Hoorah!!! I woke up this morning to the absolute quiet you get when it snows. It started sleeting quite early yesterday afternoon and before long we had heavy snow falling.
It stopped just before nightfall and I thought that would be it, but no, to my delight it had snowed during the night. I quickly donned my woolies, shoes and fleece, grabbed my poles and set out for the village green.
It looked enchanting. I love the snow and am never apologetic for just enjoying the picturesque views it offers. Long may it snow.
31 Days of Gratitude and today I’m grateful for enchantment.
It’s possible you may think this is something quite weird to be grateful for; an emotion, but for me enchantment is an essential quality to bring to my day. I look for the enchantment in the every day, and there is much to enchant.
I have been lucky enough to be working in North West Wales during a period of snow-fall. It’s been amazing to wake the last 2 mornings and feel the quiet – that quiet you only get when it snows…..it feels like you’re in a cocoon of cotton-wool, the air feels close and fluffy and quiet.
As soon as I woke this morning at 06:30 I opened my window and just stood looking out at the sheer beauty and whiteness of a landscape covered by a thick layer of crispy, crunchy snow already 3 or 4 inches deep. After a quick cup of tea I pulled on my winter woollies and crept quietly out the house and down to the monument. The air was still that fantastic ice-blue you get just before dawn.
ice blue
I spent at least 20 minutes just listening to the utter quiet and peacefulness. It was totally enchanting.
the monument
All too soon I had to head back indoors and get my client up and dressed et al. But as soon as all my chores were done, he was like “go, go on and enjoy the snow, just be safe” Yayyy. So once again I pulled on all my winter woollies; those layers on layers that take ages to get on and then later to get back off again….and with my poles in hand I set off….a crunchy, crispy, slippery walk uphill to the castle.
I walked via the churchyard,
the churchyard
through the village and uphill to the castle. I was not alone 🙂 There were a couple of dozen people out, some with sleds, some slipping and laughing, some bundled up you wouldn’t know who they were, others clambering about in boots.
Up on the hill the snow hung heavy in the trees and covered the roads and verges.
the church from the hill
From the castle you can normally see Shropshire, but the fields were barely visible today, and it’s snowing still…..magical, enchanting. It truly felt like I was walking through Narnia.
Montgomery Castle
Today I am grateful to the opportunities for enchantment
31 Days of Gratitude and today I’m grateful that I live in the Northern Hemisphere.
Last night I went to sleep in Wales, this morning I woke in Narnia. Yessss, it snowed during the night. hoorah!!!! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked out the window this morning. Our neighbours later commented that they had seen me out in my gown and slippers running down the road to take photos at 7:30am LOL I guess that’s a first in the neighbourhood.
Hello from Narnia 07:30
As a kid and later as an adult I remember we had snow in South Africa, but except for one year as a kid when I was about 7 or 8, and one exceptional year in 1982 when we had blizzards of snow, the most we saw of snow was on the high mountains of the Drakensburg or the peaks of the mountains in the Western Cape. They usually had snow in the hinterland or in Lesotho, but we seldom had it in the suburbs.
So when I moved to first Ireland and then the UK, I anticipated seeing snow on a regular basis. In my first year of working in the UK I remember it snowed close to Christmas. My excitement knew no bounds and whilst it hasn’t snowed every year, we have certainly had some fantastic snowfalls.
I was in transit from London to Oxford one year; 2010/2011, on an assignment and I recall with clarity that just about the whole of the UK was covered with snow….just the far south of Cornwall escaped. One year too when I was home in London we had a fantastic snowfall and my daughter and I walked all the way from St John’s Wood to Hyde Park (January 2007) to play in the snow; snowmen, snow angels, snowballs…..we had an awesome time. Another year (2010) we had and exceptionally high snowfall in London. We were living near Alexandra Park and again we traipsed, knee-deep through the snow, through the park and up the hill to the crest of the hill where we spent an hilarious few hours playing in and relishing the snow. I borrowed a sled from some kids and proceeded to make a complete ass of myself sledding….not very successfully as you will see LOL
and then as if once wasn’t enough…”I want to go again”…LOL
Too much fun. We laughed so much that day. I eventually had to give the sled back to the kids I borrowed it from, but not without regret 🙂 We did go out and buy our own sled, but as fate would have it, it never snowed like that again!!! Certainly not in our area of the hood. We eventually gave the sled away during one of our many house moves.
I was really hoping that since I’d be working up in Wales this year that I’d see snow, and this morning my wish was granted. It was thrilling beyond words to wake up to a winter wonderland.
at tad later 8:15
It was magical. As soon as I had woken my client and got him up, dressed, fed, dishes done, beds made, laundry in, cat fed and house tidied, with his permission I donned my shoes, jacket, hat and gloves and with poles in hand I walked up to the castle.
walking up to the castle
The views are under normal circumstances just breath-taking, but with snow in the trees, on the verges and covering the landscape as far as the eye could see…..it was magical. It felt like Narnia.
the village
How lucky am I!!!! 🙂
Today I am grateful that I live in the Northern Hemisphere and I am grateful that I got to see the snow 🙂 I could very well be at home and not seen any at all LOL
