Haiku on an Austrian Chamois

imposing mountains sunlight catches brown chamois I am so happy

Happy Spring to You!!!

It's here!
Meteorically that is...not so much temperature-wise. March 1st and SPRING has sprung! Hurray!

Don't know about you, but I am a bright skies-warm breezes type of person.

We have just returned from Austria, where calf-deep snow was lit up by a lovely warm sun, and that is what Winter is supposed to be like, as far as I'm concerned.

Not the grey, windy, endlessly wet winters we suffer over here in the Wetlands.

Anyway, we can look forward to more daylight and judging by how many bulbs are already in bloom, a festive garden.

This afternoon something rare and incredible happened. Whilst I was sitting in my usual spot on the couch, with a cup of fresh ginger tea, searching out some music to sing to, out of the corner of my eye I saw something drop from a height into the box hedge. Or so I thought.

When I looked properly, it turned out to be a sparrow-hawk sitting primly on top of the hedge, looking alertly around. So I hardly dared to breathe, let alone move a muscle, with just the window being between this bird of prey and myself.

It sat there for a minute or three, and then flew off. And then I saw the reason for it being in the hedge in the first place; it had caught one of our many blue tits in its talons.

Now, obviously this is not that bird, as I didn't dare to move and my camera was out of reach! This photo is kindly borrowed from the Internet (and its credit goes to Zoom).

What a wonderful encounter!

I wish you a great Sunday, and a lovely Springtime.

Update: it has visited our garden twice more over the last couple of days! Oh dear, I fear it has caught on to the fact that we provide snacks...

Haiku on a New Start

And happy to announce the latest leap of faith ;-)

Going going gone

another new beginning

my heart leads the way

Haiku on a Robin

Little Robin sings

His heart out in the cold wind

Catkins dance with glee

Haiku on a Saturday Evening

parties in the past

time does like to play foul tricks

old age awaits lol

Count Your Blessings!!

Valentine's Day

my precious daughter home again

my heart runs over

You know the feeling, right? Your life toddles along, nothing special, and you tend to moan a bit. Too much work, too much pressure, too little excitement, life is dull.

Until your youngest complains about feeling under the weather, and is looking pale, and moans about vague pains.

So you tell her to go to bed a little earlier, and eat better. Sorted. Right?

Until she wakes you up in the night and proceeds to spew her guts out, and she runs a fever, and looks like death warmed over. Those vague pains, present for weeks, have turned into a piercing not-vague-at-all pain in her side.

So to the doctor's, and then to the hospital, and then back home again because the scan doesn't show anything specific, and then back to the hospital the next day because she gets ill more and more.

Ah, this time the scan did show something, and she had to have an operation; appendicitis.

She was last in line, and they had told me she should be back on the ward in an hour or so. But after that hour or so she wasn't, and I started to fret. Afterwards I was told the routine operation turned into a "Oh, gosh, what have we here, we didn't see that on that scan - oh shit it has burst- and -there's- an -abces" one.

But, a long story short, she's fine! She heals well, apparently. I was allowed to take her home.

And all of a sudden life isn't that dull anymore, but great, shiny, happy.

I wish you a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Haiku on a Cat

cat's whiskers quiver imaginary prey gets caught two hearts beat as one