Not the Mirkwood

Still no snow, though it is cold enough, and the forecast is for a few inches. But it's been saying that for days, and so far just a few flakes have fallen.

We decided to explore the woods at the top of our hill. Normally we don't walk there because the paths are churned up by horses and mountain bikes. But we thought the ground would be frozen today, and we wandered in without much thought about where we were going. We had a pleasant meander amongst the trees - it's commercial forestry but not too densely planted and there's a mixture of deciduous trees amongst the Scots pine and spruce. There are plenty of signs too, but you'd need the map to interpret them - the Justice Trail doesn't mean a lot to us. 

We thought we were more or less walking in a straight line and didn't immediately recognise this cottage. Only when a figure emerged from it did we realise that we'd reached the pottery and had done two thirds of a circle. Sivi, the potter. put us right. It was nice to see her, she's still working though it's not easy in lockdown. Years ago we bought a figure of a cat from her, tall and black. When Raf was a puppy he was really spooked by it.  She still has a few left she says.

I was wondering about the word Mirkwood. I thought Tolkien, and yes, it  is. But the first appearance of the word was in 'Waverley' by Sir Walter Scott, who lived just up the road in Melrose. 

I'm sorry I'm getting behind with comments, I hope to catch up next week. Tonight we are on bedtime Zoom stories, and after that I think I'll be turning in too.