Friday, December 11, 2009

Fog-tastic

A beautiful morning here in the small mountain kindom of Trelystan. The frosted ground is white and crisp underfoot. The sky is of the clearest blue with just a couple of perfectly placed dainty clouds. All is well with my world.My eye is caught by what appears to be smoke in the distance where garden meets field and field drops away to dingle. It's fog coming up from the valley like a stealthy beast, flooding the dingles, dips and hollows - moving at quite a lick for a bit of cold wet air. Pretty soon my world is white and muffled and lit by a pearly ethereal light. Only the tops of the trees of Badnage wood can still enjoy the sunshine. Time for a photograph or two in the vain hope I can capture something of this morning's 15 minutes of magic.When we first moved here I was enthralled by the play of weather on the wood that is our backdrop - the twists of mist which hang and twine in the treetops, the silvery sheets of rain, and frosts and snows and always the sigh of the conifers dancing in the wind. Would I still be as fascinated at winter's end, after months of bleak dreariness? Five winters on I can still watch and listen as I did in those early days - the weather in these hills is still every bit as special.

Almost as quickly the fog slipped back down the hill. No doubt there is some sound and prosaic meteorological reason for its coming and going.
As I write this, a few hours later, we're wrapped in fog again - it rolled back up the hill. This time it's the real thing; thick, heavy and here to stay.

Me? I'm now going to don coat and wellies and take the dogs down the garden where Chester can fulfill his hunting instincts by flushing out pheasants. By then it will be time to come in and light the wood burner - if it's good for nothing else this cold, grey weather makes indoors a very cosy proposition.

16 comments:

Pondside said...

What beautiful images - every one could be a Christmas card.
We used to live on a hill from which I could watch the weather roll in and out. I missed it when we moved to the woods - now the weather is always a surprise.

rachel said...

Proper fog, and the blanketing silence it brings, is a lovely thing - but here in the city we have creeping dank mist today, the kind that encourages you to cough feebly, think consumptive thoughts, and scuttle back indoors sharpish. I'm envious of your fog!

Annie said...

Ours was just thick and gloomy this morning. What a difference a bit of height makes. Beautiful Photos. At least the fog didnt spoil my celebrations of the day. Do check out the blog :-)
A x

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

We have had a beautiful clear and sunny day up here today, ending with a slow seep of fog along the valley until everything below us was full of white, and we floating above. Love your pictures. I was too enthralled to go and find my camera and now, looking at what you have captured, I am really wishing I had!

her at home said...

beautiful writing, beautiful photoraphy and such a beautiful place!!

Twiglet said...

Oh lucky you! That thick fog has swirled around us all day and only lifted slightly as the light faded - so no bright skies or sunshine for us - just about 6 miles away?

Friko said...

we didn't see the church all day today. We barely saw the hedge round the garden.

Definitely a day for staying indoors and pulling the drawbridge up. Wasn't yesterday beautiful, though. I rushed out and took garden photos, the last for the year.

Frances said...

I do fog. It will always be more than science to me, and evoke mystery. Hound of the B's, etc.

You've reminded me of two memorable fogs. One was very rare, when such an atmosphere rose over certain moist lowlands of Central Park. I remember seeing this phenomenon, on the Fifth Avenue side of the Park, returning from seeing that wonderfully strange movie, Naked.

The natural mist kept me in the strange mood the movie had induced.

Fog part II. On one of my UK visits I was traveling from London out to one of the pretty Cotswalds villages, looking forward to the train journey and the landscape views from my window. There were no views after the Oxford transfer. All was fog. I so remember that opaque cloud, and wonder if the true landscape would be a vivid a memory.

See what your blog hath summoned? xo

Fennie said...

Wonderful images. Sadly we don't get such images here but at the Mill I though the forest was on fire recently but it was just the sun catching a spot of damp forest and the mist rising in billowing clouds.
Now the sun is shining here and all's well with the world.

snailbeachshepherdess said...

...and the world and his wife was armed with cameras ....everywhere they were discussing the best view, the best angle - and again this morning - well you beat 'em to it with thos dancing trees

LITTLE BROWN DOG said...

Absolutely gorgeous photographs, Mountainear. It's amazing what difference a bit of weather can make. Lovely post.

Pam said...

Gorgeous pictures.

hand-knitted muesli said...

I can smell it:)

Chris Stovell said...

Oh, it's been so lovely to see this instead of non-stop rain. Lovely photos.

Penguins said...

Hello
Hi we are bookkeepers new to the top of the mountain, moved here in August 09. We read your blog with interest and experience much of what you describe. We walk the mountain on a regular basis and you probably pass us on route backwards and forwards to your home. Please keep writing your blogs as they do cheer us up and make us laugh on dull winter days. Regards - Tony & Sarah (formerly from down south)

mountainear said...

Hi Tony and Sarah - and thank you for your kind words. I'll look out for you. Aren't we so lucky to have found such a beautiful part of the world?