HALFWAY THERE

If, like me, you work out the seasons the same way the meteorological society does, then today is halfway through winter. (Winter is 1/12 to 28/2, and I’m sure you can work out the others all by yourself.)

Better still, Monday was warm, grey and damp, so I got down to the park for the first time since before Christmas. Hooray, I can hear you saying, a post that isn’t about her flaming garden, whose patio would currently be perfect for a hippo. I’ve now got an earworm from Flanders and Swann ‘Mud, mud glorious mud…’

Anyway, the park was all the more special for the enforced break and I managed the shortest of my regular walks with no problem and did four miles and an hour or so in the garden in the course of the day. The birds were pleased to see us, especially Punky the allegedly ferocious swan who lumbered across to meet my daughter who was taking pictures, crooning his swan welcome and looking her in the eye. She duly scratched the back of his head and fed him, and got some gorgeous pictures. The two young cormorants weren’t anything like as cooperative. Every time I got my shot lined up, they dived, but I outsmarted them. I walked around to the saltwater lagoon where the photogenic cormorants, quite literally, hang out to dry their wings.

It’s been raining enough to submerge one of the islands in the lagoon, which are designed to look like the ones in Poole Harbour. I’m now wondering if we should rechristen it Atlantis! But oh, it was so lovely to be out there with the wind in my face and that strange feeling that the world gets when it can sense spring coming. There are buds on my magnolias, and my rhododendron luteum and my Viburnum Bodnansis is flowering little white flowers for the first time because I always buy tiny plants. They’re cheaper so I can be more ambitious, and I love seeing them grow.

Anyway, back to the park. All the swans were pleased to see us, and so were the diving ducks, who always remind me of very expensive cuddly toys with their bright beady black eyes. The ducks and geese were going in for what passes as courtship for them earlier than usual. They’re not the greatest lovers of all time. Casanova, by their standards, means they haven’t drowned their partner. Mind you, ducks have the last laugh. If they don’t like their partner then they expel their sperm afterwards. That seems fair enough given that the drakes don’t stick around to help rear the ducklings.

The latest Esther is coming on nicely. It’s going to be called ‘A Friendly Invasion’ and it’s getting to an exciting bit, so I’ll just list this week’s special offers and then get back to work.

They are

CHRISTIANS CROSS COSY PARANORMAL

The Sword and The Stone

Away with the Faeries

No place like Gnome

And, appropriately, the Esther and the Professor series

A Very Private War

A Very personal invasion

A very different kind of war

A darker kind of war

Have a good week. Catch up on Sunday, and today’s pictures are from the park…