Monday 4th January. My Instagram feed is full of white photographs. Some people have snow, and those who don't have snow have hoar frost. Those who don't have hoar frost have sparkling frost or freezing fog. Nothing so dramatic here although I had to scrape ice from the inside of my car windscreen. The girls cuddle under Welsh blankets and I am glad I never got round to clipping more of the spaniel than his ears. 

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Tuesday 5th January. I've never been one for jigsaw puzzles or solitaire or even playing cards. The most blissful activity in the world? Emptying a seed tin onto a table and sorting. Piles of directs and indirects. Early and lates. Outdoors and under glass. I am not a hoarder but I have two weaknesses. Ceramics and seeds. I adore the rustle of them, their shape, their rolling around energy and potential. If you are wondering when you can start sowing them, the answer is not for a while yet. For now, just have a look at what you have and compare it to the list of what you want. I know. I can't stop when I should either.

Wednesday 6th January. Some form filling and writing applications for our village community garden. As a reward, I allow myself to indulge in a luscious pastime, the consideration of cookbooks. I cook the same things almost every day but one can dream. And one day, I might have a kitchen like Gill Meller's.
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Thursday 7th January. I have managed to avoid travel for a while, but an essential trip for an assessment leads me to re-discover the M5 and some of the more depressing bits of Bristol. I was starting to feel a bit sorry for myself when an absolutely incredible murmuration passed over the road. I have never seen one this late in the year and it felt like it was just to lift my spirits.

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Saturday 9th January. I miss my camera. Photography outside seems to be never ending shades of brown. Indoors, even with a tripod and what sunshine there is coming in the window to the side, it just feels like it never gets light. I try a candle but it doesn't seem to cut through the gloom. The only thing that brings warmth and a glow if a slice of winter squash.

Which reminds me, I must order more seed...