Walking Out of 2012 Into 2013

These artificial-looking primulas are growing in a fairly sheltered spot - spotted while out with Bella this morning.

These grasses have a lot of structure left even though they are long dead. 

Su brought in this beautiful poppy skeleton from the garden. 

Su also pointed out the display of raindrops on this plant support down in the back garden.

We walked down into Bath through some definite rain to bounce on sofas in a few shops - not sure that furniture is as high a priority as holidays, mind you! Going through Hedgemead Park we admired the extensive root system of this big old tree. 

Coming down to Walcot Street, we decided that this sign did not refer to the sale notice in the window below, but was a legacy of protest from earlier this year and had in fact slipped so that the word "Riot" was no longer visible - at least I hope that's the case!

I've seen tea cosies before, but never a jam jar cosy…

We had a nice lunch in Same Same But Different and were served by one of my former students, who is now studying for an MSc in Creative Music Technology at Bath Spa University - nice to see he is doing well. Fuelled by our lunch, we walked back up the hill. We debated whether this establishment on Lansdown is authentically Tudor or not - no firm conclusion reached.

Opposite was a fresh collection of flowers, one with a card in memory of a beloved son.

We walked back through Hedgemead Park and were captivated by this most unusual tangled tree.

A well decorated window. 

 An impressive display of dogwood.

After getting home, while out with Bella on her afternoon walk I was taken by the number of raindrops on the tips of these hedgerow branches.

Looking back out over the city centre, with the Abbey lit up to the right. 

This time last year, Bella was really enjoying playing with her new toy - a Christmas present from Richard and Barbara. It can be hard to see on some backgrounds...

Also this time last year, I thanked our readers for making December 2012 the second highest read month of the blog to date. A year later, we have already seen more than double that month's number of pageviews, and the blog has passed 50,000 total pageviews. Thanks once again to all our readers, and we look forward to sharing more of our exploits in 2013 - Happy New Year!