The Duchess of Fritillary

Red-barred Gold, Micropterix tunbergella

Still waiting for the Captain to discover a new butterfly/moth in Rewell Wood - one previously unknown to science.  I want it to be called the Sueknightilla, aka the Duchess of Fritillary, when found.  He has got some lovely pics already though, but of previously catalogued creatures.

Ron kindly picked me up last night and took me to the Kingdom Hall. Very kind of both him and his wife, as he has a full car, and it meant that she had to find a lift herself!   Jean, my helper, arrived too - she doesn't drive either. And we delivered our talk successfully enough.   I don't seem to get any the less nervous as the years go by, but Ron assured me no-one does. And of course our brothers have to give more and longer talks than us sisters.

But how well Jehovah trains us.  I remember my mother saying to my sisters years ago, in the kitchen at the bungalow, when I had started to go to the meetings:  "Sue must be serious about this. I never thought there was anything that would make her stand up and speak in public."!

Neither did I.  But it is amazing what Jehovah can do if you trust him.  Not that we did stand up - I whispered to the young brother who does the chairs and mics as Jean and I began our trek towards the platform "Can we be sitting down for this" - and he sprang up like a gazelle, and had table, chairs and mics re-arranged in a flash.  I suppose there was a time when I could move like that - in the dim and distant past - but anyway, I am very grateful to have young brothers who can help.

When I am assigned a first talk - a first call - I will be standing. But its only 2 minutes and much simpler, and hopefully I won't have to juggle more than Bible and magazine.  Though even that could make my appearance a bit like "Mr, Bean visits the Kingdom Hall".

Well, I will worry about that when it happens.

Snow?

"Have you survived the snowstorm?" asked the Captain as I picked up the phone yesterday.   I was a bit dazed as I had just dozed off in front of the telly.  "What snow?"   "Its been snowing, in Rewel Wood."   "No snow here", I said, looking out the window. "Yes, it said on the News that it was snowing on the coast."

For a moment I thought I saw drifts of snow all over the Green - then realised it was daisies.  And the windows were dry.   So did our little patch of seafront miss out, or did I sleep through the whole thing?

Its sunny but cold this morning. And we did have a brief snowstorm midday!  I made some marmalade muffins for the packed lunches, and some veggie curries, and went over my talk with Captain B.  I urgently need to get back to my second thriller. IF the first one makes even a bit of money, my young publisher will, presumably, agree to take another.

Ash, my good friend in virtual space, is having a hard time. I wish I could help but he is so far away over The Pond and need someone there with him.  If only I could have a blockbusting best seller.  But with me as the heroine, it is not going to happen.  I have never kicked a bottom in my life.

Nor am I likely to now.  With my artificial knees it really would be a case of "This is going to hurt me more than it is going to hurt you."

A Chukka of Golf

I am really enjoying the "Keeping Up Appearances" repeats on the telly.   The other day in her current scheme for social advancement (doomed to fail, as always, but she carries on undaunted), Hyacinth, togged out in golfing colours, announced loftily to her neighbour that they were "off to play a chukka of golf".

Brilliant!   A great line, beautifully delivered.

I was talking about it with my sisters when we were out on the field service yesterday afternoon.  And how much I needed both meeting, field service and time with my siblings. The world - the system of things - is so horrible. So cruel.  I can only wonder what the world of Noah's day was like. Very very similar I guess.  But the rescue that is coming now will be a lasting one.

Satan will never ever rule the world again.

I hung on to every word of the Speakers talk on Sunday...   Jehovah's word is a lifeline - a beam of light in a darkening world.

In the meantime, half an hour of Hyacinth Bucket does cheer me up. And we also had a lovely evening with Jacks on Saturday night. She came round for supper - chicken kiev, courtesy of Waitrose, assorted veggies, fruit salad (made by the Captain's own fair hands) and ice-cream.   And then we had coffee, cheese and biscuits, and the choc mints we won at the Arundel raffle.

The Captain also discovered a certain shrinkage in the box of Turkish Delights we won last time. How could that have happened?   Have the mice been at them?  Its a puzzle worthy of the great Poirot himself - though unfortunately, the Captain seems to feel he has already solved it.

