No sooner said than undone!

What was I saying yesterday about putting away my snowflakes?! I woke today to 'severe weather warnings' on the breakfast news, which in the UK means we may have to tackle a centimetre or two of snow ...

The view from my window this morning ... brrrr! Apparently, if I had known how to use the manual settings on my camera properly, I could have achieved a photograph showing the snow as white rather than grey and one which captured the falling snowflakes too ... instead I'm afraid you'll have to make do with these rather uninspiring, bog standard snaps.

So of course, me being me, the first thing I wanted to try and do (after ramping up the central heating) was photograph the falling snow, but boy is that easier said than done! After quickly scanning a few helpful webpages, I came to the conclusion the snow would probably melt long before I'd progressed far enough in my self-tuition. Ah well, I supose there's always next year!

I have to venture to the Post Office today, so pretty though the snow may be, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a quick defrost before I have to jump into the car ... I'm not very brave when it comes to driving in adverse weather conditions and for me, even a light dusting of snow is a nail biting experience - pathetic eh? But bear in mind I didn't take my driving test until I was 42, a mere three years ago. I have a lifetime of bad weather driving experiences to catch up on before I earn the right to feel more confident.

'Buttons the Clown', complete with orange clown wig, waits patiently in my knitting basket for a birthday surprise ...

'Buttons the Clown' knitted doll was finished yesterday afternoon. I had a very pleasant time clacking away on my bamboo needles while watching the wonderful Dame Judi Dench in the BBC series 'Cranford'. (Stuart bought me the series on DVD for Christmas, on the strict understanding he wouldn't actually have to watch it with me; instead he went to the football muffled up to the eyebrows and almost froze to death - the lengths some men will go to, to avoid period costume drama eh?!) Incidentally, I took this clown picture with no flash; yes, I may be hopeless at catching falling snowflakes, but after all my Christmas practise, I can now take a fairly reasonable picture indoors, no longer bleaching out all the colours by relying on flash - aha, progress indeed! Now, if I could just work out how to light the subject so I don't have any shadows ...

A winter's morn in Maidstone!

Post-Post Office Update: I'm thinking my snow pictures may well be sneered at by those in colder climes, but for us here in the balmy South East of England, they at least prove it did snow. When the sun popped out a little while ago, I decided to shift my bum, don a pair of heavy tread boots and take a short morning constitutional (part of my 'get Paula moving in 2009' campaign!) I took the easy option of my 'point 'n shoot' camera, because it just about copes with be-gloved fumblings. What these pictures can't show is how breath stealingly bitter the wind is today; to this 'curl up in front the fire' bear maker, it felt positively arctic outside! These aren't the most interesting of pics, but they do show the beautiful snow capped North Downs in the distance and if nothing else, they give a fair representation of snow in residential Maidstone!

Slip sliding along ...