Not crowing or anything ...

There was really nothing to crow about (sorry) about today - not the weather (reverted to the grimly wet), not my activities (tedious but necessary) and certainly not the news, foreign or domestic. But at least I got this rather splendid photo of a crow - perhaps a youngish one, from his slightly furry look - who wasn't at all perturbed to have me stand and photograph him; he was too preoccupied with drying his feathers. Perhaps he'd had an unexpected dip?

I went shopping in the pre-breakfast rain - there seemed to be gaps in the vegetables for some reason - and was still washing the dishes at elevenses time. I squeezed in my Italian before midday (I wouldn't qualify for my Early Bird extra points otherwise!). This week my league seems to be full of enthusiastic people with nothing better to do, as my usual accumulation of points is nothing like enough to catch the top ten.  I sent off a group mail to arrange a meeting; it's been like herding hens to collate everyone's availability and preferences so it's good to get it done. And after some lunch I packed for the weekend, with the usual feeling that I was taking enough for a whole week.

By late afternoon we'd both had enough and headed out into the rain - by now more of a drizzle - for some fresh air and exercise. That's when I took the photo for today; you could have had one of the puddles in our lane had this bird not happened along. (I must admit to the sense of desperation conveyed by that particular bit of information...)

Then came the news, and the desperation brought on by the further misdeeds of politicians and apparatchiks and the growing tension in the Middle East, so I resorted to flipping through old photos on Flickr of babies and small grands and holidays in warm places that didn't seem to be troubled by floods. #2 son appears to be in Denmark - I can't keep up - but we hope to meet up on Saturday. And the process of finding a new bishop for Argyll and The Isles is under way, again. 

I'll be blipping on the phone for a couple of days, so I'll be less wordy. And I shall catch up on fellow-blippers soon ...