January thoughts.

Have you noticed that slowly the days are drawing out? With each passing 24 hours we gain a few more minutes of daylight.

Not that I mind January and the winter months. On the contrary, I find something quite cosy about snuggling indoors when it's cold and dark and wet outside.
Nevertheless, there is still a delight in signs of Spring.
A few Muscari on the kitchen window sill ....

...some cheery daffodils with our morning breakfast.

There have been some beautiful, frosty mornings this month, when the sky is bright blue and the landscape sparkly white, when ducks skid on the frozen dykes and Tiny Girlie stamps with joy to crack the ice on puddles.
There have also been mysterious days when the whole earth seems shrouded in mist and cloud so low that hair and clothes glisten with damp though there is no rain.
Yesterday was such a day. We ventured out, Tiny Girlie her mama and I and found ..... hills!
Just up the road!
Hills are a rarity here in the flat fens.
If truth be told, these were man made hills, the result of years of clay excavation for the manufacture of bricks and now a peaceful nature reserve.

But hills nevertheless and also a place to find a rich variety of fossils. This page from the nature reserve's website explains why it is such a good site for fossils.

Here an ammonite fossil.

 

Today the wind has returned.

A wind so cold and fierce, it pierces the warmest of coats.

A day to stay indoors

in a warm kitchen and make home-made granola.

This is recipe I have made many times before based on this recipe from Deliciously Ella.

Not only is the granola more healthy than many shop bought varieties, it is also, in my opinion, much more delicious.

Plus you can adjust the ingredients to suit. In this batch, I substituted some of the raisins for dried cranberries left in the cupboard from Christmas.

Delicious for breakfast ( or anytime) with yoghurt and passion fruit.

Wishing you well, whether it be cold or warm in your part of the world.


annjenny
x