A pretty day and a few hellos

Such a pretty day of squeaky snow today—a thin layer which, when you step on it, 'gives' and compacts with a satisfying soft sound.

And I learned the names of two people I often see on my way home from work, plus that of the dog of one of them. The dog lady has remarked before that her lovely golden retriever seems to want to walk with me rather than with her! I'm sure it doesn't but I'm allowed to join the pack temporarily. Thank you, Dog Amber!

The other person's name I learnt today belongs to an old man who is sometimes on the same bus down the loch as me. A few weeks ago he started waving to me after I'd got off and as the bus pulled away. I would wave back. Then I started to look for him when I got on the bus. He usually sits quite far back and I usually sit quite far forward as mine is quite a short journey. I began to give him a wave if he was there. Today I thought it was time to introduce myself, so I did.

I've made a few bus friends. Some people seem always to have an open smile so if you end up sitting next to them, chat will start. Since I grew up in Lancashire, where chat starts very easily with strangers, such casual conversation-making runs in my blood. Then you get to know those people better if you see them regularly. One woman who gets on the same bus as me every Monday now saves me a seat!

A mooch about Lochgilphead

Toad and I had been going to take part in a field trip to Kerrera with the Argyll Bird Club but because of a forecast of heavy rain and strong winds it was cancelled. This meant that LSB and I could go for a mooch around Lochgilphead instead. LSB drove there and we had refreshments at the Smiddy Bistro. Then we explored homeware and arty shops working our way up Argyll Street. When We spotted a sign saying "Free coffee", LSB pressed her nose to the window (well, almost) to see what was what. Next thing we knew three people were leaning out into the rainy street urging us to come in. I wish I'd had a camera ready to get a shot of that!

We went in and found it was a drop-in meeting place, in someone's house, for SNP (Scottish National Party) supporters. We were given hot drinks and biscuits and had some friendly chat. We live in the same constituency as the group of people in this house. We didn't talk politics.

The house has a big applique hanging in the entrance hall. I took a picture of part of it.

Continuing up Argyll Street we went into another homeware shop where I splashed out on a silicon pastry brush—my natural bristle one is starting to moult, presumably like the animal it came from—and a ball of soft Indian cotton twine. Boggy Brae gardening tasks always seem to need more string.

On our way back down we stopped for tea and cake—the best chocolate and carrot cakes ever!—at Cafe 35, where I and two other friends had called in a few years ago after our trip to Knapdale to see beavers (we saw no beavers but we did have a lovely day). LSB is the carrot cake tester. I test chocolate ones. Each of these types of cake can be disappointing; those at Cafe 35 were not. The tea was good too. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area.

On the drive there and back we noted with delight the many hazel catkins dancing in the wind in the road verges and, on other tree species, the clothing of lichens that makes them look never-bare even when they're leafless in winter.

Garden wander 18 Jan 2019

I went out to kick a hole in the frozen pond edge for small birds. The shallow edge is on the right. Perhaps I needn't have bothered: there was plenty of unfrozen water in the lane pools and in the drainage channel I dug beside the dragon hedge.

Elsewhere in the garden things are popping up. The crocuses surprised me but it turns out some were flowering at the same time last year. One bunch of primroses is out. Plenty of leaves elsewhere but no other flowers. I wonder if the twiggy protection this bunch had last year from some cut plum tree branches helped it get ready to flower sooner than its pals. Snowdrop leaves are just beginning to poke through, along with pignut leaves in many cases. Lesser Celandine is gearing up, as is a speedwell, some daffodils and, of course, Ribwort Plantain rosettes.

Sweeping the drive

I use a hoe as well as a broom when sweeping our drive. Under the rhododendron hedge, the part I haven't tackled yet other than to prevent it taking over the drive entirely, wild raspberry canes thrive. They are very difficult to pull out of the crack between the tarmac and the kerbstones so I just hack them. Apart from soggy leaves, a good deal of what I was hacking, scraping and sweeping up yesterday was birch twigs that have blown off the big birch during recent windy days and nights. 

I wheel the leaves up to feed Toad's blueberry bush. It produced a few more berries last year. Deer eat most of them and do quite a lot of twig 'pruning'. Despite this the bush is getting larger. It looks as if the deer also use the bush for scratching.

Drive sweeping and blueberry bush feeding required a two hour nap afterwards!

New Year's morning 2019

I woke up before dawn (as usual in winter) and cast off the second sleeve of a jumper I've been knitting (or rather not knitting) for several years. Now it's just a case of sewing the pieces together and knitting the neckline. It might even be finished before the end of the year ;-). It'll be my New Lanark jumper because that's where I bought the wool. The pattern I used, which I'd had for over twenty years before finding what felt like the right wool for it, is Jaeger 6121D from 1989.

After breakfast number two, and with a little help from Toad shifting cut wood, I also finished the current stretch of dragon hedge slaying. The wheelbarrow and the electric crocodile dragon slayer are in the pics for scale, and woodpile 'n', where n is a large positive integer, is sorted.

In my back and knee stretching breaks I enjoyed the greenness of the mossy end of the front bank and at one point I strolled over to the self-planted hazel in the corner to see its bright but as yet unopened catkins against the blue sky. 

Under where the roe deer chewed the bark off one stem, lots of young shoots have sprung up. I might need to learn how to use them for basket making.

Now I'm ready for a big bowl of "Slater Soup" — Nigel Slater's tomato, bean and bacon stew from p163 of his book Real Food. I substituted some leftover cooked minced beef for the bacon and used red kidney beans as well as cannellini. It is very good winter food.