It’s been nearly two years since I was there last and so the other day I felt I should brush up on my mountain names. Untersberg, Gaisberg, Hoher Stauffen – they’re the important ones to know in case of being tested. I’ve also been watching the weather reports and the Föhn wind (incidentally spelled “Fön” if you’re artistic and decide that you don’t like the h any more) seems to die off at the end of this week and cooler, wetter weather might greet me. Or, of course I could run up one of those mountains whose names I know and simply find myself covered in snow.

There’s some work to be done out there, some hanging out to be done and I think glasses need to be raised to a brilliant single by a very clever client that’s been top of the charts for the past four weeks:

This is of course all dependent on my ever choosing what clothes to take with me on my trip and the way things are going, I might just be staying here, alternating my gormless stare between my wardrobe and the ORF weather report.

I have a pretty good crop out there. I’ve already brought in more than half a kilo of red and yellow cherry tomatoes, but with lots of rain and cool weather, blight was threatening. I did a pretty good job of keeping my plants dry until the afternoon where the afternoon was forecast to be dry, I fell asleep on my sofa and woke to find rain falling outside. I ran outside to tie the covers back in place (having removed them during sunny weather to allow for ripening), got quite wet, but made a difference as the rain continued to fall heavily for some time.

Unfortunately though, the blight spores spread on wet leaves and so I’m starting to see blight on the plants. The damn stuff spreads like wildfire, so I’m trying to save as many tomatoes as I can. I brought in a whole bunch a couple of days ago, carefully washed and dried them and still some of them are headed for the bin, having turned brown and bobbly (not characteristics you typically require of a tomato).

The tomatoes I’ve eaten and am managing to save are delicious though – growing your own cherry tomatoes really is a good idea. I might do it again next year, starting earlier than usual like I did this year, but having a roof for them ready and waiting for the first rains, rather than constructing an ad hoc one out of bin bags as I did this year.

There have been some wonderful evening skies recently, one in particular turning bright, startling pink in just the few moments I had turned my back to it, giving me quite a start when I turned back to the window. These pinks and blues have become quite commonplace for the moment, which is rather nice – and gives me thoughts about knocking down the houses opposite so I get a better view. But I’d lose a reader if I did that, so I’ll put that idea on the backburner for a while at least.

It’s also that time of year where the curtain in the office has to be drawn at about 6.30pm so I can actually see what’s on the screen of my computer, rather than just blinding myself with the reflected light from it. Last weekend the light coming through the window later in the evening was amazing. It was the same blinding light that we’d had at Suzy’s Come Dine With Me. Sure, you can’t see a damn thing, but if you stop worrying about little things like that and just stand in it, you’ll find it’s perfect photography light.

This is what I do when snow falls, I sit and stare out of the window at it. Then I turn back into the room and can’t see a damn thing.

We didn’t have all that much snow in the latest fall, but it was just enough to make the roads difficult. I’m hoping that it clears in time for me to finish my Christmas shopping! Russ, what do you want for Christmas?

A lot of the UK is under a layer of snow at the moment. Ours arrived Monday night and it snowed all Tuesday but didn’t settle. Then Wednesday came and the snow continued to fall and settled. Now it’s Thursday and the snow is still falling in tiny flakes from the sky, giving us about 8 inches to play with. Or just to look at while hugging the radiator indoors.

but not all day …

Just as I was bemoaning the lack of anything blogworthy and the fact I’d not yet written anything in the new year, another pile of snow came to town. Not as much as before, but enough to keep Mum off school and my head turned to the window, seriously impeding any progress I may have been trying to make with, well, anything.

I put my big 70-200mm f2.8 lens onto the camera and stood by the window to photograph the birds that came to feed – a handy side effect being that I could warm my freezing legs against the radiator at the same time. There’s a coconut half, filled with my lard and seed mixture, hanging from the laburnum outside my office window, as well as a seed feeder.

The pretty robin was more suited to the coconut, scrambling somewhat at the seed feeder, but ultimately managing to grab a seed to munch.

The sparrows are much more able at the feeder and a whole crowd of them often queue up on the branches of the tree. Either waiting patiently, or divebombing whoever’s currently in their way, depending on their level of hunger, I suppose.

Unable to think of a better retort, this sparrow simply resorts to sticking his tongue out at his mate.

This chaffinch – in need of a comb – was another regular visitor in the cold today, clearing up the seeds on the ground that the picky sparrows throw disdainfully out of the feeder.

And then there’s the blue tit. There are two of them who bounce around the laburnum, picking up invisible insects from the branches, swinging from the coconut as they feed and taking seeds from the feeder. But mostly they just flit from branch to branch so damn fast that you haven’t got much of a hope of focussing on them before they disappear from your viewfinder again.

Making treats for the birds out of melted lard, chopped up lamb and fat, mixed together with a big bunch of bird seed. The ordinary bird feeders have been refilled and when the coconut half and fir cones full of the lardy seed mixture have hardened, the birds can have those to peck at too in this cold weather.

The return of 7 Days and I started this run in the dark, in the early minutes of the first day. My goodness it was cold out there. Though it had melted a bit during the day, the snow on the lawn was still very deep to plod through. And while stationing the camera need the garage the wind had the courtesy to only blow one lump of snow off the roof and onto my head. But ain’t it all pretty out there?

All that staring out of the window yesterday worked and after some snow and even a bit of lightning in the evening, the weather gods got to work overnight and dumped six inches of snow over our house. Tree boughs and shrubs were bent under the weight of the snow, the kerria bent double, completely blocking the path to my vegetable patch.

I wish you all lived next door to me right now, as this is the best snow for snowballs I’ve ever felt. It sticks together, but doesn’t compact down to nothing. The few balls I’ve flung at the fence from the doorway have flown beautifully. Maybe I should go out there and just pelt myself with snow so as not to waste it.

[Photo set]