Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

It is absolutely Baltic here.
I think it fell to -8C last night.These picture were taken at 15.10 or so this afternoon and when it was all but dark. Tomorrow is the Winter Soltice. I worry that some tender things,like my fig tree,will be badly affected - although it tends to hate late frosts when the sap has risen.

Hopefully it is more or less dormant just now, but I won't know what damage, if any, has been done till the Spring.

Been a difficult week, our credit card got ripped off and while the card company caught it very quickly we are without a replacement until after Christmas - which is a complete pain. It is not the victimless crime people make it out to be, we're left having to change a whole host of arrangements at the busiest time of the year.

And some kind soul stole N's disabled driver pass from her car, while she was parked in a hospice car park visiting a dying friend. There are some sweethearts out there!

And the freezing weather killed of my car battery and I've had to stump up for a replacement, again at a really lousy time of the year.

So not the best of weeks!

But I managed to keep my commitments\appointments despite the loss of the car for almost couple of days.

Colin thinks I've got a collection in the poems that I've written over the past 18 months, so I look forward to getting his editor's notes to work through in the
New Year. It will be interesting to see if the more recent material is stronger, ie if I've progressed!

The second site survey of the garden went very well, although we were out in white out/freezing conditions for almost two hours and my feet have only just defrosted.
There will be loads of work to do early in the New Year writing up our bids etc.

Tomorrow I'm going to see a couple of exhibitions in town and have lunch with an old friend.

Can't say I feel very Christmassy. I am looking forward to enjoying a meal with the family, but Boxing Day is always my favourite day of the holidays. I make good turkey broth and everyone helps themselves to cold cuts and soup and I get to put my feet up!

I hope to get round all my fav bloggers before Christmas Day, but if I don't manage it please know you're in my thoughts and that I hope you'll have a happy and peaceful few days.

And here's a site worth looking at: "We are living on a dust mote suspended in a sunbeam."

It goes on:

"In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

Well said I say.