A belated January Garden Bloggers Bloom Day at leavesnbloom

What  flowers in a Perthshire garden in the month of  January?  I didn't get to post my Garden Bloggers Bloom day post last weekend as we were on a severe flood alert but I managed to get outside on the 17th to see what was in bloom in the garden.  

Thankfully the weather improved as the week went by though an unwelcome bug arrived in our household (more on that at the end of the post). The snow started the slow retreat revealing some little beauties along with a garden trowel that I thought I had lost a few months ago. 

Beautiful sunrises and crisp frosty mornings meant that most days we were bathed in glorious sunshine.

 Iced Moss at sunrise

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The Hamamelis x intermedia "Jelena" is in full bloom with her coppery orange flowers that look like little streamers.

Witchhazel / Hamamelis

Little Cyclamen coum buds have managed to make their way through the frozen earth,

 Cyclamen

while one of the lenten roses needed a little bit of encouragement to show off her shy bloom to the camera.

Hellebore

The Corylus contorta, Sarcococca  and the male Skimmia japonica "Rubella" buds are maturing and giving some winter interest.

Skimmia

Sarcococca

Corylus

While some berried treasure on the Cotoneaster horizontalis and  Berberis thunbergiia f. atropurpurea "Atropurpurea Nana still await those hungry birds.

Cotoneaster

Berberis

Other than that I've just been admiring the lovely sunsets that we've been having for the past few days. Watching for the first bulbs to appear once the ground finally defrosts and waiting to see if any one else in the household develops swine flu.  We've  had one patient at home this week who thankfully is making a good recovery despite having asthma and so far it looks as if he has kept this little bug to himself.

sunset over the haugh

Thank you for taking the time to visit today. 

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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The Day after the thaw - the landslide

We're on severe flood alert along the River Almond in Perthshire. Heavy rain yesterday meant that the water just ran off the frozen fields on to the roads. I had to negotiate my way on foot through 2 large floods on the road yesterday and some of our local routes were closed.  

 taken with ipod touch on Sunday morning

 

Along with the rapid snow thaw from the hills it meant that our local river levels went higher and higher until a severe flood alert was sent out at 3.30 pm yesterday. 

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 taken with ipod touch  - the fields this morning with ice and water

We moved some things upstairs -  important documents, all our photo albums of the children and personal things that no insurance claim could ever replace just in case the worst case scenario happened.  My Garden Bloggers Bloom Day post had to be postponed.

Outside we could hear the raging torrents and when we went to bed the rain was still beating down and we just didn't know what we would wake up to in the morning.

We were waiting for the river to breach the banks here last night.

taken with ipod touch this morning

The levels this morning are 1.5 feet lower than yesterday afternoon

Thankfully morning arrived and looking out of the windows everything seemed OK and the rain had stopped. But for some in the neighbourhood they must have noticed that there were trees missing as they looked out of their windows.

 River Almond landslide along the cycle path

This was as far as I would venture  - I hope it's safe in those back gardens.

Our youngest went out before I could finish my breakfast and I was worried about where he would go as the ice is still treacherous to walk on to get to the river.   When he came home nearly 1.5 hours later and I saw his photos (nearly 200 of them). 

I was not best pleased with him as he had gone too close to the edge of the landslide to take these photos. 

This is from the other side of the path.

taken with ipod touch

The authorities were able to close the weir gates so that Perth town lade wouldn't flood.

 taken with ipod touch - all is calm and peaceful here

We may be on this alert for a few more days but thankfully we've no more rain forecast for the rest of Sunday.

My youngest wants to go out again to take more photos - this time I'm going with him!

Thanks for taking the time to visit today.

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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The Final Chapter and the Sequel

This post was written for www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com and this text of chunk is just here to attempt to thwart the feed scrappers. You can receive updates of each post by subscribing to my feed www.http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeavesnBloom

The Final Chapter 

The new.........ish moon  shimmers at the break of the final dawn.

Previous days had been dreek with snow, fog and mizzle merging together into one big Gaussian greyish blur.

As the last day slips away the mountains start to appear as if a mask has been lifted from the landscape.

Along the lade on the valley floor a flare of light filtered by the mist illuminates the tree trunks as if they are on stage for the final countdown.

While the gentle smokey billows of a log fire drift away into the last hazy sunset of 2010.

The Sequel

The garden still lies trapped under a blanket of compacted snow yearning for its great escape with each new attempt to thaw.

But it's a new day, a new dawn and a new year.

Hamamelis × intermedia 'Jelena'

A new chapter has begun...........little ribbons of hope and promise are begining to unfurl.

Colour is appearing at last and days are getting slightly longer.

The countdown to Spring has begun.

Happy New Year everyone!

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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