This big patch of daffs is coming into flower rather later than many others in the vicinity, but some confident early adopters have made a start on it. Actually I like this picture more for the bark of the tree, which looks very ancient and Ent-like. This is all in the middle of the UoM campus, not a space normally renowned for feeling rural.
The weather was no worse today, and perhaps I should have made more of this, but I had done a few miles yesterday and there seemed little need to go any further than the pub, with the outside tables filling up for the first time this year. Long may the sunshine last — which of course it won’t, in Britain it never does. This couple stayed for only a short time, so presumably were being more active.
Whatever it is that pigeons do to communicate the information that it is time for a collective take-off, they do it well enough, and quite frequently, too. They will then fly around for a couple of circuits, come back to land (or roof) again, and wait a few minutes before doing it all again. Perhaps it’s just training.
A definite First Day of Spring. The buds on the apple tree anticipated it, however. Well, we call it a ‘tree’ but it’s more like a kind of skein of branches that wrap themselves around some vaguely solid thing that might or might not be a trunk. More like vines, almost. Either way, the apples should be along in a few months’ time.
Crocuses are an annual marker, coming out at the same time each year. This being the case they work as a marker of Joe’s birthday, which is on Tuesday. Each year I remember 2003, which had a very warm first few days of March, spent mostly in Calderdale Royal Hospital while we waited (and Clare pushed, for days) for him to make his appearance. Crocuses were coming up everywhere then, and here are more, 22 years later.
The afternoon greatly benefited from the appearance of something that has not been seen in at least a week, namely the sun. Once it came out the idea of working through until 5pm was rapidly abandoned and I went out on a walk. I know fungi don’t need the sun directly, but this little clump shone in an agreeably golden fashion as a result of it. I like the little one on its own at the top — is it making a break for independence, or being shunned by its fellow gang members?
Truffles have a marvellous flavour and I like cooking with them. But they’re also expensive, of course, so only tend to appear in the kitchen at certain points in the year — like, not long after Christmas, when the pot pictured here was one of my gifts. The grand opening has just taken place. Expect several truffle-flavoured meals in the next few days.
C said she liked both the bird (‘magnificent’, she put it) and the stonework. I, myself, can see no other reasons to like the shot. So these things will do as a title.
My first Hebden Bridge picture in one whole month. It doesn’t seem like the pigeons have changed their behaviour much since I’ve been away: still the group callisthenics, tight circles around a carefully-chosen patch of town. They look impressive enough in black-and-white. Except for the one who’s broken formation, to the lower left.
Yep, still here. And for another 48 hours, at least. This shot pleases me, though. The third one in a row to depict a creature in some kind of repose, but that is how I feel right now.
Being 42 