Christmas Continued

I have made various wreaths for my doors. 

For my front door

For the back door

The entrance to the Artful Garden

These are the  Christmas flower arrangements I did for the church.

Red gold and yellow are the liturgical colours for Christmas

This arrangement was in front of the lecturn

Red sandstone rocks at Coombs wood.

Blood red sandstone

Can you see the profile of a face?

I am fascinated by the patterns ice can make.

Palm leaf patterns

Reflecting the grass

This is one of my pottery birds I will be selling on my Esty site.

Tweet, tweet, aren't I sweet?

This is the lovely sunset we saw on our walk back from Kirkoswald.

Look how the cloud pattern mirrors the hills

Pennine Perfection

I had a walk along part of the Pennine Way last weekend from Alston to Garrigill. The scenery follows the South Tyne. It was tranquil and beautiful. The curlews and oyster catchers were calling and their song floated across the hills without any other man made noise to compete with.

The water in the South Tyne river is very peaty.

Fast flowing

In places there are large banks of shingle and the river diverts into small channels.

Rivulets in the South Tyne

The air quality is very good as there is lichen on the tree branches.

A tree smothered with lichen

Beautiful

Ferns are growing in the branches of this tree.

So many ferns

Moss covers the dry stone walls.

Green walls

The roots of this tree grow down the bank.

It is amazing how far down the bank the roots grow

Can you see a teddy bear in the tree trunk?

Bear with me

A view of the rolling hills with only a few isolated farms.

Rolling hills

An old farm gate.

How many people and animals have passed through this gate

Watercress in a stream.

The water needs to be flowing to make the watercress safe to eat

 A limestone enscarpement.

Giant pillars

Clouds over the moor.

How many rays can you count?

Snow on Cross Fell

I have made a wreath from small plant pots for the Artful Garden gate.

Jelly plate papers decorate the plant pots

The robin now has a nest made from what was pruned from the grape vines.

The nest is decorated with sheep's wool and willowherb seed heads

Rambling around Rome

I have been to Rome as my daughter is getting married there later this year. The wedding venue is stunning. There were lemon and Seville orange trees in the grounds.

Fresh lemons

Wrinkled Seville oranges

Cacti are growing wild even in January.

Look but don't touch

Here are some of the famous buildings in Rome.

The Colosseum

Stunning architecture

How many columns can you see?

The grandeur of Rome

I love this building

Friends Romans and countrymen

Italy is famous for its pizza and pasta.

Large or small we have them all

 This was part of Fortnum and Mason's display in Heathrow airport.

Fruity

At last the days are lengthening. This is the telescope at Jodrell Bank.

Is there anyone out out there Mr Tom

 The first snowdrops have appeared.

Always the first sign of Spring

Catkins dangling along the river bank.

Ropes of gold

We have had some dramatic skies.

Such movement and flow

As the sun is going down

Heat and Harvest

On Tuesday the temperature rose to 30C, too hot to do anything. It was over 20C from 7am in the morning when I had breakfast outside.

I have been catching up on weeding and also harvesting.

I should have weeded the herb beds when the weeds were small they are now entangled in the flowers.

Comfrey and chamomile

Dill and Calendula

I have started to harvest the garlic and the celery.

I have been told if you store celery in tinfoil it will keep it fresh

The cabbages are filling out at a steady pace and they make good coleslaw.

A large brute

The pumpkins have started to appear and have sent out long tendrils.

Give me sun and rain

The ornamental gourds are starting to grow.

Variegated

These are looking quite knobbly

The herbaceous border on the allotment is filling out with blooms.

Bonny colours

On a visit to Callendar there had been some wool bombing.

Wild child

Minion

A wooly thinker

I could tell you a yarn or two

Look at this strange fungus.

The frog

The crab

A beautiful mackerel sky.

Stunning