Iced caramels?

We had some snow during the night which resulted in a light dusting this morning - only it wasn't the usual powdery snow, it was crystallised. When I went to clear it off the car it was like removing glass that had shattered into small pebbles as opposed to sharp splinters.

The ground was very slippery and I was joined by a friend, who usually looks after Bruce when I am away, and the pair of us decided that again the river was the safest option and so we were able to have one dog each, trying to keep our footing on the icy surface of the car park. My friend had on some grips which clip on over your walking shoes and she said they really did help her to keep a grip on the road. Cara and I simply slithered!

The light was abysmal as the sun was making a very poor apology of trying to rescue the day, so finding a blip was challenging. At the mid point of our walk it was apparent that someone had started to try and tidy up the chaos of fallen trees and they had amassed a nice pile of logs beside the river's edge. These logs had a fine white covering of snow over them today and made me think of caramel sweets with a skim of icing sugar on the top!

The first snowdrops were beginning to make an appearance in some sheltered spots so I hope to be able to see them progress a bit further before I blip them. I love to see snowdrops and other spring flowers growing in a naturalised situation - even if, like this year, they are trying to push their way up from beneath fallen boughs.