R's rue

Our bedroom is on the west side of our house and we have blackout curtains so we never quite know what mornings will be like until those curtains are pulled back. Some days the sun is shining and concealed birds are all a twitter. On other days, droplets of water cascade from the sky or - as we exclaim in Yorkshire - "Bugger! It's pissing it down" which is surely more evocative than merely noting the presence of rain. And this was this morning's view on December 11th - our first snow of the winter. No more than two or three inches. We thought it might hang around all day and freeze over tonight but the temperature rose above zero and by the middle of the afternoon the roads and pavements ( American: sidewalks ) were more or less clear. You can see our sheep - Beau and Peep still grazing in the snow. Beau has been with us since October 2011 but Peep arrived at Christmastime that same year. The curtains are pulled back and there they are - as faithful as the rising ...

  Two years ago today my Winnie died This was her obituary which, in retrospect is something I’m really proud of writing I’m not sad, just reflective…the old girl is worth remembering  Winifred Sâlote Tupou lV was a diva of rare proportions. She was a blog writer’s dream as her adventures over her seven years at Bwthyn Y Llan never ever needed embellishing. She was truly larger than life Larger than I ever expected from our first, rather lacklustre meeting. The meeting was September 1st 2013 I was in the middle of organising my last open Allotment Day when she arrived with her previous owner for an introduction, so our meeting was brief and , for me somewhat disappointing. All I remember thinking was that she was overly large, had no neck to speak of and looked frightened of everything but I agreed she could come a few days later for a trial run. And after that, stay she did. I think Winnie was a fully cooked five year old bulldog when she arrived and it wa...