It’s been and up and down week, in as much as I’ve either been out early, and caught a sunrise, or late, and caught a sunset. I have to say there was a little more thought in capturing the sunset, mainly because I’d had most of the day to plan it, whereas sunrises are an altogether spontaneous event, getting up and getting out are strange bed fellows in my household.

Fortunately this week has allowed and afforded me the opportunity to see both, Monday morning’s spectacular but brief sunrise, Tuesday evening’s glorious sunset and Wednesday mornings wander in the frost at daybreak have provided some nice images using both the phone and the camera. Thursday’s foray to the seaside at Weymouth was a mixed bag, pleasant enough but not altogether riveting and today we’ve done almost nothing so, as per the title of this piece, it’s been an up and down week.

This weekend promises to be a little busy, there will be scant time to get out and about for one reason or another, the photography ( and possibly the blog ) may have to take a back seat in the list of priorities but this is the last ‘busy’ weekend before the Christmas break begins in earnest and other opportunities present themselves. That said, if I have my phone I guess I have a camera, undoubtedly if the occasion presents itself I shall look to make the most of it.

……Beside The Seaside! Well, that’s how the song goes and as ‘seaside’s’ go Weymouth isn’t a bad seaside to visit, especially on a cold and frosty morning such as the one we had this morning. Minus 1 at daybreak and as the sun rose so did the mist and fog, the journey to Weymouth was a spectacular affair on the high road between Duntish and Charminster where the mists lay in the valley floors down below, very ‘other world’ viewing indeed.

By the time we’d arrived in Weymouth the frost, if indeed Weymouth had seen any at all, was gone. The warming effect of the sun and the shoreline had seen the temperature rise enough to make a walk along the sea front pleasant, the light breeze wasn’t troubling, though it wasn’t warm enough to warrant a queue for a deck chair I have to add.

Coffee, cake, a little shopping and a walk along the quay all contributed to a very pleasant couple of hours, Weymouth is always an easy, laid back experience, well, out of season it is, I cannot imagine how the residents feel about the summer months, it does get extremely busy, but today was a reminder of how I do like to be beside the seaside indeed!

Another great start to the day here this morning, despite dire warnings of mist and fog. The frost and the early sunshine made for a pleasant wander in the fields at Child Okeford down past the church and the manor and on out to the slopes of Hambledon Hill on the far edge of the village.

Despite the frost it didn’t feel cold, unlike now as the sun is setting and the temperature has dropped like a stone, it was pleasant just wandering through the meadows, watching the sun filter through the naked boughs of the trees making patterns in what little bit of mist there was and stretching shadows across the frozen fields.

Winter is surely coming if not well and truly with us, mornings such as this one and evenings such as yesterday’s will hopefully help to lift the longer, darker nights. Yes, cold nights and frosty starts have their high and low points but they’re far more entertaining than the dank, damp, cold, grey affairs that we’ve been inflicted with during November, bring the frost on I say, I wouldn’t even mind a sprinkling of snow come to think of it.

After yesterday’s beautiful but brief sunrise and the ensuing cold, clear day, I was anticipating more of the same this morning, however, it didn’t materialise as I’d hoped. I’d taken the precaution of covering the windscreen in order to avoid having to scrape the ice off….and there was no ice, there was no frost, in fact it was a positively balmy 3 degrees when I went out to the car this morning.

It would have been slightly wasted on me today anyway, as a creature of habit, and one that enjoys eating, Tuesday morning is given over to grocery shopping and the necessary trip to the nearest large supermarket. No amount of frost, short of a snap ‘ice age’ was ever going to challenge or alter the immutable and we duly set off as the sun rose over the landscape. There was no frost, however, as the sun warmed the countryside the mists rose in the valley floor and we were treated to some beautiful scenes as we trundled off in search of consumables instead of trundling off in search of photographs, that said, you can’t eat photographs, well, not readily and they’re a poor form of sustenance however dramatic or beautiful.

I fully resolved to try and make the most of any sunset that might avail itself this evening and , fortunately, I wasn’t disappointed. Taking myself off with a little over 30 minutes to reach a vantage point before sunset began I arrived at a point high over the vale. The sky darkened and took on an orange cast before deepening and turning a deep shade of pink as the sun fell below the horizon, isolating the stems of last season’s cow parsley high on the hillside in the dying light. The temperature began to plummet as I packed away my gear and gratefully climbed back into the car, turning the heater up and heading for home, happy that I’d at least managed to enjoy some of nature’s bounty today after all.

Another early start this morning, it seems like it’s becoming a habit after the previous two and the prospect of another one tomorrow, I’m happy to say that I’m not complaining despite this morning’s rather chilly beginning, minus 2 degrees according to the car gauge as I cleared the ice from the windows.

The bonus was a brief but beautiful sky as the sun rose in the east, a bank of cloud swept across in an arc and the sun lit it spectacularly. As with all sunrises, and sunsets, although they appear to linger for some time there is an optimum, a moment when the light will get no better. A few moments before and the scene, although dramatic, is still a little blue, a few moments after and the sun is too strong and the scene starts to bleach. The purples, blues, reds and oranges lose their vividness and the scene pales to a shadow of it’s former glory.

This morning I was able to see it at its best and although there was little of foreground interest the silhouetted skyline and the mackerel sky more than made up for the bland foreground. There promises to be another hard frost overnight, we may be treated to another incredible start to the day tomorrow, whether or not I manage to capture it, who knows, only time and the alarm clock will tell.

It’s been a long day with which to see out the old month of November. An early morning start watching the dawn break briefly on the eastern horizon ( before being swallowed by greedy, grey clouds ) en-route to Dorchester just after 07:00 this morning, taking in Bridports Christmas lights on the way to a craft fair set up at Symondsbury, topped off by watching the tree lights turned on in Sturminster by Paul Young this evening. It’s been a busy day, not to mention a cold one.

