Last Friday, we had a wonderful day. Hilary, my aunt who lives in Swansea came up for the day for us to go Christmas shopping in Cardiff. We met her at the train station and headed over to trhe new St Davids 2 development and John Lewis as she hadn't yet had a chance to have a look round it. We had a wonderful day shopping and I was delighted to see that Jo Malone have now opened a Cardiff branch. On the way back to meet Andrew, we found a little stall in the centre of the open space selling German sausages (bratwurst) like you see at German Christmas markets. I was delighted, and we stopped and enjoyed one. Just as we sat down on a bench to eat our sausages, it began to snow. It was a wonderful moment, sitting there in the gently falling snow, under twinkling lights and feeling very festive.

Later that night, we had a booking at Bully's restaurant - to finally and belatedly celebrate our anniversary. Between returning home from town after dropping off Hil at the railway station and getting ready to go out in the early evening, the snow fell heavily and by the time the taxi driver picked us up the world was white. Central Cardiff was deserted and when we got to the restaurant about half of the bookings had been cancelled - such a shame. Anyway, having got there, we had a wonderful evening and the food was as superb as ever, along with a sumptuous wine list. I finished the meal with a particularly delicious cherry parfait, a coffee and one of their selection of Armagnacs - lovely. Eventually meandered home (taxi driver found roads still passable).

By Saturday morning Cardiff was snowed in and most of the rest of the weekend and this week we, like most of the country, have been in the grip of very cold weather. Although we've had no more significant snow (yet - some is forecast for tonight) and most of the roads are passable, pavements have been transformed into sheet ice, since gritting is only applied to roads. Walking the dogs is difficult and they hate the stone hard surfaces and razor like grass under their paws. Night time temperatures have been low enough for us to have the heating on overnight to ensure pipes don't freeze, the garden pond is nearly frozen over and we've been putting out masses of bird food. To my astonishment and delight, we were visited by a snipe earlier in the week, while I was washing up. I watched it, entranced while it pecked at some meal worms I'd put out, before something disturbed it and it flew away. We live very close to the Severn estuary and have many lakes and rheens near us, so the area is good for water fowl, but it was still a huge surprise.

Yesterday was a painfully bittersweet day. Our dear friend Paula has terminal cancer and this year has been awful as we've watched its slow encroachment and her valiant resistance. She invited me over as she was going through her quilting stash and giving it to me. On the one hand, we had a great afternoon, sitting upstairs in her spare bedroom, playing with piles of fabric. On the other, I felt so sad and miserable, as this seemed to mark another milestone on her journey. I did feel immensely grateful and privileged though, and it's really rather nice in a way to think about how her fabrics will be a form of legacy. I'm not ashamed to say though I came home yesterday and just wept - and today has been hard too. In another development, her daughter has said she will give a home to Paula's two beloved dogs (also much loved greyhounds) when Paula is no longer able to care for them. This was something that Paula was worried about, and it will be an immense comfort to her to know this is taken care of. Although we love Jim and Blue, it would not have been feasible for us to have had them, much as I would have liked to, and Andrew and I did discuss this many times. When Andrew is away, it is a struggle to walk three dogs single handed, and walking five simply wouldn't be possible.

This weekend, we're mindful of the weather forecast and are planning to hibernate. In particular, we're going to make some apple and rosemary jelly (some to keep, and some to give for Christmas) - the apples are from Andrew's parents' garden and the rosemary from our garden.

Finally, I'd like to say that if you would like one of my hand made Christmas cards this year, and you're not already on our list, then please drop me an email with your address and I'll be delighted to send you one, or a festive ATC if you prefer/as well.