Happy New Year! And Greetings from Liverpool, where a soft drizzle greeted the barrage of Fireworks that saw the New Year in. After about 20 minutes the drizzle gave way to heavy rain, but that did not deter the fireworks.

We seem to have had plenty of rain during December, but there was a very sharp cold snap around the middle of the month, excellent for those short, brisk walks after lunch in the brightness of the early afternoon. It was nice to imagine all those nasty bugs being killed off by the cold temperatures, while we enjoyed the silhouette of the bare tree branches against the brightness of the morning sky.

One beautiful silhouette to be enjoyed in Winter is the Sefton Park Palmhouse. From about four o’clock, when darkness is falling, the palmhouse shines out brightly when the lights are on, obscured only slightly by the mass of bare branches on the surrounding trees.

Not all the trees were bereft of leaves during December. In Sefton Park, opposite the cricket ground, there is an oak tree with long shaped leaves, which still has a good number of its greeny yellow coloured leaves in place. Our frequent journeys to town in early December were brightened by the sight of the Silver Birch tree at the corner of Croxteth Drive and Bentley Road, which stood out clearly whilst most of its small leaves, turned yellow, were still in place. Now that the leaves have fallen, the tree is barely noticeable.

There are still highlights to be seen on the journey to town. There are some bright red berries and green leaves on a bush on Croxteth Drive, bright but not very picturesque set against the house in process of being renovated. Both our own Rowan trees are now quite bare, but on Princes Avenue there is a small tree still heavy with cheerful yellow berries.

There are now a couple of branches on our blossom tree that have their pink blossom in place. We would not normally expect to see it until February. Had there been a any blue sky for background, I would have taken a picture by now, but I cannot get excited whilst the skies are grey. I hope to take a picture shortly of one of several trees around the city, that are now quite pink with their pale soft blossom which has gradually been coming out during the month of December.

In our garden, there is still a single red rose, the Garrya is full of catkins, there are berries still on the Cotoneaster, the heather is in flower, and the evergreen eucalyptus and Mexican orange blossom are, well, green. We do not have any Mahonia, but there is some nearby in Lathbury Lane to enjoy.

Mike Pendray
1 January 2003