There is more snow today, though still not enough to ski on. Our roses are undeterred by it.
We went down to the dog run and met this so-called puppy:
It is allegedly four months old. God knows what it will look like by next winter. Topsy was unimpressed, she must have realised it was only a puppy.
But she loved playing with it. I quite like Alsatians. It was a good sport,
…as was Jack.
who is also four months old, but closer to the snow.
The lake has frozen over during the past few days.
Except there’s this strip of water down the middle, I don’t know what could have caused it:
For those of you from further south, this is a common sight in snowy regions: can you see the row of tiny orange lights in the centre-left of the picture below? It’s a downhill skiing run. It’s probably got a special name, a kunstigsnøpist or something, but I’m not a downhill skier so I wouldn’t know. The lights are to help you find your way down the hill in the dark. Can you imagine trying to ski fast down a hill in the dark? I’d rather drink poison.
Here are the maple trees on the slope behind our house, with the goathouse to the left.
A Bad Guide 
I don’t know what could have caused it
Somebody swimming across the lake? Somebody or a supernatural dog.
A tiny icebreaker. I don’t know why it would branch off in the middle like that. I may go down and take a closer look today.
I like the way the two dogs look at each other in the second picture. The big dog’s visible eye is wonderful.
The water line across the snow: I would guess there is a mini-valley there, with a tiny stream of water that’s normally barely visible among the grass. The winter is still in the early stages and the (barely running) water has not frozen yet, so the snowflakes that hit the water just melt into it while those which fall on the blades of grass remain intact and accumulate. The “branch” must be another tiny stream of water joining the bigger one.
It’s not grass down there, that whole lower area of white is a lake. In the past few days it’s frozen over and been covered with snow.
You often only get to see the white of their eyes in photographs; it must be over quickly. It’s very expressive. I sometimes see it with the cows and horses, though.
Oops, I see that I read too fast, and I missed that the line was in a lake not a meadow. Still, it could be that there is a small current running through that lake, and that the moving water – even slightly – has delayed the freezing.
Fantastic pictures, Crown! I specially like the first one and that of Jack with his nose covered with snow. It’s true that big dog’s face is very funny with his eyes expressing surprise and excitement, and I would say Topsy is smiling…
Let us know your findings about he mysterious lane at the lake.
I like the way the two dogs look at each other in the second picture.
Me too! But they’re all delightful.
My wife says no way is that big dog four months old; four-month-old dogs have paws that look too big for their bodies. I am agnostic on this issue (as on so much else).
Can you imagine trying to ski fast down a hill in the dark?
I thought all Englishmen were more or less James Bonds. Aren’t they?
I am not intimately familiar with dogs but I too was surprised by the alleged age of the bigger dog. Puppies’s paws do grow before the rest of the body, it seems. Perhaps the owners have had it for four months and adopted it from a shelter without knowing its actual age?
Skiing downhill in the dark: I used to know a couple in which the wife was Norwegian and had been skiing all her life. She would zoom down hills, leaving her Martiniquais huband way behind.
I think Ms Language has a good point about the paws. I’ll ask Alma what she thinks. The dog’s owners were Polish and didn’t speak much Norwegian. If Language had been there it would have probably helped, although actually they spoke pretty good English. They might have confused years & months, but they kind of made a big deal about how young it was.
Yes, Sig. All Englishmen are more or less James Bonds – less, in my case.
The river down the lake had gone today. It must have frozen over and been snowed on. m-l, you could be right about the current except it doesn’t explain the little branch in the middle. I think I’m never going to solve this.
I hadn’t noticed that Topsy was smiling. Unlike with the goats, I think it’s a trick of the fur.
There seems to be some extraneous object at the end (or beginning) of that little branch in the middle, and its presence may be the cause of the open water at that point.
It looks like snow that’s been pushed, as if by a tractor (snow plough). I just can’t believe anyone would be crazy enough to go out there on such thin ice.
Of course not in any kind of vehicle, which would be much too heavy, but could it have been in a small boat while the ice was still very thin and transparent, easily breakable by any kind of boat?
The water line across the snow
that whole lower area of white is a lake
Useful Norwegian word of the day:
råk f1. Stripe of open water in ice. Det var så kaldt at råka lukka seg bak båten med det samme. “It was so cold that the stripe of open water closed behind the boat immediately.”
My dictionary says that this word is related to rak “straight” and thus to Eng, right and reach, rather than to its homonym råk f1. “(animal) path” from ON ràk, derived from reka “drift (about)” as in rekved “driftwood”. I’m not sure I believe that.
What about rakafisk (norrønt: rakr – bløtt), any relation?
I thought I’d answered this yesterday. Oh, well.
A meaning “bløt” (soft; moist, wet) could have developed from “given to drift” through something like “jellylike”. But I didn’t know ON rakr at all. If anything, I imagined rakfisk to have to do with raka “scrape”.
I’m feeling Topsy-deprived. Please feel free to post a few more photos.
Ok. I’ve been hoping for sunnier weather. We’re just going for a walk now and it’s snowing quite hard but not unpleasantly, so I’ll take the camera.
Great!
Here we are, from deep southern summer, wishing for some snowy Topsy (-turvy) pictures!
I look a lot of pictures. I don’t know if they came out; the light wasn’t very good. First, before I look, we have to go and buy a Christmas tree…
The goose was delivered today. In the box was the bird and, separately wrapped, the giblets and a pound of goose fat. There was also a leaflet from the farm (www.munnsgeese.co.uk) which included a recipe for roast potatoes which starts “For this you will ideally need Maris Piper or Cabaret potatoes”. Quite right. The apple sauce was made during the week from a mixture of Bramleys and Lane Prince Alberts, plus a russet: delish. The daughter has come home, the decorations are going up and we are looking forward to trying the champagne that we bought (at a bargain price) in November.
The car broke down during the week in the sense that one morning it wouldn’t start. The RAC man got us a new battery and complimented the old one on how long it had lasted (ten years). I must say his service was excellent.
So there we are: it’s about to be Christmas. Merry Christmas to the Crowns and the regulars here. And for no deeper reason than that I do enjoy it, here’s a bit of music.
Och, silly me. This might have been a better choice.
Gänseschmalz! Jolly good on toast. One of these days I’ll sample some of the British apples I don’t know, like this Lane Prince Albert.
Dearie, a merry Christmas to you and the other dearies. Thank you for all your comments, pictures and music this year, I’ve enjoyed them a lot. And do say hello to the wallaby if you see him.
Yes. Merry Christmas to all and sundry! All is on schedule. The tree is cut to size, the last trayload of cookies is enshrined, I’m cracking nuts, and my wife and mother-in-law are watching British period drama.
Something about Queen Elizabeth I. I heard that going on in the background here. Here it is midnight, and we’re still doing the tree decorating.