It turned out to be a pretty darn good day, especially considering it began with stepping into dog doo.  That doesn't always bode well, you know. But by and large the past 24 hrs have been on a slow, but steady-ish, upswing after a rougher go of it this week. 

Yesterday was a down day.  Well a dress-down day anyway.  We still did a full day of school but I did a good share of it in my pjs. Around 2pm I noticed the sun was shining for real, and not just teasin'.  I threw off the jammies and Moira, Abbie and slipped into sweaters, boots and jackets for a walk to soak up the little bit we had left for the day. We haven't done that in a while with all the rain we've had.

The sugar beet fields have been replanted and a fringe of winter grass stands all trembly replacing the bushy root tops  seen here not long ago. 

Now that the foliage is dying down you can see the drainage canals which run alongside the farm roads.  We live in the Fens, which are reclaimed marshlands much like the Netherlands.  The area has been drained over the centuries and now supports large grain and produce farms such as this one. This is the lowest elevation in England and the ground here is still a bit unstable, sinking as the soil becomes more or less saturated. 

Abbie Rose found tracks of something by the road. Oddly we only saw that one.   

The walk was pretty hands on for her as you can see.  Ay ay ay. She was flat out in a puddle a mile out.  Everything had good washing when we got home – child, coat, boots. Hot chocolate and a hot bath fixes a girl right up though.  

It was pretty much dark when we got home.  This is the afternoon sky at 4pm these days. And today we woke to a frost covered wonderland and temperatures which plummeted overnight. I am glad we got our hike in before we hibernate again, but hibernating is fine by me too.  We have a lot of crafting to do.