Saturday 4 February 2012

The weather closes in.



Outside it is bitterly cold; the sky is grey and tiny flakes of snow are falling and look as though they will continue to fall. Maybe winter has come at last although it remains to be seen how long it intends to stay. My hens do not seem fazed by it and are all out in the field scratching for worms. The farm cats are under the pines waiting to pounce on any unsuspecting mouse that comes their way. The feeders are alive with birds stocking up on seeds in this very cold weather. I went for a very short walk - far too cold for me to walk far today.

Yesterday I forgot to take my camera when my friend W and I went to Kirby Lonsdale to meet our friends. Maybe it is just as well as the scenery was so very beautiful that I would have been spoilt for choice. As it was I just sat back and enjoyed it without constantly looking for good photo shots.
The high tops - Ingleborough and Wernside - were covered in snow that sparkled in the sunlight and seemed not to have been disturbed by human foot. The roads were dry and so quite safe and as we approached the Trough of Bowland all snow disappeared and green fields stretched out before us, lit by the hazy sun. Perfect.

Lunch at the new Bistro was absolutely delicious. Home made ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta for me and stuffed with salmon and spring onions for W. For such a small town Kirby Lonsdale has lovely shops. There are two top class Bistros serving very good food, there is a marvellous cheese shop where they sometimes have a pianist playing the piano in the shop, there are even three jewelry shops.

We had a nice mooch after our lunch, met a dear little Lakeland terrier pup who was out with him 'mum' for a spot of socialisation training, had a good look in one of the jeweller's shops in an effort to find me a necklace for a special occasion (no luck), sauntered back to the car to find that we had exactly one minute left on the parking ticket. Neither of us had given it a thought!

Today the farmer is mucking out the cow shed. He has it off to a fine art. One tractor with a bucket on the front is in the shed ready to scoop up the manure. The other tractor stands outside the gates waiting for him to tip the manure in, drive off and dump it in a pile in one of the fields, where it will steam and rot down until such time as it is spread.

I meanwhile have just had a minor panic as he made up the wood burning stove and shut it down before he went out. When I went into the room I found it was roaring away and nearly red hot as something was blocking the door, leaving it open a tiny bit and letting the draught in. I have to admit to the stove being my boss - I am definitely its servant and on this occasion I leapt into action and blocked the farmer's way as he drove out of the yard with another load. Of course he had sorted it in a minute. My hero!

This morning was the village coffee morning. What a splendid idea it is. A pound entrance, which includes unlimited coffee and biscuits (set in flasks on each table), a nice roaring fire, a raffle run by S and M each month and giving lots of prizes; and various bring and buy stalls.
But the nicest thing of all is that a huge number of the village people of all ages go to it, so that you can see and chat to people you would not otherwise see. It is a great coming together of village folk and I really do commend whoever thought it up and those, of course, who run it each month. A brilliant idea.

Two unread magazines await, as does a stove now firmly in check. So time to sign off. If you are living in the UK - keep warm.

15 comments:

Mary said...

Well your day out WAS lovely by sound of it - the food sounded fabulous and those great shops to browse in. As for lack of pics, I can use my imagination - and of course I know it was spectacular scenery, it's England for gosh sakes!!!! Nice just to sit back and enjoy the view sans a camera at times - perhaps I need to do that too!

I do love the coffee morning story - if only I lived in a small enough village to set up something like that - it's old fashioned, and so delightful to spend a little time with one's neighbors I'm sure.

Take care dear, don't be slipping and sliding on ice, snow........... or all that manure!!

Mary X

Heather said...

What a good thing you had your day out yesterday - Kirby Lonsdale sounds delightful. I like the sound of your village coffee morning - you are part of a lovely community. Your tale of the wood burning stove took me back many years to when we moved to a house with an Ideal boiler in the kitchen. I had never met one before and had to make friends with it very quickly. It was a godsend eventually.
Everything is getting whiter here!

Gwil W said...

Your weather in GB is almost spring-like. In Belgium and Holland it's -12 C on the coast. Here we've recently had -17C and in one town nearby they had -24C the other day. Although today it's -10C we have 100km gusts. So it probably feels more like -20C. They have terrible snow in Turkey, parts of Italy, Balkans etc., it even snowed in Rome! In Ukraine birds are falling out of the sky. I just saw a big flock out my window - hurriedly heading east from some odd reason! Enjoy your weather! I suspect my next Sunday's cross country race will be cancelled. You can't run 9.3kms in in -12C at my delicate age ;) or it's not healthy to run in such cold weather any age come to that.
Mary, here you can't even slip on a dog turd - it's as hard as rock! Those poor dogs!

mrsnesbitt said...

Flurry of snow here brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Pondside said...

Our newspapers tell us that there is terrible cold in Europe and that the UK is poised to endure some bad weather too. I do hope it doesn`t descend on you for too long.
Your day sounds lovely. I`m over here, with a full day ahead of me - lovely to think about how to fill it.

Rachel Phillips said...

I thought it was very funny, you and the woodburner. I laughed out loud as I read it, and you out in the yard stopping the farmer. Life in the country!

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

I know you'll think me crazy, but I'm rather envious. It's strangely warm here. We have all the doors and windows open wide. Both Edward and I are missing the cold, and of course, the snow!

H said...

I'm very pleased that you had such a lovely day. Although we would have loved to see photos, it is sometimes a release to not be looking out for shots etc, so maybe it meant you were able to relax and enjoy this particular day even more.

We are white over here and I'm not intending to leave the house unless absolutely necessary :)

John Going Gently said...

BLOODY WET HERE...NO SNOW AND ALL THE RAIN IS LYING ON TOP OF THE FROZEN SOIL!!!
boo hoo

SAS said...

So enjoyed your girl's day out, as always. Thank you.

We are having a very mild winter. Almost spring-like. I'm thinking Mother Nature is confused. I can relate.

Oh, to live in a village.

Elisabeth said...

Cold in the UK, hot here in Australia. I enjoy reading your posts for the wonderful contrasts to our life styles along the lines of the weather first and foremost. And sometimes when it's really hot here, I long for your cold and cosy inside experience and vice versa.

angryparsnip said...

What a lovely day out.
The Morning Coffee sound wonderful and I think to make iy work you do need to live in a smaller village or town.

Glad the chickens are doing fine. "mrsnebitt" had a photo of her chicken just the other day. They looked very happy.

Keep warm
cheers, parsnip

Goosey said...

What a nice blog, I have just found you and enjoyed reading your stuff.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks to all of you. Nice to welcome a new reader SAS - I will pop over to see you in a minute.
Snow - about two inches - this morning, but a fine sunny day. After all, it is February. Keep warm

MorningAJ said...

I'm looking forward to a day out in Kirkby Lonsdale when we're up there for our holidays.