Day 2 of my resolution to use this space more frequently, I hope you don't mind. Your comments and messages yesterday were so kind and uplifting, thank you.
Today was the kind of sharp, luminous day when Catbells looks like a wonky slice of carrot cake with a light dusting of icing sugar (I have to thank Rick at Faeryland, Grasmere for that observation). The patterns in the ice were echoing the bark spirals on my favourite local tree; who I have imaginatively named Tree Friend (I'm terrible at names). The good thing about Tree Friend is that even in a pandemic it is possible to give him a hug, so he's currently storing up all the hugs I can't give friends and family. This is a tree I need to draw, it has a real personality - even without emoji eyes. I'm really loving the tree drawings made by Sarah McIntyre and Phillip Reeve at the moment, they collaborate on a wonderful series of kids books about a flying Dartmoor pony called Kevin and have a long standing tree drawing thing going on.
I so wanted to crunch through the iced puddles but they were too pretty to break; even so my footsteps made it creak and groan and shatter at the edges, like the crust on a creme brûlée. Nutmeg and I had to hide in the gorse bushes for a while to avoid John the farmer with his sheepdog; he's a flighty cat and would have run in panic rather than letting me pick him up. I do worry that he will have to adapt quickly to a new, probably less remote home.

There, I've blogged two days in a row (and after 11 years I still hate the word blog), now I can celebrate that small achievement and add it to my store of positives, along with hot baths, audio books, lots of tea and plenty of toast. How are you coping?
In other news I've applied to be part of an exhibition at Rheged which is part of the Through the Locking Glass project, Cumbrian artists reflecting their experiences during lockdown. I'm still not sure when this will happen but won't it be wonderful to visit galleries again!