A frozen desolation..

"A few hundred yards of solitude, and they came upon the first sign of life in this frozen desolation..... " When I walked up to Blackford Pond this morning I remembered that line from the second best detective story ever (The Nine Tailors closely follows Gaudy Night in the Dorothy L Sayers canon of good reads.)

The snow melt has raised the level of the pond dramatically, without breaking up the thick ice. So on the little island the duck house kindly built by Cala Homes is almost submerged.

The thing is, though, that a week ago this place was teeming with duck, moorhen, coot, geese and a swan. It was standing room only, since there was no swim space. Then it was suddenly one day deserted. After waiting for days on end for the situation to improve almost the entire birdlife just evacuated. Where did they go? I assume to running water somewhere. I hope they come back soon.

My New Year Blip-Resolutions? (1) to grow my community of friends by a little. (I can only handle a little at a time - both in terms of commenting, and in terms of getting to know a bit about the new friends.) (2) to get started on my RLS series. (3) to achieve another 365 days blipping.

So from still wintry Edinburgh - have a happy day. Here is a poem - not cheerful, but appropriate, from Robert Frost. :-)

FIRE AND ICE

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.