Not so much a blog as a weather report! Lots of fog, freezing the air and the ground, weakening the already weak sunshine. Creating a big fat inversion layer above Loch Lomond but allowing the grandeur of the mountains to rise above.

More news next time, we're just catching up with life and activities disrupted by the winter weather and preparing for the next lot. The fire's lit, we're warm and we're getting ready for Christmas. Best wishes.

Frost and Fog on Snow and Ice

Morning sunrise, deep frost, nippy on the skin, beautiful to view. Then engulfed with fog which has ebbed and flowed across the landscape. As the blackbirds retrieve haw berries from the tree and the ground I wonder if its liking eating frozen peas, do they chew them somehow to extract the goodness? Wondering how that works. I've put more seed out for them. There's a weak sun trying to break through to warm a few parts of the ground but there are some areas which never catch the light at this time of year.

To the south and east we have blue sky, to the north and west there is deep fog, wonder which will win out today? Loch Lomond is immediately north of us and the moist air above the loch often creates a dense inversion layer, very pretty to view from the Dumpling (hill pictured below) when you see the hills in full sun rising out from the dense white/grey fog.

Yet more snow....

At 6.30am I woke to the sound of heavy rain on the window, and smiled at the thought of the slight warming outside which must have lead to this phenomenon. It didn't last long as next time we looked out of the window there were huge, fat snowflakes falling in swathes. Within a couple of hours we had fairly deep fresh snow, school was closed as none of the staff could get there and the roads were impassable for a period as the snow had fallen on top of ice which made the inclines too tricky. Another day at home - nice in so many ways but becoming a real problem for workers. The football goal with the extra bit of snow clinging to the net.

We topped up the bird feeders and sprinkled some seed on the top of the snow. The blackbirds were budging each other out of the way to get to the seed and we also had plenty of starlings, blue tits, robins and chaffinches.

We made our first ever Christmas pudding mix at the weekend and heaped it into 3 basins which have been steaming away all afternoon.

Molly made black banana loaf - a Nigel Slater recipe she was keen to try having seen it on tv last week. The 'black' being chips of chocolate. For some bizarre reason the children aren't keen on bananas but are quite happy to eat them in cake form.

I made sticky toffee puddings, one rather large one earmarked for a pre-Christmas family feast and four small ones for after dinner today.

We've been playing in the snow, Finlay is standing on the snow which has fallen from the roof. The late afternoon brought freezing fog but its great to get outside and enjoy the fresh air, however much we enjoyed all that baking.We've been to see our hens, who are not impressed at the limited amount of snow free space they can find under the hen cabin.

The new inhabitants on the farm, escaping from the fields for a while. We renovated a barn this summer so there is good space to accommodate the sheep this winter.

We've had a fine day, plenty of activity but it would be nice to get back to normal life!

Snow

Last Saturday night the first, and unusually early, snow arrived. Its truly beautiful and very very deep. As its immensely cold theres not much likelihood of the snow disappearing very soon. Bit tricky to get out and about.

Snow clinging to the branches of a corkscrew hazel, quite earie and its quite amazing that such a depth of snow can cling to skinny twigs.

The pitch of the house roof is a relatively steep 45degrees so, although the snow sits there initially, when the weight gets too much the whole lot slides in great avalanches with a humungous roar and tumbles onto the footpath. At some point on Sunday night after more heavy snow fell we were awoken by the biggest racket when a huge amount of snow came off the roof. Its exciting when you're safe and warm inside.

As school was closed a gang of us met in the local park. Great fun but pretty darn cold. There is a bit of tricky balance, its great having a bit of time off, walks out and fun in the snow, staying close to home and exploring the changed landscape...but catching up with work here and there is not ideal after day four of no school.

The beauty of Ben Lomond enhanced by the snowy scene. A complete blanket of white. The sound is also dulled and its enormously peaceful.

I'ld also just like to link here to Caireen's post at patchwork dress for some more local photos.