Mild.

A change to warmer temperatures today. The morning's light drizzle soon gave way to a bit of sun and patches of blue sky.

Unfortunately I couldn't take advantage of the fine weather as it was biscuit baking day. Two kinds made today, peanut butter and chocolate cookies and Lebkuchen. Here they are before I got to work with the melted white chocolate. The Lebkuchen hearts have to be half dipped and in order not to eat waste the left over white chocolate I trailed it over the other cookies. Right now all the biscuits are safe (from Speedy) in the oven. Thankfully Peter doesn't need the oven tonight.

This morning our neighbour called round to tell us he was going to put rat poison out because his wife had seen rats in their garden. Eating the bread they put out for the birds! I know the rats had been living under the old shed in the back garden but now it and the greenhouses have gone and we paid for the council man to put down poison there's little chance they've come from our garden except in passing through. The only thing is I'll have to keep Speedy in for a few days until the rats have eaten all the bait.

Lying in bed this morning having woken at 4.00 I realised that yesterday's start on my felting project would result in a much too big finished item so I've put that aside for after Christmas and started again today on a much smaller version. I'm now beginning to wonder if I haven't been over ambitious but I'll give it a few more days.

Late this afternoon I finally caught (almost) the wonderful shaded colours of the sea and sky which look even prettier framed by the sparkly Christmas lights around the window. Peter went off to the doctors' this morning for his knee injection and flu' jab and he said the lights looked very nice from the road. I turned the lights on early this morning when I made myself some tea to cheer up the youngsters walking down to catch the school bus and the early morning dog walkers (the lights not cups of tea). I know that walking down the road it makes me smile to see the few lit up Christmas trees in people's windows. I walked up our road today to deliver Christmas cards. We know some of the neighbours by name and I put a card in every house apart from one where a carpenter working outside said the owners wouldn't be here until the new year.