A Frosty Day!

Well, it's an awfully long time since I've posted anything on this blog, but I thought I'd have a go at resurrecting it, since I'm currently full of post-Christmas enthusiasm for eating more healthily, taking more exercise, attempting to keep the house tidier, and generally trying to be happier/more positive!

Woke this morning to find a hard frost had transformed the world into a glittering wonderland, made more magical by the mist which softened and blurred everything slightly, so I donned my warmest clothes, and set off for a walk - it was much too nice to be cooped up inside, and I am trying to get back into the routine of walking somewhere every day, even if it is only a short distance. I went down the main road that leads into town, over the canal, through the park, through the Castle Grounds alongside the River Anker, over the bridge, and into town, then back over the river (different bridge this time) and back up the hill to home. Everything looked so beautiful, so I took lots of photos.

The Coventry Canal on a frosty, misty morning, looking towards Amington
from the Glascote Road Bridge (also known as Bridge No 73, or the Anchor
Bridge, after a pub which used to stand nearby.

On the other side of the road the bridge over the canal was festooned with frost-rimed cobwebs.



 



View along the canal, from the Glascote Road Bridge, towards Kettlebrook.
There's a boat moored by the towpath, and can you see bits of ice floating
in the water.



MacGregor Park, given to Tamworth 'in perpetuity' by Victorian vicar and philanthropist
William MacGregor. It looked lovely, with the frost glittering in the sunshine, and trees
outlined against the blue sky.

This photo doesn't really show it all that well, but the fallen leaves and the grass were all edged
with frost, like sugar around the rim of a glass. But underneath each tree was a frost-free area -
perhaps the branches protect those areas, or perhaps the roots make the ground warmer.
I shall have to find out!

The Arches (there are 19 of them, carrying the railway line across the Anker Valley) looked
positively picturesque (they don't always!)

A magnificent heron, in a tree on a little island bit in the River Anker as it
runs through the Castle Grounds. There are lots of herons in and around Tamworth,
and I'm always amazed at how close they come to built-up areas and human
habitation - this one is right beside a busy carpark.
 

A  view in the Castle Grounds. I thought this looked so beautiful, I couldn't resist trying
 to capture it on camera. 

And another nice scene! I think this is a storm channel rather than a stream, but it attracts lots of
wildlife, and on a bright sunny winter day, with frost on the ground, and a slight mist, it looks
almost like a fairy tale landscape. By the time I got this far the sun had melted some of the frost,
and drops of ater water were dripping through the trees like rain!
 

AI love this shot of the bare trees against the sky. They always look quite dramatic, especially
 at this time of year hen they've shed their leaves. I think they're poplars, but I don't know a lot
about trees.

The silver birches have lost most of their old bark, and the new white 'skin' really gleamed in
the sunshine, looking even brighter against the small patches of old greenish brown bark.

Tamworth is very urban, but we are very lucky to have some lovely little green spaces, and the
Castle Grounds is just about the best. I love it here - the beauty, and the sense of history, and the
air of peace. Sadly, structures like the Snowdome, the Ankerside Shopping Centre and the
  multi-storey flats all intrude on the views, especially in winter when most of the trees are
bare, so it takes a bit of ingenuity trying to find spots where you can take photos that don't show
modern buildings.
 

Another frozen cobweb! Bridges, railings, benches and all kinds of plants were
festooned with them. If cobwebs looked like this throughout the year I'm sure
it would make us see spiders in a different light. I wish I could 'pick' these and keep them!

This yellow mahonia makes me feel happy on the dullest days, but it was amazing today -
really glowing in the sunshine.

The Castle and the Bandstand. They're not lopsided - I didn't hold  the camera straight!
The Castle dates back to Norman times, and I take lots of pictures of it because it looks
different at different times of day, and in different weather, and I love that. Today it was
very pink, which is the best I think. Sometimes it looks greyer.

The First Time...

LOTS of firsts today.

First an apology that I have not blogged for a while while getting to grips with my Open University course - then the laptop went wrong and I couldn't access my blog, gmail account, OU site or very much else.

The Man of the House (who has his good points) spent an entire day working on the computer and, hopefully, all now is now fixed - I am trying to key this in this with fingers crossed, to ensure nothing goes wrong, but it doesn't do a lot for my typing skills).

We have had the first fog of autumn since I posted my last literary effort. Two weeks ago now (October 7), and I had to drop paperwork off at the Credit Union office before it opened, so I abandoned the queues on the A5 and drove to Atherstone through Polesworth and the villages.

It was beautiful, with leaves and branches decorated with droplets of water, which glittered like diamonds as the sun began to pierce the gloom, and shining, golden showers dripped from overhanging branches.

In the fields solitary trees were transformed into twisted witches, while hedges became gnarled gnomes, and a prehistoric monster looming out of the swirling fog lost its terror as it neared, and revealed itself to be nothing more than a tractor and trailer.

A few days later we had the first frost, when cars and walls were covered in white, like icing sugar drizzled on a cake.

Then this morning I heard that the first migrating Siberian swans had arrived in the UK three weeks early which, apparently, heralds a long hard winter (don't you just love Radio 4's Today programme?)

Moving back to the OU I've attended my first day school in Birmingham (it was wonderful meeting other students and exchanging ideas) and missed my first tutorial because I got lost in Sutton on my way to the school where it took place (I know, I should be ashamed of myself as not only did I sometimes sub the Sutton paper, and really should know where places are, but it's only just down the road from Tamworth).

I've enjoyed studying the first two chapters (Cleopatra and Marlowe's Doctor Faustus)in the Reputations book, which forms the first part of The Arts Past and Present, which is a mandatory foundation course for all arts/humanities students - and I've roughed out my first assignment.

Then I managed to order air tickets online for my mother's 'flying' trip to Ireland to visit her brother. It was the first time I had done anything like this on the Internet, so I was very proud of myself - and mum was delighted with my achievement.