Oh dear.

And Jacks kindly drove me to the Kingdom Hall on the Sunday morning. I am still nowhere near being able to drive - and don't know if I will ever be...    arm very stiff, and sore.   I am keeping up with the physio, in the hopes that I can get enough of an improvement to at least drive to the Hall and the shops.  I would be grateful just for that.

When God Polished the Moon

Angmering Estate bluebell walk, Hyacinthoides non-scripta

This is a short interview with Harold King, a Jehovah's Witness who spent four and a half years in solitary confinement in a Communist Chinese jail, when China was under the Mao regime.
https://tv.jw.org/#en/video/VODIntExp/pub-jwbiv_201507_1_VIDEO

If you watch it, you will see why my blog has the title it does.

Greater Stitchwort, Stellaria holostea

Col, Jacks and me did our annual bluebell walk yesterday.  It was a bit overcast but the Captain still got some excellent shots. And I reckon we just caught them while still in their glory.  The woods were full of the flowers of spring.

This morning it was Physio - ouch ouch ouch - and then shopping at Waitrose. Jackie is coming for supper tomorrow.  I also got a card and letter posted to Marlene, as I heard via her cousin on fb that she had lost little Yorkie.   I can remember the first time Shadow and Yorkie met. He was fascinated by her - and got right down to her level to say hello and not frighten her. She was Joe Cool about the whole thing, and kept poor old Shads firmly in his place.

I hope so much...  well, who knows.   But Jesus did tell us that Jehovah notes even the fall of a sparrow. So he knew and loved Shadow and Yorkie and we can leave them safe with him.

Talk

I have a talk in the Thursday night Christian Life and Ministry Meeting next week.

My material is from the "Good News From God" brochure, pp 24,25, as follows:

Drawing close to God is not easy because we live among people who lack faith in God and ridicule his promise of peace on earth. (2 Timothy 3:1, 4; 2 Peter 3:3, 13) So we need the encouraging association of fellow believers, and they need us.—Read Hebrews 10:24, 25.

Associating with people who love God helps us to draw close to God. The meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses provide fine opportunities to benefit from the faith of others.—Read Romans 1:11, 12

My setting is:  Return Visit: fg lesson 12 ¶4-5—Demonstrate how to make a return visit on someone who accepted the convention invitation. Lay the groundwork for the next visit. (4 min. or less).  

And my helper is Jean.  We plan to get together Friday afternoon to hammer it out. 

The verses of Scripture I am to choose from are as follows:

(2 Timothy 3:1) "But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here."

(2 Timothy 3:4) "betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God,"

(2 Peter 3:3) "First of all know this, that in the last days ridiculers will come with their ridicule, proceeding according to their own desires"

(2 Peter 3:13) "But there are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell".

(Romans 1:11, 12) "For I am longing to see you, that I may impart some spiritual gift to you for you to be made firm;  or, rather, that we may have an interchange of encouragement by one another’s faith, both yours and mine."

(Hebrews 10:24, 25) "And let us consider one another so as to incite to love and fine works,  not forsaking our meeting together, as some have the custom, but encouraging one another, and all the more so as you see the day drawing near."

Jean and I will have to decide which verses to build our talk around.

Bats Over Arundel!

We - the Captain, Jacks, Terry and Mrs. Captain - went to hear the Paul Stevens' talk on bats at the Arundel WildlFowl and WetlandTrust last night.  He is the local Batman - the one called out if you have bats in your belfry, so you can learn how to take care of them.  It was an excellent talk of course - with tea and biscuits (thanks Terry) and a raffle prize for both Jackie and I. Terry won some very pretty notelets which he gave to Jacks. and the Captain won a box of mint chocs, which, come to think of it, he has hidden from me.  We will meet them again when Jacks comes for supper on Saturday.

Then, at the end of the talk we all trooped out in the Reserve at night to see some bats for ourselves.

We saw some Daubenton's bats skimming across the water in the red light of Paul's torch. (The red light doesn't disturb the feeding bats.)  We saw it behave exactly as described below.

