Shrove Tuesday - 5 Things

 Why pancakes ?

 Legend tells us that a housewife was using up her eggs and milk before the Lenten fast began when she heard the church bells calling her to confession. Rather than put her cooking aside she ran off to church, complete with pan apparently tossing the "pancake" along the way!

5 more things about Shrove Tuesday:

1.Shrove Tuesday is the day before Lent begins.

2.Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day, Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras.

3.It's the last day of being able to eat whatever you like before the ritual fasting of Lent.

4.Shrove Tuesday is 47 days before Easter Sunday.

5.Shrove comes from the word shrive which means to confess, traditionally people would go to church to confess their sins on Shrove Tuesday.

Image: Wiki Commons  Belathee Photography

Hoar Frost - 5 things

-5 and we have a winter wonderland of hoar frost. Yesterday was the first day this winter I was actually cold whilst mucking out the horses. It's going to be a long hard winter. Anyway facts about hoar frost:

Hoar frost is also called radiation frost or hoarfrost or pruina.
Hoar frost  forms on cold clear nights when heat losses into the open skies cause objects to become colder than the surrounding air.
Hoar frost is white ice crystals deposited on the ground or on objects such as the plum trees pictured above.
The word hoar  comes from the old english adjective for showing signs of old age.
 Hoar frost also occurs in man made environments eg. freezers and cold stores.

Update: Mrs Fox has published some glorious hoar frost photographs on her blog Mrs Fox's do go and take a look.