This evening’s light switch on here in Sturminster Newton was a great affair for what is a relatively small community in very rural North Dorset, the local folk turned out in force and and a happy throng packed the market square in the dark and the cold to watch the lights on the tree turned on . Young, old, and a goodly scattering of dogs were more than ably entertained by the very talented duo ‘XS’ and our inner souls were more than ably catered for by The Really Tiny Coffee Company ( thank you Frankie and Tim ) whose coffee and cake helped to ward off the cold evening breeze as we counted down the seconds until switch on.

November, I am not sorry to see you go. You have in turn been both cruel and kind, you have given us beautiful scenery as the local forestry here turned gold and red, you’ve drenched and deluged us with miserable, cold, damp days of almost never ending rain, be gone and bring on December. Let’s see some frost to jewel the dew and even, dare I say it, some snow to dust the Vale in time for the seasonal holiday!

We’re almost in December, today is post number 300 and in the midst of a grey and gloomy Dorset afternoon there’s still a little colour to be found in the margins. Mid afternoon in the fading light isn’t always the best of times to find inspiration but a nearby flowerbed still held a few blooms with enough colour to brighten the otherwise dismal scene today.

Those blooms that are still in evidence are either coming to the end of their days, clinging on, or have no hope of flowering despite valiantly budding in this mild, early winter climate. There is a frailty and a fragility in what’s left over from a gorgeous summer and a forgiving, if damp, autumn. It will not last, it can’t, very soon anything that’s left will be facing the frost and, possibly, even the snow as the year grinds on inexorably.

Fortunately where the flowers are almost over there is evidence that the seeds and berries have taken their place, there will be colour and texture to brighten the longer winter days, it’s not all doom, gloom and despondency. Every now and then the hedgerow will throw up a little beacon to light the way, before we know it the annual miracle will be with us again and the green buds and shoots of Spring will show their face once more.

Not strictly true, I wasn’t lazing, I was actively engaged in wandering productively and making the most of the opportunity of some dry weather, something of a rarity of late. I wandered down to the river in the hope that the sunlight would pick out the parish church here in Sturminster Newton, it’s a shot I’ve captured before but in the height of summer when the leaves are fresh and green still, yesterday the golden colours seemed to magnify the effect of the low, warm sunshine and everything was aglow.

In this particular location there’s a an old Sally tree whose trunk has bowed and broken at some stage and it forms a natural arch through which to photograph the church on the opposite bank in the bend of the river. The overhanging boughs of the adjacent trees further serve to frame the scene and the reflections in the river further aid the symmetry of things, I do like a bit of symmetry.

Sometimes things come together nicely, sometimes they don’t but having been here once before it obviously left something in my consciousness, I’m now wondering what it’s going to look like in the frost or the snow, it’ll be well worth the trudge out from town to find out methinks.

I failed to write yesterday, I didn’t fail to get out, I didn’t fail to take a photograph or two, I just got caught up in ‘the beautiful game’ of football last night. Not that there was anything particularly beautiful about it and as the match wore on I had the distinct feeling that my time would have been far better spent writing my blog, however, what’s done is done as they say.

Today I’ve noticed that the tally for this little venture is rapidly reaching the three hundred mark, which means that in a little over two months I’ll have achieved my aim of writing and photographing for the entire year, I’m amazed that I’ve managed to keep the ball rolling as it were. There have been odd occasions where I’ve missed a day but seldom more than a day, on some occasions I’ve made up the count by writing twice just to try and keep things on the go as it were. There are days when the creative juices don’t flow and then there are days when things come to fruition almost as simply as falling off the proverbial log. I guess I’m lucky that the local area gives so much in variety and that I’m able to have the time to access so much of it.

Yesterday’s up and down weather gave me the opportunity to wander the river bank and the low afternoon sunlight lit the trees and the river in spectacular fashion on the first part of my wanderings though the dark sky and the vivid rainbow were a constant reminder that things could change in an instance. They did, just as I was beginning to cross Durrants field. On a summers day with the sunshining Durrants field is a big field, it feels almost the size of a field and a half….on a winters afternoon with the rain falling it feels the size of three fields, there is no cover. Fortunately, although it rained it wasn’t particularly cold, just damp and after all, it’s only water isn’t it as I’m often reminded.

Turgid. There’s a word to conjure with, you have to admire the English Language in that its use can raise the written word to illustrative heights. It certainly describes conditions here in the area more than adequately.

turgid/ˈtəːdʒɪd/Learn to pronounceadjective

1. 1.swollen and distended or congested.”a turgid and fast-moving river”Similar:swollen congested in spate in flood
2. 2.(of language or style) tediously pompous or bombastic.”some turgid verses on the death of Prince Albert”Similar:bombastic pompous overblown overripe inflated.

The same might be said of my writing at times I fear, however, granted that I may not be the best exponent of the written word it doesn’t stop me from enjoying it and attempting to use it at least daily since I began this project.

Looking out this afternoon across the vale with the sunlight low in the sky illuminating the scudding clouds there was a warmth, a mellowness which hasn’t been much in evidence over the last couple of days. I hadn’t seen me making this location earlier in the day which began with rain….and continued with rain until mid afternoon when the sun made enough of an appearance to warrant me trying to capture the moment. I’d like to say not for posterity, but of late it’s seemed that way.

Those nice men at the ministry have suggested that we may get some respite from the rain this week and that things may get a little colder, hopefully we may get the odd frost, now, wouldn’t that be something fitting to begin the new month with.