Fairy lights....

What a difference a day makes! The air temperature's wasnot very different from yesterday, but the wind dropped and the sun came out, making it feel positively balmy. I realise how much I've been missing the sun - it felt so wonderful to walk along the river, and bask in its warmth.

On my stroll I noticed the sun shining through these capsules of capillary thread-moss Bryum capillare , lighting them up like tiny street-lamps for fairies. I was entranced and took a series of shots, but this was my favourite.
Later in my walk I came across a bush of sweet-scented Mahonia absolutely buzzing with honey-bees. Another sign of spring!

Apart from my walk it's been a fairly domestic sort of day - digging part of the vegetable patch and sorting out the junk room that was previously my Mum's bedroom. My Mum was an inveterate hoarder, and although I did some sorting after she died, it was intially too difficult and emotional. After three and a half years it's easier, though I still have a pile of papers to go through, some of which are historically interesting, such as a letter from my grandfather describing a first hand view of the Blitz in East London. But on the bright side it was warm enough to eat lunch in the garden!

In the late afternoon I took Alex to the doctor, which involved a very long and tedious wait. It seems that he really shouldn't have gone to Orton Pit yesterday morning. He was complaining of a sore throat first thing but decided he felt up to a spot of conservation work - today he has a high temperature and has been diagnosed with severe tonsillitis. So it looks like I'm on nursing duty this weekend. Luckily we didn't have any special plans!