Wow! It is great I'm writing again in our Forum!! Starting to reply in Jack's Diary first! But I also enjoyed a little bit of Gordon's Diary here!
Well, the severe cold passed so quickly from there, you have not real victims in your place, Jack!I am really happy for you!!I hope your Barbara mama-dog and puppies are safe and warm, too! Your.... Aristea bloom is adorably blue! In Greece many ..women are called Aristea , you know! I always had students called Aristea -- meaning "the Best" = "'Aristos" in Ancient Greek. Aristea is the female adjective.
Gordon, I experienced this "smog " thing in San Francisco, some 3 summers ago... It was the first time my husband and myself learning this English word --we only knew "fog"...This thing was covering the whole city , like a thick veil, hiding the bright sun!! And the light was so peculiar afterwards... No sunny , no cloudy, something absurd in the middle...Your Canadian ducks and their babies are little darlings!! So magestically coloured! And...without your ...super capture, how could I know this?? Voila!! Mmmmmm , some great camera is the sectret!!
Jack, your latest photos are...still magical...and spooky, using the word Gordon uses, meaning that the frost adds lots of ...mystery! But ....Brrrr, it must be cold out there! But, still, the smell of the wet land in the countryside in Winter,is something exceptional to experience...And the climate you describe for Winter is exactly that of Central /Southern Greece' Winter -- not the Northern, though, where it is VERY cold at places...
Well, I'm leaving you now, I just need to visit all our Forum! See you later!
"..So,perhaps, it is easiest, through awareness of flowers in particular, of their radiant beauty and purity, their vibrant colour, to come to the excellence of the One and be uplifted beyond thought to our divine selves".Dorothy Maclean