Monday 20 December 2010

puzzling postmarks..........

The snow has returned and it's softer and fluffier than ever!  Our intrepid milkman (who is also a local farmer) was well prepared when he appeared yesterday evening delivering  today's milk  in his tractor.  The snow wasn't going to beat him  -  what a service!



When I went out later with the dogs I took this photograph of the greenhouse and my little snow clad  witch hazel. 



We have finally written all our Christmas cards which is quite efficient for us as some years the last ones are posted AFTER Christmas!  However, with the way the postal service has almost ground to a halt it'll probably be February before some of these cards reach their destinations!   I can't complain too much because we did get a huge bundle of mail today but one thing did puzzle me and that was the strange postmarks on some of the Christmas cards.  One card which would have been posted about five miles away was postmarked Lancashire and South Lakes while another from a neighbouring village had a Plymouth postmark and a card from Inverary was postmarked Windsor!  What is happening?  Why on earth would mail posted in Perthshire for a Perthshire address end up in various parts of England? 

This morning the sun was shining and everything was sparkling so I decided to walk to the village to post the cards and collect the newspapers.  This soft powdery snow gets into all the crevices and nooks and crannies and I thought these lodge gates suited their dusting of snow and the gate posts look like they're wearing white bobble hats!



The trees looked lovely with snow clinging to the north faces of their trunks  and I liked the way the snow helped to pick out the shapes of the stone in these walls.



I can't resist taking photographs of seedheads.  They never fail to fascinate me especially when they're frosted or snow covered.


While in the village I delivered a few Christmas cards then set off for home by a different route which was just as pretty.  I came along this road............................


..............................and then down this track which hadn't been walked on so I had the fun of making the first footprints in the snow.


I'm making our Christmas cake ( yes I know it's a bit late but this recipe works well at the last minute) and the timer has just gone off so must go!





2 comments:

  1. So it's not just me here in Blair with the weird postmarks, then. I've had 2 cards (both from just up the street) postmarked Cornwall! What on earth is going on? And I posted my cards (some beautiful ones by your good self, btw) weeks ago and nobody has received any. I was so proud of getting them in the post on time and they seem to have evanished into the air (cf. Shakespeare Macbeth/Tempest, Burns Tam O'Shanter etc.) There's something very rotten in the state of Perthshire.

    In another part of the wood, I think I should mention that I'm really enjoying your blog and its photos. Hope that Christmas cake is delish - I can almost smell it from here.

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  2. beautiful pics sweetpea. i get excited about crunching my way through new untouched snow too, love the noise and feels a bit exciting and naughty too, beaten anyone else to doing it first! childish i know. trees and seed heads look lovely. is that from the same camera you had at wedding? x

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