Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

...the forecasters got it spot on. . .

News Flash - Bad Weather in Scotland....Shock, Horror

According to the Scotsman today.

"METEOROLOGISTS last night said Scots will need to learn to live with the extreme weather and the chaos it has brought to the country over the past few days, as the unpredictable effects of climate change begin to bite. Experts from the Met Office told MSPs that the wetter winters and drier summers which would be visited on Scotland could bring "increased intensity of severe weather events" – such as flash flooding – in the years ahead."

Now admittedly the Scotsman has had a new editor in the last year, he came from Portsmouth on the south coast of England so he might be forgiven for allowing such tosh to be written in the paper. Admittedly we are not in the worst effected parts of Scotland's bad weather in the last 24 hours or so but this really is pure tripe. In case he doesn't realize there's been bad weather in Scotland for years. Certainly in the ten years that we've lived here there have been floods in this area that have been very bad. But nothing like the flood in the 1947.

Chilly

It was our coldest morning so far of the winter - minus 9. But with a clear blue sky, everywhere looked beautiful and everything was covered with a frost.

A Walk in the Black Forest

One of the best things about working at home is it allows me to do things when I want - sometimes. This afternoon I went out into the garden about4 p.m. and the light was fantastic. Mrs.H. was busy painting the gates, or at least she had been. "Shall we take the dogs for a walk?" No, I'm waiting for a call...Oh they'll just leave a message, let's go." So I grabbed the camera and we walked up the lane. After we chatted with the gamekeeper and his wife, two up on a quad bike, we walked on. I love our walks, we get to talk about all the issues, non issues, things of consequence, things of inconsequence and what's for dinner.

Sometimes we don't say much, although that is rare. It's lovely just walking and smelling the delicious aromas of the autumn filling the air. It's especially good in certain places where the canopy of trees seems to entrap the smell. There's one place, just near to where I took this picture this evening, where there's a wonderful peppery smell - we've never been able to work out what it is, yet comment on it several times a week when it's particularly pungent. Of course we're in that period of the year when the time between our morning and afternoon walk (when we take it) is getting less and less as the days get shorter. It's just great to grab the god days as they come along.

First Snow in the Hills

The picture at the top of the blog is apposite as we had our first dusting of snow last night. It was all but gone this morning, with just patches in the sheltered spots on our dog walk.