First Frosty Day

Today was the first frosty day of the Autumn / Winter - and a beautifully sunny one at that.  Couldn't resist taking my new camera on the walk into work, although it did mean I took rather a long time to get there!

Out and About

February seems to have gone almost before it arrived. Not actually done much around the house / garden - it's remained rather too cold to start planting anything - there are still no daffodils out yet (I'm sure that by St David's Day last year they were almost over!).

Been really busy at work though, was down in Cardiff one week, attending a conference at St Fagans: National History Museum.

The conference was good, but it was also really interesting getting to look round some of the buildings, and spotting the bits they'd used to film Dr Who episodes! It's definitely on the list for a return visit later this year for a proper look round.

This last week was up in North Wales for a couple of days - luckily the weather stayed nice for the most part, and I could admire the snowy views on the drive, without actually getting caught in any blizzards. The road through Beddgelert was particularly stunning (should have taken the main road, but SatNav was set to shortest route and I didn't twig that it was taking me over the high ground at first!), unfortunately I didn't have time to stop for photos .

[You can (just) make out a snowy mountain in the background of this shot taken the following day from Bangor University.]

Otherwise where we are seems to have escaped any more snow - no more than an occasional dusting / hard frost anyway - just enough to provide some good photo opportunities:

Frosty Days Gone By . . .

It looks like we're in for a mild Christmas at the moment, but Monday gone was beautifully frosty. Walked into work somewhat more slowly than usual as kept stopping to take some photos. From frosty fields . . .

To icy leaves . . .

And more lovely scenery . . .

Couldn't resist this final shot, but did rather feel I was the one being watched . . .

Frosty Frosty Day . . .

It's been a cold and crisp one - time to add a frost to my weather symbols I think - although it all looked very pretty.

Unfortunately cold meant condensation, with water running off some of our windows, notably the ones in the lounge which aren't double glazed. Until we can afford some new windows we've gone with double-glazing film - plastic sheeting stretched across the window and taped in place, and then heated with a hair dryer to taughten it.

It's a bit fiddly but seems to work really well - if you look carefully you can see the water running down the window pane on the left, while the film has insulated the one on the right. At £6.99 for four windows it's a darn site cheaper than double-glazing, although it only lasts one winter obviously.

Doesn't look as odd as you'd think either!