Our chickens haven't seen snow before and they both treated it highly suspiciously. The normal chaotic scramble to get out of the hen-coop yesterday morning was instead a beaky sniff and slide followed by a frogmarch back into the coop. A fairly sensible decision which was very funny to watch.

Yet again us Brits have proved that we don't do bad weather. Two inches of snow and the country grinds to a halt, airports close, railways declare it's the wrong sort of snow, and everyone enjoys a good old bellyache about the terrible state of it all. Hapless visitors caught up in the gridlock ponder incredulously at our seeming lack of ability to cope with inclement weather.

Normally I can smugly observe all the shenanigans going on outside and thank my lucky stars I don't have to commute... all very easy to do when I don't actually have to go anywhere. Tomorrow I'll put all this to the test as Rob and I attempt to make it to Scotland for Christmas. Eeeek.

Happy Christmas everyone!

I pootled around for happy couple of hours earlier this week on a blog-hop, starting at Katy Elliot's daily journal of her life and house renovation in Marblehead, MA, and then over to Etsy buddy Lillyella, and to Tinctory to find out how her solar dyes were progressing and ended up at a delightful find, the sumptuous blog of Pia Jane Bijkerk.

I was immediately struck by Pia's beautiful finds and writings and reading further it came as no surprise to find she's a renowned international stylist and writer.

Paris: Made by hand by Pia Jane Bijkerk

Her first book, Paris: Made by hand is now on my Christmas wish-list and looks like the perfect excuse to hop on the Eurostar for the weekend and wander Parisian neighbourhoods for beautiful design haunts. She is currently working on her new book and lives on a houseboat in Amsterdam. Plus, she is exploring musical avenues with her soundscapes. Wow!

Images from http://www.piajanebijkerk.com

So, I sent Pia and email and despite her busy deadlines she kindly featured my pinhole and photograms and revealed that one of her favourite processes at college was making photograms. Next time she's back home she says she's going to look them up and I for one can't wait for her to share them with us.