Wigan Album

Brrr time to put more coal on the fire and open my sherry bottle.
Have you noticed Our Winters are much milder.

I love snow - until it turns to slush! I am a kid again, I wrap up warm and put some old green gardening wellies on with socks and go for a walk. I must admit I do feel the cold sooner than I once did but it's easy to turn back and come home. What's nicer than to watch the snow falling outside from inside, it's magic!

Yes, A great little moment Veronica. And I must only have been six or seven years-old when the teacher asked the class to draw some snowflakes, at home; I'd been the only one to have made the effort, and seen my sketch held up before the class by our teacher Mrs Harrison. I also remember where I'd sat in the classroom, and the living-room window pane that I'd knelt before when meeting the snowflake head-on. It was a pity about the loaded brush that I'd once swept across a hung poster, though.

St David's Crescent, Aspull in February 1996. We have had no snow yet this winter yet so no white Christmas. One of the worst days for snow blizzards in recent years was on December 13, 1981. It even caused disruption at the coast in Blackpool and Southport. If it was terrible in Wigan then it was absolutely horrendous in the Yorkshire Dales.

Things you don't forget Philip. I bet you got a star for that one. The things I recall are having pencils taken off me to stop my drawing. Yet my drawings of ballet dancers were hung up in the hall!....;o))

Veronica watching snow fall from inside to outside is even more spectacular with a roaring coal fire.

Stop rubbing it in Garry - you know I only have an ornamental coal fire which is neither use nor ornament!!! Plus radiators ! Still I can make an Irish coffee that warms the cockles no end...

When it snows we watch it and say how magical, our spirits lift . When it rains we rush for cover , hide like we are being attacked . We become gloomy , can’t go out because it’s raining , but let’s play in the snow .
I love heavy black clouds and thunderstorms, the more violent the better .
It shows me it’s Nature who decides what happens , whether it be the magic of snow , or the Hell and Fury it holds . The sooner we learn we are tenants....

st johns rd not st davids

i'm wrong st davids

Veronica, I'd taken advantage of a Ryman voucher the other week by choosing the versatile 4B pencil; Staedtler's 'Tradition' - Red 'n' black. I wasn't desperate for the pencil as I already had Staedtler's Mars Lumograph 100 version alongside others of the said Blue 'n' blacks.
However, it should provide me with a convenient shift from 'note-taking to doodling' when sat at my computer.
Furthermore, I've never been able to fully understand a particular 'Staedtler grading':
Yellow 'n' black for Schools
Red 'n' black for Home and Office
Blue 'n' black for Artists.
So, perhaps there are different types of graphite.
'Dave's Mechanical Pencils' might come up with the answer - and what a tome that is!

You are right fw, we need to keep in mind that WE need the planet to survive, but the planet does not need Us. The planet will still be here long after our short tenancy as faded into the mists of time.

I can't wait for summer.

I recently bought the graphite sticks Philip, not used them yet, by Derwent. I think they are good for landscapes to give an overall shading, then lifting out with a putty rubber for clouds and such. ( when I get round to using them!)

Big name is Derwent, Veronica. And I've just had a look at a pack of Derwent's graphite sticks on Wiki'; It's very smart yet a point for each stick, in due course, perhaps.
I seem to recall someone having said 'there's no more immediate mark than that made by graphite' - or perhaps it had been said of charcoal.
DTease's photo reminds me of my own walks during similar conditions when passing-cars seem to evoke feelings of 'all is well', and otherwise, in strange, equal measure. Take care.

Someone mentioned 1981, but let's not forget December 2010!!! The snowfall that came down a week before Christmas was the worst in over twenty years. The roads around Wigan literally came to a complete stand still. I remember seeing cars and lorries being abandoned on Central Park Way, Bridgeman Terrace and Gidlow Lane because the roads leading up inclines away from the town were too snowed up for vehicles to climb up! The snow in my garden was four foot deep at one stage - just on the patio! I seem to remember that some places didn't return to normality until January 2011 because the snow was so bad in places.