In which an adult wearing mittens pokes ice with a stick

12 January 2009

Yesterday Suzy did me a great favour and got me out of the house for a while. I’ve been in a bit of a lazy hibernation stage recently, always finding an excuse not to go outdoors. An excuse such as: it’s -5ºC and this radiator is clearly lonely and in need of hugging.

After setting a saucepan full of chutney on the stove and leaving it in Mum’s capable hands I set off to Suzy’s for a wonderfully delicious lunch consisting of Clara’s leftover Chinese takeaway, which she was careless enough to leave unattended while she did such energetic things as horse-riding and playing squash. We scoffed all that down, rested our big fat bellies a while and then went to the local nature reserve for a late afternoon amble.

At Haysden the surface of the little lake was mostly frozen and consequently was covered with geese and gulls skating about and looking confused. In the warmer shallows the birds were quick to gather around us when it became clear that the mum and toddler next to us had brought some food for them.

Seeing as standing still apparently doesn’t actually count as exercise we left the birds after a while and set off around the lake. The walk was not without educational and scientific merit either as Suzy conducted a number of experiments to see which areas of the lake were frozen and which were not. These experiments involved: throwing stones into the lake (which evolved into us both playing a highly unskilled game of boules) and poking at the surface of the water with a variety of sticks. She was able to conclude that yes, most of it was frozen.

By the way, it’s Delurking Day today in the blogosphere. Who’s out there reading all this nonsense?

Click for the set

8 Comments Posted in: friends, photography, walks

Comments

8 Responses to “In which an adult wearing mittens pokes ice with a stick”

Lauren
12th January 2009 @ 7:16 pm

-5 is not an excuse, it is a perfectly legitimate reason ;)
Sonja
12th January 2009 @ 9:31 pm

I guess I really shouldn’t tell you how “cold” it is around here.
sharon
12th January 2009 @ 11:36 pm

The photos are beautiful. we were there the other weekend with the kids bikes and got surrounded by the wildlife. nearly went there yesterday too but swimming was voted for!
Practicalgrl
13th January 2009 @ 2:16 am

Sorry! Ok, I’ve been a lurker for a while. I discovered you through our mutual friend, RisibleGirl. I love your photos, knit stuff (I’m a knitter too! That was my little hen, Dorrie, wearing her scarf on RG’s blog!), and I love hearing about life on the Continent, it makes me homesick sometimes (I’m from originally from Prague, live in Southern California now). Ta ta
Joyce
13th January 2009 @ 5:00 am

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Joyce

http://www.videophonesguide.com
Katie.P
13th January 2009 @ 8:53 am

Hi, missed for delurking day, but better late than never. I enjoy reading your blog, your writing gets better and better.
RisibleGirl
19th January 2009 @ 6:53 pm

Oops- missed de-lurking day. Blame the puppy.

Lovely set of pictures (as usual). Have you ever taken stock of how many talents you have?
Kathy Kitrel
30th January 2009 @ 2:49 am

Hi Sara,
I too missed de-lurking day. I have been popping in and reading for a little more than a month now. I love your hotographs and your sense of humor!

Take Care!