We have escaped the snow that is blanketing the rest of the UK at the moment, but we haven't escaped the cold.  There are bitter bitter winds blowing, and the ground is very crunchy underfoot.  We have had an easy winter up to now with very few days being below freezing, and January and February are, to my mind, the hardest two months of winter in the north - even though the days are already getting longer it is only during these two months that winter truly gets a real grip in my view.  I always feel so sorry for the sheep on the hill at this time of year - there seems so little for them to eat.  While the cold can make for stunning sights such as frozen puddles:



it really can't be easy for sheep to gather all the nutrients they need in this landscape:

 



It is still possible to find colour, but you do need to look for it.  These tiny, tiny fruiting bodies of fungi refused to stay in focus for a photograph, but their redness was quite startling:



And even though the overall impression of the landscape is one of brown, as you can see from the photo above there are green shoots starting to come through.

As we were coming to the head of Lexie's Loch, we could see the ice forming patterns on the water where the wind had blown the ice down to one end of the loch:



It immediately made me think of a pattern that was very popular a while back called Lizard Ridge.  One day I'll get around to making this pattern, as it has long been on my "must knit" list.  But for the moment I'm enjoying Talamh, which is coming along beautifully.  It is at the "awkward to photograph" stage, but this gives you an idea of progress:



I intend spending the rest of today in front of the fire making progress on Talamh.  I do hope that wherever you may be you are warm!