It’s been a weird old year for weather so far.  Winter, whilst hammering the US and Canada, forcing my old boss to decide whether he needs to close the Dalhousie campus for a snow day, has largely bypassed the UK.  Thus far we’ve had a couple of hard frosts and that’s been about it.

But those frosts transform the landscape around you, bringing out the magical in the mundane.  My kids are fascinated by the grass, the fallen leaves, the patterns on the school railings.  My youngest was thrilled when I had to de-ice the car yesterday, laughing at the snow falling inside the car as I scraped the windscreen!

There’s a beautiful “Baston” sign at the heart of the village, a stone’s throw from the church and our house.  We walk past it to get to school.  My youngest was amazed to see the flowers blooming last week, yellows, reds and blues peeping out.  He was speechless when he saw these:

I couldn’t decide which made the better photo, so I give you all 3 instead.

One thing living on Shetland taught me was to enjoy the weather, whatever it brings.  Dress right, get out there and enjoy.  Sure, the weather down here Lincolnshire is a lot tamer, there’s less of the “is the house going to blow away” and “is that your trampoline flying off to Norway”? winds and more of “oh, it’s a bit nippy today, might need a coat” mildness but still. Gear up, get out, enjoy.  You’d be amazed how much gardening you can get done.