Reasons to be cheerful (Part 4)

Dreaming of the Great Outdoors.....

Why don't you get back into bed?

Without wishing to make those who are confined to their homes feel even worse, here's a little sample of what is going on outside. The wintry skeletons of oaks are fuzzy at the twig-tips with buds about to burst....

Though things may well change, despite the nightmare of the Covid-19 virus, at the moment we are still able to get out of our homes for exercise, and, with the blessing of a few days of bright spring sunshine, it is uplifting.....  Blackthorn is in full flower.....

Yes, despite the ravages of this life-threatening infection, the world (in the Northern Hemisphere) is springing into life.  The other day I heard, and saw, my first ChiffChaff, a dear little herald of hope and rebirth....

And today I found my first Bluebell.....

The hedgerows are splashed with Dead Nettles.....

The Gorse by the rail tracks is in gorgeous staining yellow....

And the coppiced Hornbeam in our ancient woodland is unfurling its tender green leaves.....

Bird life is excited.  The crow family are everywhere, with rooks being particularly raucous....

I spot a handsome Kestrel perched on a dead tree...

A Heron turns its back on a passing Little Egret.....

And a beautiful Red Kite glides past the quiet woods....

While the lambs play hide and seek getting ready for Easter.....

On my allotment plum blossom tempts another late frost.....

And by the Badgers' Sett in Heartwood Forest the Dog Violets are smiling.....

You wouldn't know there's an invisible killer out there. You wouldn't think that we all need, A bit of grin and bear it, a bit of come and share it..... Very challenging times, and everyone has their story. Friends in Italy describe their confinements in painful detail. People in my street WhatsApp each other asking for essentials to be dropped at the doors of those in isolation.

I believe we will come through. I believe it will pass.  And there are good things.... The air is, despite the grisly virus, cleaner.  The streets are quieter.  People seem friendlier....  

I grin, and try to bear it. Amanda doesn't understand, and it is hard for her as she cannot entertain herself, and I cannot treat her as a child, give her games and puzzles.  She needs to be out, twice a day; she misses her routine swims and her various attendances at church.  

If it were just me, I wouldn't mind so much - I have my books, and the garden, and so on....  But it is very hard for someone whose comprehension of the world has slipped away.

So it is with this in mind that I celebrate these spring days, and the power of flowers, and recognise that there are reasons to be cheerful.....

Reasons to be cheerful, part three

Reasons to be cheerful, part three

Reasons to be cheerful, part three

Reasons to be cheerful, one, two, three

I don't mind

I don't mind, don't mind, don't mind, don't mind

Ian Robins Dury

1977