"The Daubenton's bat is a medium-sized bat which characteristically flies and forages just above water. It often uses its large feet to trawl for insects from the water surface. "
http://www.bats.org.uk/pages/-daubentons_bat-815.htmlI

Paella with Jackie

Jacks cooked us one of her lovely paellas for supper last night, followed by tiramisu and a selection of cheeses. A fun evening, as it always is. The Captain's alarm clock went off at 5 this morning as he is one of the marshalls for the Brighton Marathon.   It looks like they will have a sunny but cold day for it.  So we were up very early, and I did not sleep all that well.  Now  I feel so tired I don't know what to do with myself.

Ron, my lovely bro, is picking me up to take me to the meeting, and Jen, my lovely sister, will run me back afterwards.  We - the gang of four - plan to join the Field Service group after the meeting and go out on the preaching work.

Our Daily Text was a very helpful reminder as I am so tired I don't know what to do with myself and just want to go back to bed, missing meeting, field service and all!

It says:

Sunday, April 17

I must also declare the good news of the Kingdom of God to other cities.—Luke 4:43.

Jesus attached great importance to his preaching and teaching work. By means of it, he cultivated a field that had rich potential. Earlier, he told his disciples: “Lift up your eyes and view the fields, that they are white for harvesting.” (John 4:35-38) He had in mind the ingathering of many other honesthearted ones who would become his disciples. Like a good farmer, Jesus would not leave unattended a field that was ripe for harvesting. Hence, shortly after his resurrection and before his ascension to heaven, he gave his disciples the weighty commission: “Go, therefore, and make disciples.” (Matt. 28:18-20) Jesus thus entrusted them with a precious treasure, the Christian ministry. (2 Cor. 4:7) He was, in effect, committing to them “his belongings”—his talents. (Matt. 25:14) Put simply, the talents refer to the responsibility to preach and make disciples. 

Staying at Furnace Farm

I can't remember if I have ever put this brilliant little poem into my blog before, but in case not, here it is.   We were talking about time, and metaphors for time, on fb today.

Staying at Furnace Farm
by Alison Brackenbury

All houses have noises.  In Maggie's old house
I hear a rush.  It is taps, I think, water.
Unsteady with dreams, I go to the window.
No rain beats the curtain.  The night is half over.

I have heard time.
She ran down the stairs
like a girl to her lover.



Can't say I made wonderful use of my time today, but I am so tired.  We shopped in the morning. I made us some lunch.  The Captain went off chasing the butterfly herds and I parcelled up 6 of my magazine routes, with little cards and tracts.  I am hoping to do about half in person this month. I called on one very local lady yesterday.  She asked me in and we talked for about half an hour. Then I had a terrible job getting out of her low armchair!   My knees don't work as they did, and now I can't use both arms to pull myself up with...   She wants me to call by with May's magazines and have a cup of tea, but ring her first. We agreed I would have to sit on a dining room chair.

As time rushes faster and faster down that staircase, and the family arthritis tightens its grip, life becomes more and more difficult.   It is wonderful to be alive though, on this amazing planet, a blue and white jewel "hanging upon nothing" in this awe-inspiring universe.

Sunday with my Siblings

It was a beautiful spring day yesterday, with a cold wind. Perfect walking weather - so you had better ignore the next thousand self-pitying pages about how much I used to like walking, the pain in my shoulder, what the doctor said to me when I had my tubes tilted, etc etc.

Anyway, thanks to our Creator, the God of Abraham, I had lots of positive things to think about.  We had our special talk, a week late. Bob gave it beautifully.   One of the many things I have learned is that a good speaker is one who speaks from his heart and who prepares well.

Then I went out with 3 of my sisters on the field service. We worked not-at-homes for an hour and found quite a few at home, and then we did some return visits for half an hour.  Jen and I had a nice chat with Ursula who seemed both pleased and surprised to see me. She said she wondered if she would see me again. I said that I wondered too - would not have got there if Jenny had not chauffered me.  Its not even that far away, but I could no longer walk there and back.   It was a chance to thank her for the get well card too.   Jenny then drove me home. Where I didn't have to cook, only microwave the leftovers from last night's curry supper with Jackie.

