First snows

The mountains behind the house have received their first dusting of snow; I'd add a picture but they are hidden by the clouds at the moment. It had been a mild Autumn up until two days ago. The mornings and evenings were drawing in and it was distinctly chilly in the mornings, but by the afternoon we found ourselves stripping off layers in the warm sunshine. The mountain sides are magnificent in their covering of red, oranges and browns, broken by the vivid green of the fir trees. However, I detest this time of year, getting up and coming home in the dark. The inevitable colds and flus. The all to rapid end to another year of our lives, looking back and wondering just what we have achieved. We had been lucky this year with the extended Indian summer to lift the spirits, but now all that has changed. The temperature has plunged and a steady freezing rain has been falling for two days. So the arrival of the first snow is a welcome reminder that the Autumn rains won't last forever and in a couple of months we'll be fixing our skies. Hopefully we can expect sunny winter days on the pistes to help us to forget this damp and gloomy period.