un petit bonhomme

" Ah, un petit bonhomme de neige" was how my friend Christine greeted this little figure sitting atop one of the trig points on the Braid Hills looking out over the city this early afternoon. We had met at the allotment in blue sky and sunshine but as we walked up the hill the sky darkened and the snow began to fall. She had hoped for view over the Forth but we couldn't make out much north of the Castle...still it was a marvellous walk....this extended period of truly wintry weather and the associated quietness of everyday life out and about has somehow suspended my normal sense of time ....and extended the magic of winter. I love the literal translation of the French for snowman...a little gentleman made of snow... it is somehow more gentle and tender than our more robust and Anglo Saxon snowman..