there may be trouble ahead...

The weather forecasters got it right today although maybe it wasn't quite as stormy as we anticipated as the weather did improve during the afternoon but it was certainly very cold outside.  In fact the weather up in the mountains has brought about the first snows of the winter and if you look closely at the picture you can see the smattering of snow up on the top - this was taken from our roof terrace so I am guessing close up it looks pretty spectacular.

We woke to heavy rain and thunder and lightning, then sporadic storms during the morning and then sunshine in the afternoon.  What are folks to do under these circumstances?  They light the fire, snuggle up and watch the TV having some internal central heating courtesy of the remainder of the beef and orange curry which had morphed into a soup!

We were supposed to have Bassam here today putting some tiles on the flat roof underneath the railings where the rain washes away the paint and makes that area look messy but it was a job for a dry day so we put him off - the forecast for tomorrow is dry all day so hopefully it will be done then.

We had visitors, Diana kindly brought up our post from the village and John and Susan called in before they return to the UK for Christmas.  It seems like the weather all over is turning colder - friends in the UK have said it is freezing, friends in France say they are surrounded by snow!  Looking down to the coast you can see that the sea is whipped up into lots of white horses.

During a brief dry and bright spell the cats ventured from the comfort of the woodburner to outside - Chivers had just eaten some treats and god knows what they put in them but it is like he has had a massive shot of 'E' numbers and he has a mad five minutes.  Every rug in the house gets messed up as he leaps about and today he decided to shin up the mock pear tree in the field outside.  He hasn't done that in ages!  At one point he shot out onto a rather flimsy limb and was left dangling legs akimbo and looked like he was going to unexpectedly end up in a snotty heap on the grass but he recovered his composure and made a proper descent - last time I watched him doing this he had a massive magpie in his mouth!

Minzer-Moo took a stroll across the conservatory roof and headed for the PV panels - I love the picture of her with her face to the little bit of sun that we had looking like she is enjoying every minute.

John was not so thrilled about her little paw marks on the glass but now he has his custom built ladder he can get up there and give them a clean much easier than before but maybe not today when it is so cold and windy.

Stormy weather can lead to some pretty spectacular skies in the evening and we have our fingers crossed that the flaming skies tonight will lead to a dry day tomorrow so we can tick one more job off of the list of things to do - once we have made a decision to get something done I can't wait!

I plan to have a present wrapping day tomorrow - and as I haven't got too much that shouldn't take long!

John is in his element now that he is at liberty to light the wood-burner at will!

He says that is what he could call a proper fire and the ISS have confirmed that our house can indeed be seen from space!

It is at times like these that I am eternally grateful that our lounge isn't too big - never mind the fact that we have what equates to two bloody great mortuary slabs in the kitchen (great for pastry or bread making I know).

We are currently burning what John would refer to as 'crap' (sorry Mum) which means it doesn't count - it is all small stuff or driftwood or old pallets so our main wood store remains untouched.

The two new metal containers on the top (there is only one in the photograph) are brilliant because they each heat 3 litres of water which leaves me with plenty of washing up water.  Winter is not so bad here after all!