Goodbye to 2010!

Christmas Day 2010

Freezing fog enveloped the village, giving an eerie atmosphere, as we drove out on our way to Musselburgh for the Christmas meal.

Leaving the village.

A few miles south on the motorway we left the fog and were bathed in bright sunshine.

In this view over Loch Leven (hidden by the trees), with Benarty in the background, a low mist hangs over the water.

Beauty of ice crystals.

Due to the ongoing severe frost there has been a build up of ice crystals on the snow and they sparkle spectacularly in the sunlight or under the street light.

In the bottom right photograph it looks as if I'd spread the picnic table (yes, it is still outside!) with a lace tablecloth.

The christening!

Part of the den walk.

Rosehips in deep freeze.

Frost crystals on deadhead of vegetation.

Ice forming on the overhanging twigs at the little rapids.

Today I took Mo and the gaiters up the den on what must have been one of the coldest, sunniest days of the year. The gaiters were very successful and although I slithered and slid along the path through a layer of very powdery, frosted snow on top of the previous deep, frozen, icy layer my jeans remained dry under them, with no snow into my boots either. I just hope the fashion police weren't patrolling that particular area this afternoon.

.This winter's must-have fashion accessories.

Side view

Unzipped and opened out

Front view when worn, giving a rather smart ankle appearance!

Is this the correct way to wear this item?

In the current British Ice Age, with no sign of the two feet of snow melting and paths and roadways inches thick in ice I have been sent a pair of gaiters, as worn by all serious hill walkers, so that I can venture outside--even to the top of the garden to feed the birds is a major undertaking, ploughing through the deep powdery snow. The wellies I have abandoned as they are really too short to venture "off-piste" and they are also very slippery on ice. My boots are best but the problem was trying to keep my jeans dry and waterproof trousers collected snow underneath up over my ankles. These gaiters are the answer but my problem was with how to fit them--did the opening go to the front of my leg or the back? I tried both ways but discovered I needed to be a contortionist to fasten the zip at the back so I've settled for the front position. Strangely enough I saw a rather smart lady, in the shopping centre in Perth, wearing a pair with the fastening at the back--must be a different model!

Tomorrow I might venture down into the den with Mo, who hasn't had a walk for what seems like weeks....can't wait to test-drive these things!

Homemade Bread!

Not my most successful culinary attempt!

I was a bit annoyed when my husband went down to the village shop and came home with a loaf of bread. "I'll show him!" I said to myself and gathered all my ingredients, out of date and otherwise, and set about making a loaf in my machine. I read and re-read the instructions but the selection chart was a bit confusing (to me in my dotage) but nevertheless I got all the ingredients into the tin in the correct order, as it instructed, selected the type and size of loaf to be baked and switched on. There were fairly lengthy periods of silence followed by whirring then more silence. Eventually a delectable (?) smell pervaded the premises and I peeked in the viewing window. It was rising nicely.

Now I don't know if it was my opening the lid to push one of the paddles down properly as it was underway, as it wasn't turning to knead the dough or the fact that I had been a bit confused about the timing but if you look at the photograph (and it needs no enlarging) you'll see that it all turned out a bit of a failure. It wouldn't come out of the tin, not even with the recommended tapping, and had to be prised out, bit by bit with a plastic fish slice....and just why has it turned into soggy,brown bread when I used strong WHITE flour?

Once I buy new dried yeast and proper milk powder and not Coffeemate I shall try again. I don't give up that easily.

To-morrow the birds in this area will be flying low.

More snow photos.

Main Street.

Overhang with icicles.

Another view of Main Street with heaps of packed snow from the road apparently left to thaw on the pavement after the council scraped the roadway.

Main Street going down to join the main road leading to Perth.

Self sufficiency?

After 2 nights of extremely low temperatures and still no way out (or rather, back in) for ordinary cars, to the top part of the village I decided to dig out my bread making machine from the attic and have a go at making our own loaves. Years ago I was told, "Best leave that to the experts" but that memory had faded and I set about retrieving all the bits and bobs that go with this modern contraption, one of which was the slim manual which came with it. My enthusiasm was somewhat dampened when I discovered that my store cupboard lacked some essential ingredients for even a plain loaf. Yesterday I had acquired the "strong" flour but my dried yeast was several years out of date (should I pretend I didn't see "b.b.-05:03?)

I slithered my way down to the village shop but was unsurprised to find they didn't stock the yeast or dried skim milk powder which the recipe required. I didn't want incorrect ingredients to be the cause of my (probably) yeasty tasting, sunken loaf!

Oh well, looks like we'll have to wait for Spring (or a sudden thaw) before we can savour this culinary delight.

How deep is this snow?

Mo trying to reach the solid ground.

St Andrews day in Abernethy.

Last year after the severe snowstorm the village was cut off for almost two weeks. We were the village the council forgot. Today, one of the villagers brought in his own diggers , one a mini type, and is still busy clearing pavements and trying to make the narrow, steep streets more accessible.

It could have been a lot worse. We've had none of the winds that were forecast so there has been no drifting.

November snow.

It's still a bit early for us to be having so much snow, although much of north east Scotland and North east England have had substantial falls for a week now. This morning I was awakened by a very loud banging (I thought it was a bomb!) and a light flashing through a chink in the curtains. It continued at intervals for several hours and turned out to be a thunderstorm...in a snowstorm and must have been overhead, going by the noise....extremely bizarre.

I had been contemplating going to a show at Lanark today but did know that the forecast was for snow. It is almost as deep, but not quite ....YET...as last year., and it is snowing very heavily again.......Maybe we will get a sudden thaw! (I can dream).

Our back garden before daylight this morning.

Most of the dogs loved it, especially the two young ones.

It snowed heavily for a good few hours so all thoughts of going anywhere in the car (this is a neighbour's) were soon discarded.

In the afternoon it faired up for a time and the old "wartime spirit" came alive and our short cul-de-sac was cleared.....but are the other roads in the village, especially the brae? Oh no, it's snowing again!

Roley and Maisie clocked up a few miles with their racing around in the snow, while it was falling.

..although Roley was not too happy about this snowball which had collected on his foreleg.

This was the back garden during a break in the snow.

Spencer preferred to curl up on the sofa and ignore the weather.

Who needs a fancy bed?

What could be better than an elevated position in the sun for a wee snooze out of the way of those two annoying younger siblings?

Just perfect....

..for me and my shadow!

A bit of decorating.

I never did like the colour of the wallpaper in the kitchen when we moved to this house over 5 years ago but I have only now got down to changing things. It had been newly decorated and we don't change things till they require changing. Dogs had seen to this with little chewed bits on the skirting boards and little nibbles at the wallpaper. Some time ago I stuck vinyl flooring strips on the bottom part of the walls so no chewing there now and topped them with a narrow wooden moulding but that red/ pinkish paper up above was fading in the sunlight. (sometimes the sun shines here!) It had to go...well, had to be covered up.

I started gloss painting the wooden skirtings and door surrounds yesterday and then had to protect the parts covered, from the dogs, by opening out the puppy pen. It is taking forever to become completely dry. You can see our trusty 45 year old wooden step ladders with their record of all the colours of paint we have used over the years. I may say, I look pretty much like they do at the end of the day. I start off using gloves but they are soon discarded and I wish I had worn an old shirt over my jumper!

Swallow takes refuge beside the radiator.

The first coat of emulsion has been applied and the place looks brighter already. Some of my sundry equipment covers the kitchen table!

Luckily, one complete wall has been tiled and I am not about to change these, even although they are a dark burgundy colour so nothing needs painted there.

Second coat tomorrow then put things back on the wall and re-hang the clock.