Slow painting

Saturday 16 January 2010

Greenhouse maintenance


Thank you to all who have left kind messages. Things are now improving, but with quite a way to go yet.

The greenhouse above is my Dad's, in the last few days of Britain's Big Freeze. Day-time temperatures on Speyside were around minus 13 C, and snow depth in our little pocket 18 inches to 2 feet. Since we were weather-proofing Dad's house, we had to weather-proof the greenhouse too. My husband is standing on a mound of snow that he's cleared previously from the roof.

In the shots below you can see the layers of snow. Not surprisingly, given the way the snow has fallen, the Cairngorm ski area has avalanche warnings in force. Although today the ski roads are blocked by 15 feet deep snow drifts. Lots of wry comments going around about there being no snow when you want it, and then it all comes at once.


15 comments:

Jacqui said...

It is so photogenic though :) The hens , dog and various sparrows took over out greenhouse during these cold snowy days, so i dread to think what sort of parties have been going on. Good news about your Dad now, but a bit of a long haul until he is back on his feet. hope he makes good progress quickly - the spring will soon be here. xx

Jo said...

Glad to hear things are improving. We've had rain here today which has washed away most of the snow. It hasn't been clear of snow here since before Christmas.

Gunilla said...

Hi Linda,

I see that you have got a lot of snow too.
We have alot but the winter isn´t over yet.
I hope that you are well.

Have a nice weekend
Gunilla

Rafael said...

Hi Linda,

In Montpellier we have had only 2 cm of snow and - 6°C but it was enough to freeze most of my radish and peas :-( I cannot imagine the potager under such a big blanket of snow !!

Rafael

Dot O said...

Wow, that is a LOT of snow!! Sorry you got hit with such snowy cold weather.

You asked about the Christmas Pickle and I looked it up...

Question: What is the origin of the Christmas pickle?

Answer
The story has it this the Christmas pickle tradition originated in Germany. The families would decorate their trees on Christmas Eve and the ornament in the shape of pickle would be the last one hung. No presents were opened until the pickle was found.

We do our pickle search on Christmas Eve after we are all ready for bed. Our Christmas pickle is very, very tiny - probably only about 3/4 of an inch and made of glass. This year's prize was flavored popcorn!

Rosie Nixon Fluerty said...

Hello - I am sure you are glad it was just 18" - thats alot to clear and I am sure it was cold the day you were clearing that snow. brrrh we had -17.4 in the back garden one morning and I'm sure you must have had temperatures like that too as I am to the south of you.

Lindy said...

My oh my what a load of snow, though it does look rather pretty sliding off the roof in the background. By the looks of those icicles, the sun must have been out in full force for quite a few hours! I can honestly say I don't ever remember seeing "layers" of snow like that before.

Glad to hear things are improving, and may it continue in that direction.

Babzy.B said...

I like the first shot ;)Patience snow will melt one day ;)

donna said...

There's a ski slope here in this country that had to close because there was too much snow!

I like the photo showing the layers of snow on the greenhouse roof.

White snow and blue skies make for amazing photos.

Wishes and prayers continue your way for more improvement.

donna

Peggy said...

Wow, you did get much more snow than we did! Great for photography if not for gardening!

Eki said...

Hi Linda. Thanks for visiting and commenting on my skywatch post.

Yours is awsome. The snow looks very think. I can only imagine how cold it must be to be in minus 13C. Our city's temperature never goes under 17C and is rarely higher than 30C.

Jane said...

That is a bunch of snow. I love snow..I think they are pretty but not that much snow LOL. Thanks Linda for the comment that u left. I appreciate it.

Claire said...

Hi Linda, I thought I'd come and have a look at your lovely blog. How beautiful are those pictures- The sky is so blue! The photo with the flash of the orange spade against the white and blue background is really striking, from a photographic point of view.

Just Wedeminute said...

What a great blog! I homeschool my children and we are always looking for blogs in other countries so we can see more of that country and now we can take a look through your eyes at Scotland

Bergson said...

impressive