Monkey's Blog - with a little help from Alice

SPRING WATCH (or, Yet More Flowers . . .)
[UPDATED THURSDAY 7th JUNE]

We've not posted anything here for a while, though we have been out and about, and Alice has taken a number of photographs of us we are impatient for you to see.

But she's still not feeling 100%, with the Post Viral Fatigue and such like. If you want to know a bit more about that, she managed to find a fairly good article by a fellow sufferer. Alice doesn't have everything mentioned there (thank goodness) but she does have the general weariness and occasional bouts of feeling dizzy. She's fairly sure she doesn't have Depression as such either, and is off to an excellent alternative therapist for some relevant help. And she's certainly still got all her marbles, as she just complained I've dictated too many underlinings.

Then Ba insisted we pose with our "real" marbles, in front of the fireplace. Sigh. . . . They are rather pretty, though, aren't they?

As a compromise to not writing a post at all, Alice has agreed to put up the photos, but not get tied up in knots trying to make the text fit elegantly around it. I hope she can manage to do that, or we'll be in for the usual marathon of attempts at precision and occasional frustration, plus swearing.

On May7th, we were back in Harrison Park, where the cherry blossom was in full splendour.

[You can click on any photo to see it at a larger size.]

The photo above and on the right here are both of our "favourite tree" in the Park. The second one is taken looking straight up at the mass of beautiful flowers. Alice managed to bang her head on a branch as she stood up - but the bruise is going down gradually.

And even though it was late in the afternoon, the sunshine was still warm.

Ba said we should also admire the so-called "ordinary" dandelions and daisies. So we did.

May 12th
Well, our windowboxed bulbs are well and truely Past It now, as you can see.

But we'll wait until they've died right down, so the goodness is all stored in them, before we lift them and plant something else.

Meanwhile, there's a spot of brightness on the kitchen indoor windowsill, where the geraniums have begun to bloom.

I was most impressed by this bright pink flower-head.

Ba is looking up at a tender bud, wondering how long it will take to come out.

We've been encouraging Alice, who has just joined the ranks of those who colour.

It's supposed to help calm her if she's stressed. This isn't too bad for a first go, don't you think? [Do click on it.]

No prizes for recognising the book it's based on: a favourite, of course . . .

May 13th
A close-up of the beautifully coloured leaves on our favourite tree in the park, which by now bears some red seed-pods - if that is what they are.

A bit of Googling (actually rather a lot) makes us think it's most probably a Copper Cherry. But we're still just a bit confused.
 
May 14th
We admired the next piece of work on the title page. A colouring friend suggested it's not essential to complete a whole page at once, but rather work on small parts as they appeal.

The lettering was difficult to get to our satisfaction, let alone Alice's. Once a felt-tip line is drawn, it can't be undone! The pencil shading was a little easier.

May 18th
A good friend took us all down to South Queensferry, where we enjoyed some late afternoon sun and admired the three Forth Bridges, road and rail. Alice and her pal had a long conversation about matters personal and philosophical, as I've found humans tend to do.

Notice how there's a slightly different light in the bottom frame of the composite, for which Alice chose a slightly different exposure etc.

We were actually on that bridge in September 2017. See the photos and other information on our blog post of  August 2017. And the later one in October 2017.

May 23rd
Now for the glorious finale to this catching-up blog:
All the pink cherry blossoms were now over, but it was time to admire the brilliant white of the Hawthorn. The dark green of the holly also added to the contrast.

There's a lovely video by the Woodland Trust of A Year in the Life of a Hawthorn Tree. Keep watching until the end: there are different sections.
And here we are, close up with the blossoms on the right. There's some general information about Hawthorn by Wildscreen Arkive on their website, and interesting stuff about the plant's mythology and folklore by Trees for Life on theirs.

So it's cheerio from us for now. It's well gone lunch time here, but at least Alice restricted (well, a bit) her usual urge to keep fiddling with the layout. It looks fine, doesn't it?

P.S. [7th June]  Here's two more photos which really belong with this post (even though we are not in them!) but Alice took a while getting them edited to her satisfaction...

The Hawthorn flowers on this tree in the Park had turned just slightly pink. Apparently this isn't unusual.

While the lilac tree in our neighbour's front garden was blooming beautifully - and smelled heavenly!