I thought I wouldn't have to cook at all as the Captain had bought a steak from the Crossbush Farm Shop for his dinner - and he (rightly) does not trust me to cook steak.  I don't like it and think it should be cooked for hours to make it palatable.   I get the small small things ready - the onions and mushrooms and tomatoes, but he does the cheffy stuff.   However, he got back so late and so tired he couldn't face cooking.  Fortunately there was enough rice and curry left to make up another plateful.

Comfort

The Circuit Overseer's last talk, on Sunday, was full of comfort.  I will try to put in some highlights if I can decipher my notes.   And that is a big IF.

The talk was titled:
What Does Jehovah See in your Heart?

(Psalm 38:4) For my errors loom over my head; Like a heavy burden, they are too much for me to bear.
(Psalm 38:6) I am distressed and extremely downcast; I walk around sad all day long.
(Psalm 38:8) I have grown numb and become completely crushed; My anguished heart makes me groan aloud.
(Psalm 38:10) My heart pounds, my strength is gone, And the light of my eyes has left me.

Do we sometimes feel like this? 

Yes, definitely in my case.  It can be very disheartening, trying to live by Jehovah's beautiful, loving standards, and failing failing failing.   And of course I am disheartened by my physical problems too,

The Speaker then used an illustration of the Lifeguard and the Lifeline.  If I am stranded out there, or floundering in the water, am I trying to get myself out, or will I accept help?   Because the help is there. Jehovah is on our side.  He wants to help us.

The Speaker then read these lovely words at Psalm 103:10-14:

" He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor has he repaid us what our errors deserve.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So great is his loyal love toward those who fear him. As far off as the sunrise is from the sunset, So far off from us he has put our transgressions.  As a father shows mercy to his sons, Jehovah has shown mercy to those who fear him.  For he well knows how we are formed, Remembering that we are dust."

As far off as he sunrise is from the sunset.  Sunrise and sunset never meet.

We spoke of a father's love for his children - how David loved Absalom, even after his son had incited and led a rebellion against him.

Jehovah loves us so much, and will never leave us.  It is us who leave him.

(Psalm 51:17) "The sacrifices pleasing to God are a broken spirit; A heart broken and crushed, O God, you will not reject."

And always remember this:   (1 John 3:19, 20) "By this we will know that we originate with the truth, and we will assure our hearts before him  regarding whatever our hearts may condemn us in, because God is greater than our hearts and knows all things."

God is greater than our hearts and knows all things.   Stay with him, accept all the help he gives, and he will make us perfect. The day will come when we perfectly reflect all the beautiful loving qualities of our Creator.

Yesterday we shopped early at Waitrose - and I bought the curries for supper tonight.   The Roger rang to say he won't be able to get over this time, but hopes to visit in July - and a sister rang to say she will take me out on the work tomorrow.  Hurray.  Its so difficult when you don't have a car. Well, I have a car but I can't drive it.  I have been putting off the moment when I get in my car and see if I am anywhere near being able to drive again. It may be too demoralising.

Shouldering On

Shouldering on, though not being very brave about it.  I did no exercises at all yesterday, as it had got too painful.   I must trust my physio and get back to them. But, as the problem is a mechanical one, I don't see that all the exercise in the world will help.  Can't think what I have been doing beyond glooming about my medical problems.

I have got out "Disraeli Hall" and am trying to get the timeline right - my heroine is pregnant, has the baby and the baby is a few months old when it ends in the Spring - so I must make sure that the dates match.  There is a lot more work to do on it, though I have decided that I may not need to write the Mrs Danvers/balcony scene, just allude to it in a passing para.

But I feel despair when I look at what is published now. I was just reading a Guardian review of current novels - drug dealers, transgenderisation...   my heroine is probably that much despised creature Bobby's Girl.   I can't see its going to be publishable, unless my young publisher is dazzled by the fact that one character is kidnapped by aliens and returned to the streets of my Northern hometown with some genuine alien artefacts.  Though its of no importance to the plot whatsoever, which is basically Rebecca - the first and the second wife, the ambiguous husband, and the obsessed housekeeper.   And of course Manderley.   Hopefully all bought up to - well if not to date - to the second half of the Twentieth Century.

We shopped at Tesco's on Tuesday and I have kept the Captain fed, with soup, omelettes, and a large fresh fruit salad (made by him).   In theory The Roger is in-country and will ring this week, but who knows. We have invited Jackie over for supper on Saturday and I will have enough for 4 just in case.

