Friday 1 February 2008

February comes in with a bang .....

As January drew to a close, we have been battered by severe gales and to-day the North East of England suffered heavy and prolonged snowfall. In fact, over towards the West on high ground the news were reporting that motorists were trapped in their cars and had to be rescued, and in several towns and villages primary schools were closed. We have been warned that temperatures will drop to at least minus 5C tonight and snow and slush will freeze, causing more problems!

I am pleased to say that as far as we can see, the only damage we've had has been to the bird feeders which were smashed as they were hurled around the garden - the bird table, wooden benches and chairs etc were blown about the lawn but no tiles have come off the roof. I stayed indoors today and baked bread, teacakes and sticky buns - I would have included a picture of the sticky, spicy, fruited enriched bread goodies, but all of which were demolished by my family before 6.0pm
The heathers in my garden are beginning to colour up beautifully, it won't be long before they are a blaze of colour. Last Sunday we had a fine, sunny but cold day after three days of gale force winds and I took a few photos to show that even with all this bad weather, there are still beautiful things to look at

Pink wallflowers


Wind blowing through the bare trees in a lane near us - honestly, the branches were being lashed by the gale but this is the best photo I got!

Shrub in my garden - notice the fat little buds! Can't remember it's name, sorry


There seems to be an abundance of mole hills near where we live, thankfully, there are none in my garden - yet! I did have a mole in my garden a few years ago, and it caused havoc

Snowdrops in a neighbours gardenSpring is on the way - my daffodils have buds
Even the daisies are popping up in the grass

Despite the atrocious gales, snow and frosts, see how my little yellow patio rose has buds ready to open!

When the weather is bad, I always feel like being in the kitchen and baking - this lemon meringue pie I made on Wednesday was mouthwateringly good, even if I say so myself - there wasn't a scrap left by bedtime - whatever happened to our new year diet?

6 comments:

Whyite said...

Lovely tour of your Garden Mary. That pie looks delicious.

jaki said...

We were talking to our Nan (who lives in Kent) tonight and she was saying how bad the winds are at the moment. I hope you don't get any damage from them!

Love all your photos Mary, how lovely to be able to see that Spring is coming :)

Piondröm said...

Nice pictures you have on your blog today.
We have snowstorms one day and sunshine the other.
We have a big problem whith mole in our garden every year, They do alot of damage.
Your cake look delicius, you can almost feel the smell.
Ken

Mia said...

We have had pretty bad weather here too; strong wind and quite a bit of snow. So I will have to wait quite a while before my garden shows any signs of spring (even though before the last snowfalls a few spring bulbs did show their heads, no buds though...) And certainly now flowers to speak of. But I do long for spring.

Ewa said...

Mary,
I like your pictures and your garden. That mole picture made me really laugh!
Thank you.

Unknown said...

Hey Mary,

I'm so jealous! Not only do you have things turning green and sprouting flowers, but you have tasty treats to go along with them. Man! Only three more months of snow and cold here. Well, ok, probably two, but still... it will be April before I can even hope to see things blooming.

Save me a piece of pie. I'm gonna hang out at your house for a while. :)