Spring

Just a walk around the block with my son's camera at hand to teach myself, but I found I was using my methods on his camera, rather than learning the camera's possibilities to try something new. Anyway, these pinks of today show it's Spring alright.

Thank you all lots for your reactions of late, much appreciated!

Since Putin makes war in Ukraine, my thoughts are also with the Blippers from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic states; they too must be horrified by Putin's orders and actions of the present and of the past 20 years. I hope they're safe and well.

Last week we all heard the alarming speech of Putin to the Russians and I'll add here an abrieviated transscript from our papers in Holland:

"Toxic Climate
Many Russians will hear a chilling echo of terror under Soviet rule, especially under Soviet dictator Stalin. In recent years, Putin has waged a brutal campaign against anything that smelled of opposition to his regime. Opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was murdered on a bridge close to the Kremlin in 2015, Opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned in 2020, and when that did not silence him, he was imprisoned. Human rights groups were declared 'foreign agents' or even labeled 'extremist', while the independent medium one after another were forced to shut down.

But the climate now is getting even more toxic. Since the invasion of Ukraine started, Russian authorities have been creating an atmosphere of war in Russia, although bombs are only falling on the Ukrainian side of the border. In schools, students are told day by day that NATO is about to invade Russia. Even in kindergarten, toddlers who can barely walk receive their first military-patriotic lessons. Their colorful rompers were marked with a Z, the sign of the Russian troops in Ukraine."