Moon Rising

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I woke very early, sensing frost. My fruit trees are very vulnerable at present. They range from blossom buds to formed fruit and young leaves. If the warm sunshine touches them while they are still frozen I could lose the lot. My strategy is to spray them with water to form an icy film, which slows the defrosting.

It was still dark when I went out with my sprayer all pumped up. The lawn was soft underfoot from last night's sleet. Everything was crusted with flashing diamonds in the light of my LED head-torch. Above me millions more were scattered across the sky- the sweeping arc of the Milky Way, down south the Southern Cross with the two great stars Alpha and Beta Centauri, while in the west stood the brilliant Venus. There was no time to stand and stare. A dozen trees were waiting.

The sky was beginning to colour by the time I had finished, and the moon was rising behind a forest of power and telegraph poles and wires. My car was too frozen to use, so I set off on foot to get a better view. I think the picture would have been better a few minutes earlier, but I do love my fruit.