forsook the usual Christmas Cake

Happy new year Lori...that cake looks delicious...hope you are not having a bad winter....we have escaped low temps so far but have paid by getting loads of rain instead...

Happy New Year! How is your polytunnel weathering the winds? We had rain and really mild temps right up to the 29th of Dec., Sandra. Christmas day it was 15 degrees! Anomalies like that make me worry.. but the 29th brought us more seasonable temps and snow and New Years Day we really were socked! In the last 8 days we have received a foot of snow and our temps are moderate which means lots of snow. That I don't mind...the older I get the less I am able to abide the minus 30's. Shovelling the snow is no picnic either...but it's good exercise if I work slowly.

Mmm-mmm.
Lori,new studies show only 3 minutes of hard exercise done 3 times a week is all you need to stay healthy. Studies. I like the one that will say to eat more Ice Cream.

wow ...was that the warmest christmas day u remember? my tunnel did just fine and my succulents are enjoying the weather. we have been soo lucky here at corseside so many others have had to endure flooding. i have been checking the long rage weather and I am not expecting much if any frosts...which to be honest as we live by the coat is fairly normal. take it easy with the snow clearing...

Hiya Lori, belated happy new year to you and your family. As I write I can see the snow on the Dales, but only on higher ground, we're just below that level. My family in the north of Holland experienced a weird phenomena this past week, skating in the streets! and not the rolling skating variety either. The wet streets must've frozen solid very quickly overnight and normal traffic was totally impossible. I took my little granddaughter to the artificial skating rink just before Xmas and found it closed ,due to freak weather... too warm and the ice machines couldn't cope! Cold snaps are predicted here but keep fizzling out. I believe the El Ninja cycle was at its highest this year, which caused the dramatic storms and rainfall. Let's hope next year will be better, so many people flooded out of their houses up here. It is horrific.

yes Sandra... it was so strange. The very day you do not mind Jack Frost nipping at your nose...he's nowhere to be found! ;-) Is this a more normal winter for you Sandra? I have only experienced a UK winter once...I was in B.C. (on Vancouver Island) and they had a skiff of snow before Xmas and when we went looking for a Christmas tree it was raining cats and dogs! something I have noticed with regard to my succulents and cacti...they like it outdoors here and don't mind all the rain! ( now they're indoors for a warm dry spell.) but all summer long they seem quite happy with moisture. does that sound strange?
I like your "studies", Stan! especially the ice cream one.
Thanks for the New Year wishes, M. We had an "ice storm" in 1998 that left most of southern Quebec and parts of Eastern and Southern Ontario in total darkness...the ice was so thick on the trees that our forest were "pruned" by the ice and many trees died from the ice load. Huge power towers (steel) were bent and wires broken. It was carnage on a huge scale.. we learned a valuable lesson about preparedness... Glad you're not afloat... I have been looking for posts on here after seeing a weather map that showed a huge storm all across the north Atlantic with above freezing temperatures in Iceland and Greenland!

it is a few degrees warmer than usual Lori which brings us lots of rain but as you say the succulents outside dont seem to mind the rain. my ground is saturated and difficult to walk about on but it's better than the cold weather...

http://www.attn.com/stories/4935/north-pole-melting-forecast?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=internal