Candlemas and Madoc

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another fight.
If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain,
Winter won't come again.

Oh dear, it has been a beautiful fair, bright day here today for Candlemas, so if the traditional rhyme holds true, we are not through with the worst of winter yet.

In that case, our weekend lodger Madoc the Welsh Mountain Dog may yet be grateful for his thick fur coat. He has proved hard to photograph, this shaggy chunk of perpetual motion, an endearingly waggly puppy at six months old. He's big, already the size of a large Labrador and with lots of growing still to do. The cat is not impressed though, as Madoc managed to scoff his dinner in addition to his own!