Issue # 85 The Miscellaneous Adventures Digest

Frosty days, working outside, a short hike, and Christmas tree hunting.

Hello there. How are you? Midwinter will soon be here - not long to go until we tip back towards the light. Hang in there.

In between storms we have been treated to several glorious frosty days. Every surface encrusted with micro crystals - the mundane made magical. Why can’t winter be like this throughout? Much better and infinitely more tolerable for working outside in than wind and rain. As the world warms and frosty days become fewer, I wonder why no-one seems to mind that not only will suffering increase but beauty will diminish. Sigh.

We have been working outside on these icy days and despite cold fingers and numb toes, we are thankful that we get to spend our days connected to the weather and seasons in ways that so many of us are deprived of. Of course, that also means enduring the worst that winter has to throw at us as well as revelling in the wonders of ice and snow…

Frosty scenes from where we were working this week

For some reason, the good weather days seem to land mid week and the bad at the weekends which has made it difficult to get into the mountains much. With howling winds and freezing temperatures predicted, we sought shelter in the valleys last Sunday and walked around Buttermere which was not especially adventurous, but it did feel good to be out walking and exploring despite the cold. Ferocious winds battered the summits; looking up we could see waterfalls being blown into reverse, with plumes of white spray reaching skyward. We hardly saw anybody else on this usually busy route. There is much to be said for walking in bad weather. We found some good hollow trees along the way too.

Solstice will soon be upon us, and Christmas too - both good reasons to bring some greenery into the house. One of the perks of working in the world of woodlands and trees is that we often know just the right spot to go Christmas tree hunting (with landowner permission of course) and we did just that one day after school this week in the fading light. I wonder whether Benji will look back on these moments as happy times, or will bemoan the fact that his parents used to drive up into the hills on sketchy forestry tracks after school to tramp through brambles and bracken in the freezing cold in search of the perfect Christmas tree instead of just buying one. I hope the former.

As an aside, trees look much smaller outside than they do when you get them home.

We also made a super short video of our tree hunting exploits which we wanted to share with you here.

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Well, that’s all from us for this week. How are you preparing for Christmas and the Solstice? We are hoping to watch the sun set and rise on the shortest day and head out for a big hike on Christmas Day, but we’ll see what the weather has in store…

With warmest wishes from the three of us,

Andrew, Emma and Benji

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