I am up to date with my studying- and am locked in a discussion about Evolution/Creation on facebook.  And I have begun a project to start sorting through my paperwork, file by file. And then do it again. You always get rid of a lot more than you think you can if you do a second run. Only I am in the death zone now and if and when I do go - though I am hoping not to die at all - I don't want to leave an awful tangle behind.

Grebe

Great Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristatus

"Wow, that's a pretty bird!"  I said startled as something that proved to be a Great Crested Grebe popped up suddenly in the water in front of me.   We were sitting quietly in the Sand Martin Hide at the time.   The Captain was thrilled and took a load of photos before it dabbled off.  A very elegant creature.

We lunched at the Wetland Trust - chicken curry for the Captain, veggie lasagne for me - and went for a walk after.  I must admit I started off very gloomy as I had spent the early hours brooding about the fact that if my shoulder is now fully healed, as they tell me, then I have been left pretty crippled and in a lot of pain.  However, the beauty of the creation gradually got through to me - lots of courtings and chasing and life everywhere.   And I also thought about the Memorial and the C.O. visit which has just finished.  

And so to encourage myself I am going to try and re-create some points from the talks on Sunday. The C.O. did the Public Talk and then we had an extra one. And then Jenny kindly took Jean and me out on the preaching work for an hour.

The Public Talk was: "Who are the Real Followers of Christ?"

A very important subject, given Jesus' words at Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of the heavens, but only the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will.  Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?’  And then I will declare to them: ‘I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!’

Many would claim to be followers of Christ, but Jesus would only recognise as his followers those who were doing his Father's will.

The Circuit Overseer illustrated this in a vivid and simple way by using the example of a babysitter.   The parents arrive back having left the baby with the sitter all day. They come back to find a gleaming tidy house, but with a sobbing, unfed, unchanged, unwashed baby screaming downstairs, and no sign of the sitter.   The babysitter is found upstairs cleaning the windows.  "See what a lovely job I have made of the windows" she says proudly.

But she had not done the job she was asked to do - the most important job of all.

We need to find out what Jehovah wants of us, and do that - not decide for ourselves.

And he gave us 4 Scriptural points to think about.

1.  John 17:17:  "Sanctify them by means of the truth; your word is truth."

True followers of Christ believe, as he did, that God's word - as set out in the Hebrew and Christian Greek Scriptures - is true.  And they study it, and try to live by it.

2.   John 17:6: “I have made your name manifest to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have observed your word."

John 17:26:   "I have made your name known to them and will make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in union with them.”

True followers of Jesus make Jehovah's name known, as he did.

3.  Luke 4:43:  "But he said to them: “I must also declare the good news of the Kingdom of God to other cities, because for this I was sent.”"

Followers of Christ must declare the good news of the Kingdom of God, as he did.

4.  John 13:34, 35: " I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are my disciples—if you have love among yourselves.”

True followers of Christ, who come from "every nation and tribe and tongue" are one united, loving family.

The Circuit Overseer's First Talk

Not good news about my shoulder.  Jane the Physio took us through the x-rays yesterday morning - and the problem is a mechanical one - not, as far as I can see, to be solved by all the physio in the world. One bit of the replacement is pressed too close against something else.  Only a second operation could correct it. And I am not prepared to have another operation, not when I have a choice in the matter. I dread the day my hips go.

So I am feeling very gloomy wondering if I now have to somehow learn to live with this painful shoulder and lack of sleep....   impossible to find a comfy sleep position.   So, to do something positive, I thought I would try and jot down a few thoughts from the C.O.'s first talk which was on Tuesday night to see if I can retain at least something.   This is re-created from the notes I took which, because of my arthritic hands, are not comprehensive.  Well, I say "notes", it is also possible that a spider fell into a vat of wine, then into a vat of ink, and staggered drunkenly about on my notebook. Which is to say that they are hard to read. I can only hope I have done justice to a wonderful and comforting talk.

The title of the talk was:

LET THE POWER OF GOD'S WORD KEEP TRANSFORMING YOU.

