Almond blossom

We were blessed with perfect spring weather for the first field meeting of the South Lincs Flora Group. Eight of us spent several hours walking round the village of Billinghay, a fairly typical fen-edge settlement, but with a relatively rich flora, particularly in the cemetery where we found Sheep's Sorrel and Lesser Stitchwort. One of the more attractive species recorded was this young Almond tree, planted in the churchyard - positively glowing in the spring sunshine. We recorded more than 200 species of flowering plant, half of which were new for the tetrad, so a very worthwhile visit.

Pete had accompanied me, as on the way back we were going to drop in to Boston hospital to visit his Mum, who'd been admitted on Thursday with chest pains. As we were on our way her partner rang to say she was being discharged as the doctors hadn't managed to find anything wrong, so could we collect her and take her back home. This went smoothly, but it was clear that she'd found the whole hospital experience very confusing and disturbing, and seemed convinced that the medical staff had said she only had two days to live and were plotting ways to bring about her demise. All very difficult.

She was a bit better when back in her own home, although her tales of what went on seemed highly improbable and it was very difficult to know what had actually happened. By the time we left I felt like I was in a topsy-turvy parallel universe.