RAINING AGAIN.

Raindrops glisten like a liberal scattering of gems. 

Purple buds turning green and beginning to open

This big beech tree has a hollow. part way up the trunk. I've seen various things in that hollow over the years - small toys, an Easter egg (from an after school club Easter egg hunt) and one winter there was a huge icicle hanging from the edge. For some time now it has been filled with beech nuts and pine cones.

The hellebores are still looking good

Looking down on the crocuses catching a glimpse of the saffron centre.

Buds ready to burst into life

Rain droplets on a partly opened flower.
Finally here are the mini drawings so far. 

Towards the end of my walk I bumped into some old friends. We chatted for a short while, which unfortunately aggravated my cough. I had been thinking about phoning them to ask if they would like to join me on my walk this morning but didn't as I left quite early. I definitely need to get better before I can have a sensible conversation with anyone without choking.

Finally here are the mini drawings so far
At the top - 9 drawings of something found in Coombe Wood - one each week.
Underneath - January and February, one drawing a day (of anything).
Each drawing is 3 cm square on a 5 cm square of water-colour paper, stained with used fruity tea bags.

I'm running out of space fast and need to make a decision on what to do with these little drawings. I'm still considering whether to use more boards or a book.

Thank you very much for visiting my blog.   

Winter Book progress.

Have a peep at my Winter Book - it is not blank any more. Some of my snow and frost photos have been printed onto transfer paper, ironed onto white mulberry paper, then stuck onto the board pages. More pages to be added - some may have pockets in. 

Flowers in the rain.

I had a very gentle walk in Coombe Wood this morning, with grey sky to begin with and then rain. 

Vibrant colours of these little irises, only a couple of inches tall.

Subtle green and white of snowdrops, now wide open, 

Tightly shut purple, yellow and white crocuses

Tiny bright buds just beginning to open

Something strange among the bushes. Maybe someone is leaving carrots for the deer to distract them from eating the pansies. 

Snowdrops are still tightly closed in shadier spots.

More tiny bright buds

An abandoned game of rugby on the lawn.

Dripping wet hellebore - wonderful shaped petals
and amazingly intricate structure in the centre.

Raindrop patterns on the pond

Old flower head by the pond. 

Thank you very much for joining me. 

Ice formations

Another cold and frosty morning. We've had a lot of rain recently and the end of the garden has been quite waterlogged. The surface of the water had frozen overnight but the water level underneath the ice had dropped leaving icy patterns still attached to the grass but suspended above the paving stones. 

Thank you very much for joining me.

Coombe Wood Walk and project updates

The crocuses are really bursting out now. 

I hope you're not bored with snowdrops.

These are so neat - like little white teardrops

while these are open and showing their green and white insides.

Curly new shoots 

There's a delicate scent coming from these tiny flowers

A delivery came today. The box made me chuckle. 

'Time to conquer the world'?

I think it might take more than these to do that!

The one-a-week and one-a-day drawings are coming along. I still have to do one for today. 

I'm going to need a different way of displaying them - perhaps a book with a month to a page?

My Winter book is temporarily on hold. I need some more of this white thready paper but they didn't have any in the Art shop, Smiths or Lorrimers. If only I could remember what it's called, I might be able to order some online.

Thank you for joining me. 

Ups and downs

It was lovely to see a pair of ducks on the pond at Coombe Wood this morning. 

The frost was melting quite quickly.

I went up the hill into the woods.

It was lovely to see the sunshine through the trees.

I had arranged to meet my daughter and three grandchildren. They joined me at the top of the hill. My my grandson found me first, hiding behind a tree. We all climbed a few more hills together looking for interesting things. My elder granddaughter found these delicate little bracket fungi.

After examining all the shelters (see an earlier post) and running up a few hills (the grandchildren, not me - I didn't manage any running) they left me to continue my walk on my own.

The sky was a beautiful blue. The remaining few golden rain tree pods shone in the sunlight.

One of the resident cats sunned itself on the bench. 

I like the cat's shadow on the back of the bench.

Snowdrops again! 

Some little flat brown mushrooms growing between the snowdrops near the hut.

Further disintegration of the Korean pine cones. I like the bobbles that have been left at the top of some of them. You only have to brush against the cones gently and they fall apart and the seeds scatter.

Sheltered by a shrub the frost melts slowly on clumps of snowdrops 

Looking up into the trees

Low winter sunshine and long shadows. 

Sun on the old fern fronds

I stopped to enjoy the robin singing and caught sight of it up in the tree. I stood and watched and took photos for quite a while. I often wonder how such a loud song comes from such a little bird.

Unfortunately I had a frustrating afternoon at the eye clinic. I've had to change back to the eye drops I was on before because the new ones didn't work.

The sunset this evening cheered me up though.

Thank you for joining me.