Scented candle

Once again there were no enticements to venture outside, and the day culminated with a phone call from my friend Derek who lives in Ashbourne, which is only 20km or so north of Dublin, asking me to look out the window and check for snow. I had none to report, though there were signs of a reasonably heavy frost on car roofs. Where he was, they'd had a steady snowfall for some hours, and local kids were busily building a large snowman, encouraged by adults who were enjoying the snow just as much as the kids themselves. There's a junction on the N2 on the way to Ashbourne which indicates a turn off to a place called Coldwinters, and Derek mentioned to me some time ago that it's so called because it marks the winter snow line. Judging by last night's wildly differing conditions between where he lives and where I do, the place is aptly named.

Anyway, confining myself yet again to barracks means you're all stuck with yet another desperation blip. This is a close-up of a scented candle which was not a gift this Christmas but was certainly a gift some time before. It's studded with fruit slices and coffee beans and the like all around, but smells of vanilla more than anything else. It was happy to pose for the camera and help relieve my blip desperation.