Green shoots...........

Happy New Year......

Broad beans in one tub and garlic and narcissus showing in the other.

Keen and eager for the year ahead.

Late nights ...............

.........  and late  mornings. Where do the days go ?............

Walking to Holland..........

Invaders reaching the shore?  No, not really,  just the annual Boxing Day dip.

Time to do the sprouts.............

Love to all and have an enjoyable day.

He has to start somewhere..............

......... and even before darkness falls, Santa himself is doing a recce in Mundesley.  We can take to our beds tonight confident that he can find us.

Clear decking............

What a difference a day makes.

 The weather made it possible to tidy up, well some of it, and to begin to feel in charge of our own space again.

Fairy lights ........

....... as captured by your intrepid etc etc ....

We are getting into the mood!

Flat calm.............

The sea is very gentle this morning and it is a bit warmer.

 Overhead there is much activity, and much chatting. This one of five flights going over, all heading for the Broads to enjoy Christmas.

 I think they are a bit late heading south but I may have missed them in other years.

What a grey day..........

December on the beach,  the sea in winter, no wind to speak of so the sea is not up to much. The gull is keeping watch in case something happens. I think he is in for a long wait today. 

There was a reason...............

...........and this is what I am looking at from the new back door;  need I say more?

More from the show..............

Two more examples of our

  " works on paper" show

 in the C21 shop; 

  from tomorrow until Christmas. 

These are by John Midgley and we have more of his work for you to browse through.

None too fresh.........

........ sorry about that, but it`s a bit unusual to find one of these on the beach.

 A black sea bream is what I think it is;  it lives in deeper water rather than just off the beach . Not much else on the beach at the moment, not even plastic rubbish.

This weekend ...............

....... we have a new exhibition at the shop. Its theme is "works on paper" so it won`t be about hanging stuff on the walls and it will be about wrapped paintings, sketches, drawings lurking in browsers and on tables.

 Original works, not prints, unframed and deliciously affordable.

On Saturday the added attraction is a beer tasting accompanied by freshly barbecued posh sausages. The weather forecast is not encouraging but the fire WILL be lit.

Sea defence ........

This is a portrait of our neighbour, Gary and his dog, Ellie.

 They are posing for me in front of the brand new gate on the slipway. The purpose of the gate is to break the force of BIG waves at high tide as they come rushing up our little lane. The previous gate was swept away by a BIG wave about a year ago.

 Gary has designed this replacement gate ....... and very handsome it looks, too. 

Half-strung chair.........

......... standing in the nearly, nearly, finished room.

 All the tiles are down and the skirting board is done; just some snagging before the painter turns up. The electrics have to be done by Friday because the new heater comes on Saturday. 

We live in hope for Christmas.........

Before the rain.........

Setting out for a short walk I saw this rainbow . I was then chased off the beach by a snow flurry;

don't you just love winter weather?

Something in wood.........

         Two pieces which will be on show this weekend in the shop. 

The light- coloured one is called October Rose;  she is a back and has been sand-blasted.

 The dark one is a whole body called Old Rose;  she is made out of sea defence timber  which I found on the beach.

Welcome to the show..........

                        Scrap metal fantasies have come to play in the shop for a couple of weekends. These are  pieces by Berni Marfleet.

 I will show some of the wooden pieces tomorrow.

Got that wrong.........

The number of tiles required for a given area should be simple but if the new room is a little bigger, and our assumptions turned out to be ill-founded, oops.

And yet another week disappears.

Birthday balloons.......

OK, where was the party? Why did they not invite me to revels on the beach or, possibly, the clifftop?

 Whoever had a fiftieth I hope it was a good one.

Flowers in November

We are enjoying an arrangement of lilies and bay leaves at the moment ... a present from Annie. Many thanks.

Winter wave......

What can I say? Just the North Sea being playful.

This makes a change ........

...... from waves or birds,

 not to mention surfers. 

These are shots of some of the many bolts which hold the groynes together. I think they are rather beautiful in a strange way.

This is the will- be -glamorous-east-facing  window.

More news tomorrow!

All clear ......

A lovely sunny morning and good hunting weather for our kestrel. There are lobster pots coming ashore after the recent rough weather. 

The wind is still a bit keen, though.

The drama .........

We don`t get weather like this very often - not even in January - so it has been a day for enjoying the glamour.

There is a bit of blue sky now and it is thawing;  we could go to work  but we are full of onion soup and feeling Sunday-afternoon-ish. 

Is your journey............

.......... really necessary.

 We are playing hooky this morning;  the shop should be open today but who is going to be out there?

 We are staying home by the fire.

Between flurries .....

..... of snow your intrepid photographer tracked the equally intrepid windsurfers.

 I don`t know which of us is madder.

Chilly .....

...... I didn`t stop long and the weather forecast for the weekend is a bit scary.

The sky was handsome.

Reflections..........

Morning wash and brush up. These young gulls are standing on the wet sand attending to their feathers.

 The bird watcher is not here for them but for the migrating ducks and geese. Not really identifiable without  a telescope, small groups of ducks can be seen with the naked eye. 

My friend on the roof could tell me, but he might miss something rare.

Another watercolour.........

....... maybe.  No one I knew, but a brave man as it is definitely a cold-fingers day. The beach was enjoying a fresh westerly. 

Lovely Norfolk light and gentle clouds so the results could be good.