Is it romantic?
Or are the words just slushy,
Like the melting snow?
It’s a difficult balance to get the words right, to express emotions without getting too sentimental or too pretentious, and just being sincere. I guess that is why so many people give up, and rely on the words of the old poets to help them out. Whatever works.
Extreme pollarding!
Praying limbs will soon grow back,
Reaching for the sky.
The last image from the recent bad weather, and melting snow. This lone tree reminded me of the Whomping Willow from Harry Potter. Fingers crossed it does recover from the extreme haircut. Maybe I will check again in the summer.
It snowed hard all night,
The morning saw it warming
And the thaw began.
I am losing the plot. The sharp-eyed may have noticed that yesterday’s blog had a stupid rhyme, not a haiku. I forgot to add the haiku! Luckily I managed a couple of half decent images from the park, so you now get the haiku that was planned for the last blog post.
3/10 – must try harder. Baker fails to concentrate in class, and his marks would substantially improve if he got his brain in gear.
The great god Thor went for a ride
upon his favourite filly.
I’m Thor he cried, the horse replied –
“You forgot your thaddle thilly”.
No, not that type of thor. Once again we seemed to be on the periphery of the really bad weather, and as soon as it had finished snowing, it started to get slushy and melt. But at least it meant I was able to get a fairly unusual image of Wollaton Hall in the winter.
Hardly a blanket.
Just a light dusting of snow
On a woodland walk.
Happy 2026, assuming you use the same calendar as I do. Yesterday I made an error of judgement. Normally, when we get a touch of snow in Nottingham, it is the Peak District to the west that gets it heavier. So We drove out to Upper Moor, hoping for a nice snowy shot, suitable for next year’s Christmas card. Virtually nothing. Not enough of nothing that it was a wasted trip, and the walk followed by a pub lunch made for a really good day, but not what I was expecting.
Then when I watched the news in the evening, it was the East that got all the snow, and I had gone in precisely the wrong direction. Still managed a couple of images, and hopefully more snow on the way.
Still fields and quiet.
Sounds deadened by soft white snow.
One stands out alone.
Looking back it seems I have a few trees in the image collection, and several minimalist ones at that. Snow or fog both work well. We have not yet had snow this winter, so this is one from last winter, taken at Strelley Hall in Nottingham.
Ice cracks underfoot.
Birds fluff their feathers for warmth.
Blue sky and cold sun.
I may have mentioned before that I prefer the cold to the hot weather. Today has been around freezing point, with clear blue skies. Difficult not to think the sun is laughing as it shines its cold light. Unfortunately no snow as yet, despite all the weather forecasts raising my hopes, so this image is from last year on Wollaton Park.
Cold days and snowfall.
Thoughts of sledging on the park,
Crowds filling the slopes
Well summer is gone in the UK, so until I am fit enough to get out and take some autumn scenes there is snow to look forward to. The challenge after every snowfall is to try and capture an image for the next year’s Chritmas cards.
What you looking at?
Don’t disturb me, I’m eating
A snack in the snow.
Apologies for the grammar, but I have a rules-based mind that will not allow me to deviate from a 5-7-5 sequence, so ‘what are you…’ was never going to fly. At least it wasn’t ‘Wat’chu looking at’. Or maybe that would be better?
Every winter, when the snow has fallen, these robins are keen to take seed from any source. They are not so timid and will happily hop on to your hand to be fed. That is an amazing experience, to be trusted by something so fragile, and when they land they are virtually weightless.
The snow falls gently,
Hiding the imperfections,
Deadening all sounds.
Apologies if it is your winter, but for me it is summer. Given the choice between snow and sun, I would choose snow every time.
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