Midwinter

One of my favourite Christmas carols has always been “In the bleak midwinter”, probably because the first verse is all about a snowy landscape, but I don’t think that growing up, I ever really thought about when “midwinter” actually was.

It’s now, isn’t it?**  Yesterday was the Winter Solstice, the shortest day, and now we’re heading back to lighter nights – it seems incredible that we’ve reached that point in the year.  Christmas Eve tomorrow, Christmas Day the day after … I’m pretty much ready for Christmas now (which has got to be a first, usually I’m racing Father Christmas on Christmas Eve to see which of us will manage to get the presents under the tree first! 🙂 ) and before the Christmas celebrations start, I’m going to try to spend the next hours slowing down, taking a deep breath and to appreciate the opportunity to stop rushing around for a while!

The photos in today’s post were all taken this month and have sat on my camera roll whilst other things took priority.  It’s been lovely to go through them to write the post – especially as yet again, the wind is howling round the house and the rain is battering on the windows.  “Snow had fallen, snow on snow,” goes a line in the carol but certainly not here – we’re in for a warm (and probably windy) Christmas according to the weather forecasts.  It’s mostly frost in these photos, but I’ve enjoyed seeing the little bit of snow that we had at the beginning of the month again!

Someone has decorated a tree in Bewsey Meadows where the dog and I walk sometimes, and I love it.  Those red baubles have brought a smile to my face every time I’ve walked past them.

A delivery driver made the hearts on our driveway – quite unintentionally but my husband spotted them and took a photo.  The snow didn’t last long, but even a single snowflake makes my heart happy!  I’ve given my cousin in Canada the task of sending me photos whenever they have snow – and Lucy in Skipton as they get more snow than us – anyone, really who gets more snow that us as I have to get my snow fix from somewhere! 🙂  I was talking to my uncle in Canada the other day and he said they don’t have much snow on the ground – “but there’s still plenty of winter to go”.  He’s right.  We are only midwinter and there’s plenty of weather to come!

The last photo is of Fiddlers Ferry power station.  It used to have eight cooling towers but four of them (they would have been on the right) were demolished on 3 December.  The power station is 7.3 miles away from Winwick, according to Google maps, but we heard the sound of the towers falling and our house shook as if there had been an earthquake.  The dog goes for his hydrotherapy sessions at the kennels right next to the power station – it must have been loud there!

Thank you very much for your lovely comments and emails when I had a cold last week, and I’m sorry that some of you weren’t feeling great either.  It took a few days before I felt on top form again, but thankfully it’s all passed and I hope you’re on the mend now too!

I’ll be posting again tomorrow for Christmas Eve, but I’d like to take the opportunity now to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and if you don’t celebrate, then I wish you a joyful weekend! 🎄

** I’ve got my dates wrong – Midwinter is 3 February 2023, part way between the Winter and the Spring Solstices.  Thanks, Lucy!