The Buds Are Out ??

Dear reader, has the weather been a little turbulent lately? ?? Let's take a stroll over the past few weeks' changes and see what treasures we collected in this game of life on Earth. Have you read about the upcoming mission on the Moon? I can't wait to see what the future holds ??

Where you are there may be snow, or sun, but here in Cambridge there are mosses. Primordial plants that predate flowering plants, mosses settle into shallow soil and have simple leaves and reproductive parts.

The thing with mosses is that they are kind of everywhere, but are lost in plain sight, a bit like pigeons and house spiders. They often draw me closer against the stark red brick base, or from below as their stalks tower towards the sky. It's all about perspective.

Most of these pictures were taken just as I returned from Palermo ?? so two things were on my mind: what the winter looks like here, and what the landscape holds in general. And just as I found a mountain goat over there, amongst the cacti and lizards, so I found a beautiful dog-relative over here.

I couldn't believe it, but this isn't my first encounter this, or rather, last year. The other one was in, you know, middle of the street London.

I don't know if it crouched like that to hide like a squirrel, but I wanted to say "You're too big. It's not working." Oh, well. Off it went on its way!

Shortly after my Sicilian escapade, I ventured out to a highlight around Cambridge - the Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits. And as this pic proves, there is plenty of life to be found on a hunk of chalk.

Truly a dramatic landscape on a sunny day, with clear layers of chalky shrubbery, uneven surfaces and cloudy puddles.

Back from the Chalk Pits, the sun trickled a beam through this park, not quite shaping the image of winter...

Elsewhere, in Romania, my mother took this picture of another winter, this time much closer to white. And it looks like the ducks are managing ??

Have a wondrous winter full of positive surprises - the buds are out.

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