Goodbye Narnia

I've been absent from this space for a while, and that's mostly because this happened.

We've been very busy.  Sledging, trudging, playing, building, oh the limitless possibilities with snow!

This is not a snow man they've made with Daddy.  It's a snow gruffalo.

Mr J loved it.  He only had a few minor accidents, mostly involving him bouncing off his sledge after running into trees.  We made no trips to A&E and for that, we're truly grateful!

We finally farewelled our Narnian-like snow on Saturday as rain came and later sunshine warmed the whiteness into slush.

The entire week has felt like one long goodbye to our snowy Narnia.  We are leaving our green island later this year and it will be our last winter in England for the foreseeable future.  I am so happy we've had such a wonderful run of snow to make some beautiful winter memories.

We've sledged with friends [different ones every day] drunk bucketfuls of hot chocolate and black coffee, and eaten bowlfuls of yummy comfort food: rice and dhal, vegetable chilli, soup.

And I am feeling like a creative genius --for this week, anyway. I've typed over five thousand words, bringing a book draft that has occupied me on and off for about four years up to a total of nearly 120,000.  I'm not incredibly excited about this first proper attempt at a novel; it seems a very simple story yet was quite difficult to write, but maybe snowy weather is the key to my own personal creativity.

Where are we going?

We don't really know yet.  You're welcome to join us on the journey of discovering where, over the next few months.  Dan and I are filing paperwork for his US visa this week.

But for right now, it is just the beginning of the end of our Narnia days...  note the lamppost in the photo below?  

Photo of Coo and I in the snow was taken by K Smith