nails speak to me more than a mountain of crispy fallen leaves ever will.

Not again

The forecast heavy and disruptive snow arrived as planned, but I never expected it to be so bad. These really are new photographs and not a repeat of ones earlier this year.Mr FF flew to Dublin on business yesterday taking an early flight, he was up at 5 am and fortunately packed wellies and a snow shovel in the car. During the day I kept an eye on the weather and sent him a few reassuring messages as the snow wasn't really settling. Around 6 pm the power went off and when I phoned the help line they said there was a widespread loss of supply that they expected to restore around midnight. This wasn't a huge problem as I had the battery radio, the wood burner and whilst it was light my knitting so I boiled up some pasta on the fire and settled in. The power came on at 10 pm, went off again for about half an hour, on again and then alternated between on and off for the rest of the evening.
Mr FF phoned me just after 9.30 pm to say his flight had arrived and that though there was a lot of snow around the airport he was going to try and get home. He phoned me again about 1.5 hours later to say he had managed to get onto the ring road, a couple of miles from the airport having dug the snow off the road several times. He phoned again to say he'd tried to book into the Travel Lodge on the ring road but it was full so he would keep moving. Cut a long story short, it took him 9 hours to drive approximately 25 miles home during which time he frequently dug himself out of the snow, met up with other travellers in the same situation including a couple from our own village, watched the snow ploughs putting down grit and salt but not clearing the roads that were full of various abandoned cars, buses and lorries.

Today I've been out clearing the paths again, the snow is very heavy and clinging, it's bent over trees and brought down some branches. The power has been going on and off again, the tv station is down as is the mobile phone provider, not that I mind any of that as long as we are home and safe. It is truly horrible and big setback for my springtime garden so I am going to concentrate on these tulips that Pam sent me after her party. I need to get my body clock back to normal time as we slept from 7 am till around midday, it's not just the weather that is confused. I thought March came in like a lion and went out like a lamb not like a big fat grumpy polar bear.

Back to white

I can't believe it, the world turns back to white and my mood turns back to black.

We woke this morning to more snow, a good heavy covering and still coming down. To make matters worse we ran out of oil for the central heating on Sunday, we have been very economical and a tank full had lasted a good 15 months but over the recent extra cold spell we had put the heating on regularly.

So shivery shivery, I cancelled my dentist appointment first thing as I really didn't want to battle up our slippery road and down the back lane, I've re-arranged for a couple of weeks time so no worries.

Actually the snow isn't that bad, I easily cleared our drive, paths and feeling generous a stretch of the road helped by some melting before the temperature dropped back below freezing this afternoon. The oil delivery man got through late morning, we can have heat as needed not just in the room with the stove.

I just got used to seeing greenery again and even though I don't need to go out I feel trapped when I know I can't. More snow is forecast tomorrow, the winter weather has gone on too long so I'm concentrating on spring bulbs and smiling at this post that really made me laugh out loud when I spotted it this morning, a perfect reminder of things to come, thanks Rowena, excellent timing, made my day.