Well, it seems as if I did my winter shopping in time as we got our first snow fall yesterday evening. When I woke up this morning there was a light snow covering on the roof-tops and on the grass and all the puddles was covered with a thin layer of ice. The temperature was just below zero degrees Centigrade, so even if we have had a lovely sunny day, the snow on the roofs that's in a shadow are still white.
I went for a walk with my cats this afternoon, they like getting out as there's always so much to see and smell. Today it was just a short walk, because especially the boy isn't that fond of the cold. The girl doesn't mind the cold that much, as long as it's not raining as she doesn't like to get wet. It it's raining she won't get out at all, while the boy doesn't mind a walk if it's just a drizzle, but it it gets any heavier he too wants to get indoors as quickly as possible. I have to say that they're quite different to what they like and dislike and they have very different temperaments, still they are (most of the time) good friends and they do like each-other.
Until now we have had a rather mild autumn, there's been a few frost nights before this, but the days have been quite warm and I noticed during the walk that there still was flowers on the rose-bushes. Now I think what's left of the green leaves and flowers will soon be gone, I noticed that those plants who had resisted the approach of winter until now had began wither away. It makes me a bit sad, even if the trees stretching their bare branches toward the sky makes one notice their shapes much better than when they're green, there's not much colour around during the winter. That's even more true when there's no snow on the ground, then it's only different shades of browns in the grass and the trees, a few evergreens here and there and if the weather is cloudy, a muted shade of grey covering everything.
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I've been trying to ignore the fact that the winter is closing in, but today I felt I had to go and do some shopping for the winter. I'm not that fond of shopping, well, unless it's for things like books, garden seeds, cross stitch design and kits or fabrics. That's not shopping, that's pleasure even if it just adds to my stash. There's so much I want to do, but don't have enough for all my projects.
Well, I did find a new pair of winter boots, they were the right colour (brown), and they will get me through this winter at least. I dislike black and at least here it's a bit difficult to find shoes and boots in any other colour than black. It's the same with a lot of clothes too, especially during the winter, there's a lot of black clothes and as I'm not going to buy anything black I'm usually just browsing and buying nothing. If I find something it's either the wrong colour or if the colour is right I don't like the model or the size is wrong. That's one reason why I like shopping for fabrics, both for clothes and for things for the home, such as pillows, drapes etc. Then I can do exactly what I want, in the colour that I want.
I also visited the local garden centre and bought two amaryllis (hippeastrum) bulbs and some paperwhite narcissus bulbs. It's getting high time to plant them to get them ready for Christmas. I love amaryllis flowers, especially the small-flowered kinds and nowadays there's so many different kinds to choose from. The ones I bought will be apricot and lime green. I've began to like lime green flowers more and more and apricot/peach/pale orange have always been a favourite of mine.
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