Frosty morning

We've just had the coldest night of this winter season, the weatherman said this morning. What it's given us is a glorious winter day with frosty grass and wall to wall sunshine.

R8 went back to school today. She wasn't keen on the idea of being stared at because of her two black eyes and butterfly stitches on her nose but she's mended enough and I'm confident they'll look after her.

Her nose and both eyes went through all the colours of the rainbow this weekend, from deep maroon, through shades of lilac and then into the yellows. Yesterday she came out on the long dog walk and announced that she needed a stick "to walk with because I've got a broken nose". She found herself a nice big branch, at which point Mido, who is at least 50% Labrador, got the wrong end of the stick (so to speak).

I rescued the dog from his mistake and R8 found herself a second stick for the other arm. I've never known anyone need crutches for a broken nose before. The dogs assumed the sticks were one each and strained at their leads while the 'patient' shouted "put it down" at them.

This morning's walk was a little quiet by comparison, save for the roar of tractor engines. The ground is hard enough to drive on so the farmers are all busying about doing the work that had to wait because the ground was too wet. The sheep tell me they need to come inside the building. They're probably bored of the new field they've been on since one died last week.

Ivy swathes this ancient hawthorn tree.

Underneath it evidence of someone's winter larder. I presume these are hawthorn berry pips. Presumably the fleshy outside was consumed when fresh and the nutty middles were saved for later. The pips bear the marks of teeny little teeth. I can just imagine the tiny little mouse sitting in the dip at the foreground, nibbling away, then tossing the empty shells over his shoulder. Gruffalo crumble for dessert, one assumes.