B is for Blossom

I know, it's a day late for DDW's alphabet challenge. But this is the obligatory annual record shot of the first almond blossom. Actually I first saw a few timid flowers about a week ago, but decided to wait till there were a few more. And since I have enough twee colour blips of blossom, I tried something different. After being very tempted by mono, in the end I went for bleach bypass, Chamaeleo's favourite treatment!

We learned this morning that our friend Michel had died during the night. He had spent the last two months in a convalescent home and was incurably ill, so it wasn't exactly a surprise, but we hadn't expected it so soon and so suddenly. We'd been to visit him on Saturday, and he was tired and a bit woozy, but not noticeably worse than when S had last seen him a couple of weeks ago. He had had a miserable time the last couple of years -- perhaps it was for the best to slip away in his sleep.

It's thanks to him that we live where we do. Nearly 20 years ago he sold us our house, which was his holiday house at the time, and we got to know him when he moved here himself on retirement a few years later. We met so many people through him and his always-open door, and it was sad to see him decline. So this blossom is for him.