I took this picture on Christmas Eve. There is a little snow in the foreground and the smouldering fire is what remains of a lot of tree cutting that happens every few years. I think the man who works the land around here does it to allow the grass plenty of light.  Better grazing for his cows.

It's normally so bright here that we don't get so much cloud. This year the rain has replaced snow.

My vegetable garden.

I am painting in this general direction at the moment. My view takes in a bit more of the pond. Those  moles have been busy this year. We call them Taupes here.

This is my HY Citroen. I asked about it in August. I need to tow it to my garden but as yet I have only found 1 wheel. I check each day in the equivalent of Ebay here. I want to use it as a sort of spare room. I have wanted one since a friend of mine lived in one while he was at Dartington College of Arts.  

My birthday is just after Christmas so I was out on my birthday looking at my van and generally observing the changes taking place in the landscape. I didn't do Christmas shopping this year. I made some cards and while George went shopping for food I went to a charity shop I have just found full of second hand things. 

After a long springlike Autumn and often times springlike winter we have had a few sprinklings of snow. We have had storms and high winds. For 5 days we had AJP days. Here our cheap electric for most of the year depends on us having expensive days of national high usage. So when it's freezing we rely on stoves and wood for fuel and our trusty gas bottles for our cooking. We like it like this a bit of a challenge.
Otherwise I reupholstered my sofa by hand to be finished this weekend on my sewing machine, another story. I made, I think a rather impressive covering for my bolster. A few good veggie soups and I have made lots of Christmas cards. Not only but also I have found a charity shop which is so brimming with secondhand clothes at oldschool charity prices I am dancing on tap shoes. Not only but this I have found an lovely blog www.mechantstudio.com do have a look

This time last year

Normally by now we have had very low temperatures, plenty of snow and ice. This year abnormally

we have very mild days and very few freezes It has been a bit dull this week, not much sunshine and a lot of rain. I love the snow but struggle with the cold. It will be odd to get to

 next year without any snow.

A few more images to go with my last post. This image was shot at Montbrun near the River Tarn after coming over the Cevennes National park. We drove up the mountain over the plateau of the park . The road takes a steep route with hairpins one after another.

Florac has a beautiful pool with a restaurant beside with mesmerising trout. 

Stone tiles like scaly skins.

I love dappled strong light and shade. The green streaked pot too  on the far right of the shelf.

I have worked in 2 organic wholefood shops now, I also tend to gravitate towards the kind of towns that have these shops. I get these places with all the personal ads often offering a caravan in a field to rent.