So busy

Just no time to to do anything. We did manage to stop for coffee last weekend though and the hills are definitely snowy, we could see this tree from Peel Farm.

Sledging

Esmé started the day off being pulled around Carnoustie while we did the shopping and enjoyed Stuart Henderson's hospitality while we dropped off a preasent from Esmé for Zenta.

After lunch we headed for the hills and the further we got from Carnoustie the thinner the snow got :(

Eventually at Esmé's favourite sledging spot, which has a long gentle run, there was around half the cover that we had at home. Initially she was insisting on going with Gwen or I, however that didn't last long. She had a great time.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring fresh snow. It didn't look like it would happen yesterday but at about 2am I looked out of the window and it was falling fast. Of course since it is late and into Christmas Eve my days are all confused now. You know what I mean, hopefully.

Christmas Holidays day1

Esmé is off and the snow is still here! In all the excitement the pictures are in the wrong order.

After weeks of enforced captivity the suns low position in the sky was all the more prominent. Despite it being the first day after the solstice there was no appreciable rise in the suns arc as it travelled from east to west. It gave only watery light during the morning at Barry Mill and the pictures there look very grey, while the brighter afternoon was filled with a drawn out and relaxed lunch at Banana Splits café. After a brief visit to the shops. Esmé and I were left to go adventure.

Esmé thought that the snow on the beach was fantastic and was desperate to see the sea frozen over. No luck yet. Craigmill Den is blocked off at both ends for no apparent reason. What's more climbing over the barriers was very hazardous! I hope Angus Council aren't planning to do anything daft as at the Fairy Steps where there is still no bridge several years on. Again climbing over the barrier and crossing on the remaining girders raises the heart beat a little.

Despite being blocked off, or maybe because of it Craigmill Den was serene just after the sun had dipped below the horizon. Esmé did admit to being a little afraid as the dark crept in and she gripped tightly to my hand.

Tomorrow if the weather remains good will hopefully bring an opportunity to sledge. I would like to be in Glen Isla or Prosen early to take some pictures, however experience tells me getting all three of us out early is unlikely. I need to get some pictures for Peel Farm. A couple of snowy ones would be nice. Hopefully the light will be better than today. Some thin cirrus clouds please.

Snow on the Tay at Kingoodie and Carnoustie

Snow! It really feels like Christmas and I am off on holiday as well double exclamation marks!! My drive back from Inchture where I work for part of the week passes several areas where the reed beds alongside the Tay are accessible. The frosty conditions make it easier to make your way amongst them. Sitting there still, watching, listening, alongside bales of cut reeds, while the birds and fish go about their business as they have since the ice retreated ten thousand years ago, brings with it a sense of the world as it should be. However, the light has remained a fairly constant grey every time I have had an opportunity to sit there. Hopefully early one morning or one evening the sky will light up and reflect from the river.

Far removed from the reed beds, but at the mouth of the same river, the Carnoustie Golf Hotel and our very own gaudy christmas lights

Sledging

The sun was shining and unusually the snow lay thick for a second day. So, we headed up to our favourite sledging haunt.

It was Cameron's first trip into 

the hills to sledge. He was defiantely setting the pace for the day, with a style all of his own!

We all had alot of fun, although I think I managed to do more falling off (taking anyone on the sledge with me at same time) than anyone else.

Spot the snowball!!!!

Is this anyway to show respect to your elders?

A first for Esmé!!!

On Thursday the snow came and it was thick and deep and nearly even. I couldn't believe the way it just kept snowing, we haven't had snow like that for ages here.

This has been the first winter that Esmé has really enjoyed the snow. In previous years the sight of snow has been accompanied by Esmé begging to go back inside, out of the cold, or crying!

This is the first snow person(it's true sex is undecided, it seems to change hour by hour!) she has ever made and she is oh so proud of it. It was a proper family effort, even James managed to hand over the camera for a while to help...lol

Go Team Anderson!!!!

Geograph of the year from last January

Thanks to everyone who voted and those who made the selections. I am really shocked and pleased to have won. What a shame that Gwen wasn't with me when I took the picture.

Since I am unlikely to be close to a mountain for some time I will enjoy reminiscing about an early start to a wonderful day. Unfortunately the sound recording of the fence didn't work. So I can't share the incredibly musical noise made by the ice as it dropped from the fence sometimes as big chunks, but always amongst a myriad of smaller slivers that stuck into the snow below making a very delicate sound.

Instead a video from the top of Mayar where as always I have circled around too quickly. Along with some other pictures I didn't post of the fence.

It's snowing.....

Wow, I know it was forecast for wintry showers, but I really didn't expect to waken up to a blanket of snow covering the garden! Esmé was utterly delighted, til the temper tantrum anyway. Ahhh to be 4 years old....

It was oh so cold, bbbrrr. Beautiful though...













We had a glorious walk last weekend in the last autumn sun, through Craigmill Den and back along the beach. It was sunny with a chill to the air, but definitely still warm enough to linger and beach comb!














In contrast, today definitely heralded arrival of winter! It was freezing, literally, we didn't even make it down to the beach!

Could we be in for a white Christmas? Who is to say, but it is guaranteed to be the number question from my pupils on Monday.
Note to self...keep an eye on those synoptic charts....