If you go down to the woods today...

More snow. To keep desperation at bay, I am taking solace from the idea that cold is cleansing, when I go outside and it is snowing, again, I no longer greet it with joyful abandon, the glamour has definitely gone. Even the kids enthusiasms are dwindling, aside from the sheer pleasure of cracking ice on puddles, the number of layers we have to put on is a challenge.

Yet collecting wood so that I can keep the house above freezing is becoming more pleasurable; buds unfurl, the snowdrops-delayed this year-are mounting a determined charge, and aconites and crocuses wink gems of colour at me from underneath hedges. And this morning I walked the dogs and it was not dark and birds sang. And hope for warmth is condensed in the pendants of hazel catkins that soften the edges of the skeletal trees.

More on potting soon, and hopefully on a craft collective, to the bring the local photographer, blacksmith, knitting and needlecraft creatives together, and for an etsy shop; wonderful etsy for all things handmade (http://www.etsy.com/).