Dashing Through the Snow

It’s Friday! I love Fridays. Once that last morning school run of the week’s over and done with (and there are temporary lights up at the moment so its pretty torturous) I can come home, do a few chores and get on with whatever I want to. Jay finishes early on a Friday so he goes to collect Joe from school and it means the weekend starts sometime in the late morning for me.

Today I’m writing this post about last Saturday, when it snowed and we went over to Haworth. Well, Oxenhope first as we always walk in from there.

The snow was pretty light and everywhere looked magical as we drove over the moors. The station car park at Oxenhope was very nearly full, as the Santa Special steam train was running - they couldn’t have asked for more festive weather really.

There are a lot of pictures today.

There’s something about snow that puts me on a high. It’s exciting and evocative and it takes me back to being little. Joe was the same - giddy with it all. Luckily I’d foreseen this enthusiasm and layered him up with woollens and waterproofs (he was still wet through within minutes but for once didn’t complain).

Walking through the woods and by the river made me want to re-read all those classics I love: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, The Box of Delights, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Snow Queen.

Even though it’s still autumn (and there were still leaves on the trees) there’s no disputing the fact that snow means winter. And snow in December means Christmas.

These photographs are all more or less in chronological order. So you can see that as we reached the outskirts of Haworth, the flakes were coming down thicker and faster.

There are a lot of pretty lights and decorations up and down the main street.

Of course, The Cabinet of Curiosities had made their window displays into an art form again. The picture below, by the way, is a bit steamy (my lens reacting to the sudden change in temperature once we stepped inside) but it shows The Black Bull where Bramwell Bronte used to drink. He liked gin, apparently (but also opiates). Both, along with tuberculosis, finished him off at the age of 31.

Speaking of which - I love to wander around the churchyard there. You can see the Bronte Parsonage in the photo below, along with the church in the foreground and some Mr Tumnus-worthy lamp posts.

We did a few shops; Joe chose wine gums from the sweet shop and we bought chips and ate them by the church in a bid to thaw out a bit.

Then it was back through the woods with the snow whirling fast.

The steam train left huge clouds behind it, which lingered in the freezing air. Despite Joe’s snow angels and rolling huge snowballs, we were starting to get a bit twitchy about driving home. So we tried to hurry it up a bit.

But not too much because it was all just so stunning. And, obviously, photographs.

The car didn’t want to climb the hill out of Oxenhope. In fact it slithered onto the opposite side of the road and refused to budge for a while, wheels spinning. When it finally got moving again we went at a snail’s pace, sliding from side to side. It wasn’t fun.

Fortunately, in the back Joe was otherwise engaged with his wine gums and didn’t really notice the gravity of the situation. At one point I thought we’d have to abandon the car altogether and do a cross-country walk to get home.

But we did get home.

This past week has, as usual, been a busy one.

But we’ve made time to enjoy things like films (Joe very much likes Nativity and its sequel, which we’re part way through). I binge watched Selling Sunset (I know, I know). Less shaming: have you seen the BBC programme The Wild Gardener? There are two parts, telling the story of a man coming home to Ireland and turning a patch of land his family owns into a haven for wildlife. It’s possibly one of the most relaxing and inspiring things I’ve ever watched (and it gave me serious cabin envy).

Also, I’m rewatching Little Women. I first saw it at the cinema on Skye and love the costumes and colours.

We lucked out a few days ago; Joe’s class have been learning about World War 2 and I told him about Goodnight Mister Tom. It looks like I gave my copy of the book to a charity shop but we stumbled across the TV adaptation with John Thaw on one of the ITV channels, so we’re watching that in instalments too.

I’m currently reading Wintering by Katherine May and enjoying it to the point where I’m finding it hard to put down and turn out the light late into the night. But as usual I have a few books on the go: some short stories by Joanne Harris (borrowed from the library) and The Box of Delights is waiting by the bed waiting for me to join Kay Harker on his thrilling adventures like I do every year.

This weekend we’re going to make some Christmas decorations and we’ll probably put the tree up. Joe won an art competition yesterday so has tickets to the cinema for Sunday, and Jay’s taking him. I’m planning on doing some sketching and maybe some little gouache paintings too.

I’m also considering doing a Frond & Feather photo calendar for 2023 (that sounds a long time away) so let me know if you think that’s a good idea!

Finally: we viewed two houses recently. The first was in Heptonstall and a fixer upper. Not that that scares us as we’ve renovated before. But it’s being sold by ‘modern auction’, and having read about that we don’t feel it’s worth risking a ‘non refundable’ deposit of almost £10,000. Disappointing, as we saw a lot of potential there and the views were stunning.

On Wednesday after school I took Joe for hot chocolate in the little tea room up at Heptonstall, then we met Jay and the estate agent to view another house close by. Again, a fixer upper, smaller than the first but with the potential to extend. So we put in an offer. Houses are selling very, very quickly. You have to get in fast.

Yesterday morning I went to Todmorden because I needed a few things from the wonderful hardware shop in the market hall. (Note: hardware shops are a bit of am obsession of mine - I can’t resist all that Brasso and beeswax, enamelware and candles. Plus, there was an open tin of Quality Street on the counter for customers). I also spotted some old Hornsea ‘Heirloom’ pottery outside at the flea market (20p per item!), so took some cash out of the bank and bought Homes & Antiques to get some change. While I was paying, my phone rang and it was Jay letting me know that our offer on the house had been accepted. I was shocked - happy shocked, but also cautious of getting my hopes up at such an early stage. We all know what happened with the last purchase…

I drove the five or six miles home and realised I’d left my lovely magazine in the newsagents. But never mind. Because - if things go right for us - we could have secured ourselves a new home. That would be a pretty perfect Christmas present.