Overall it was very kind and loving.  The Speaker asked us to think back to the days when we first learnt the truth, and the changes we had to make to become baptised Christians.  They were likely some very big changes.   But he reminded us that we still need to go on making changes, struggling to put on the new Christian personality.

And to remind us of how Jehovah can and will help us, he talked about the Mimic Octopus.  It has a wonderful ability to  mimic many different creatures - for example when in dangerous territory it can make itself look like a lion fish - and you don't mess with them!     If Jehovah can give such transforming ability to an octopus think what he can do for us, if we ask.  Because unlike the octopus, which works on God-given instinct, we are free to choose whether we will let Jehovah transform us, or not.

We then read Hebrews 4:12:   "For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints from the marrow, and is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart."

The soul is the person - the outer person - what we appear to be. The spirit is what we truly are on the inside.

We are asked to think about the word "intentions",  The mind and heart are linked, even if what is in our mind is not always carried out.

We then read Matthew 5:27,28:
“You heard that it was said: ‘You must not commit adultery.’  But I say to you that everyone who keeps on looking at a woman so as to have a passion for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.""

We must ask ourselves what is our heart drawn to. When we start out in the truth we may have wanted to continue doing things we knew Jehovah disapproved,  but we didn't, as we wanted to please him.  But the Speaker reminded us that that is only the first step  We need to reach the stage where we feel as Jehovah does about such things - feel repelled by them, and no longer even want to go near them.

Jehovah wants us to be transformed because he loves us.

As Romans 12:2 says:   "Stop being molded by this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over, so that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

The Speaker then used an illustration that would have appealed to Captain Butterfly - that of the transformation of caterpillar to butterfly. Everything has to change in the cocoon - from the teeth of the caterpillar to the proboscis of the butterfly, for example.  (I often cite this in discussions about Creation/Evolution as a miracle in plain  sight, as what else is it?  How could such a process "evolve"?)   However, the point the Speaker was making here was that because of our inherited imperfection this is a struggle, just as the butterfly has to struggle out of the cocoon.

But it is the struggle that strengthens the butterfly, and it is the struggle to put on the new personality that will strengthen us.  And Jehovah will help us every step of the way.  

The Speaker also pointed out that just as the caterpillar has to gorge itself on leaves with its caterpillar teeth, so we need to feed ourselves on God'sword.

Ephesians 4:22-24:  "You were taught to put away the old personality that conforms to your former course of conduct and that is being corrupted according to its deceptive desires.  And you should continue to be made new in your dominant mental attitude,  and should put on the new personality that was created according to God’s will in true righteousness and loyalty."

He then discussed the expression "dominant mental attitude".  We can now understand how the brain is continually making and strengthening connections - the Speaker discussed the nerves and the synapses. So we are constantly re-writing our brain through what we put into it - which brings us back to Hebrews 4:12, quoted above.

He then ended the talk by discussing two Scriptures.

The first was Matthew 6:21,22:  "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  The lamp of the body is the eye. If, then, your eye is focused, your whole body will be bright."

We need to be active in the truth and all that it involves - to keep focussed on the Kingdom.

The second was 1 Thessalonians 5:14:  "On the other hand, we urge you, brothers, to warn the disorderly, speak consolingly to those who are depressed, support the weak, be patient toward all."

Support the weak - stick with them, stay with  them. And he gave the example of an inactive Witness who was out of the truth for twenty years. But, lovingly, the congregation kept in touch down the years, and finally the inactive one returned to Jehovah.

And the Speaker ended with this very comforting thought,

Matthew 19:26;   "Looking at them intently, Jesus said to them: “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

A pre-Bluebell Walk

The Captain and I walked in Angmering woods yesterday to check out the bluebell situation.  It was a beautiful day - tender blue sky, lots of big fluffy white clouds, all seen through the empty trees - a goldcrest hopping about on a branch just in front of us, and two Brimstone butterflies following each other in the distance.

Wood Anemone, Anemone nemorosa

There were intermittent bluebells and wood anemones - and lots of primrose and celandine.

Lesser Celandines, Ranunculus ficaria

My arm/shoulder is very stiff and sore.  I have my physio appointment today and maybe Jane will give me a bit of hope back.