ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
Mid May is definitely the best time to explore the Scottish Parks for the range of colours, especially to see bluebells, azaleas, and rhododendrons at their best. Last week I met up with Anne and Belinda to wander round a couple of the best ones. This is the Victoria Park Fossil Grove quarry area, above, yet two months ago it looked very bare and barren. Hardly anything growing here.
Amazing the difference sun and warmth makes to any landscape. Covid 19 has not really made a major impact on me so far as I do not travel abroad now, have little inclination to go retail shopping or eat out in restaurants, go to movies, sporting events etc... so this is my best free treat right here. I am a modest hedonist in that I like to pleasure my senses if possible... but for me that can easily be done on a budget or for nothing at all.
A beautiful sunny day, blue skies above- fantastic tropical landscapes... and always a short car or bus ride away.
In mid May the UK is hard to beat for colour and variety. Bluebell hollow here.
A red tree.
A back woods realm of nature's perfume and pleasure garden.
Coot with young chick.
Two chicks for this one.
A feast for the senses. Nature therapy... although I hate that throwaway term used almost daily during the last year.... like you require to be led there by qualified instructors to find it. All you have to do is look at your surroundings. What other planet in the known universe is a match for this one?
A sunny day is all I need to be happy and content and we have had a fine run of them recently.
Does it get any better than this? Glasgow's notorious 'Urban Jungle.'
I provided lunch for our trio. This chef had zero complaints I'm pleased to report. Six each of these per person.
Orange duck pate, some butter, salt, black pepper, cherry tomatoes on crackers then strawberries and cream to follow. A study in red.
The glory of Spring in a northern city.
The simple but profound miracle of new leaves appearing every year. A joy in itself. The finest present ever unwrapped.
Imagine a landscape without trees....
... without dappled shade... or colour...
A bench. The tulip garden.
Magnolia flowers in May add an exotic touch.
A colour splurge. 'Happy colours' .....as a social experiment easily proved years ago. Certain colours lift the mood instantly.
Visual hedonism. Every single Spring is my 'summer of love.' Forever and always.
The pond.
The Fossil Grove building.
Personally and truthfully, I rarely feel the need to go abroad these days, as thanks to Victorian plant collectors, the world's exotic species come here to me instead. And... with a good reliable weather forecast... sunny days and clear blue skies are usually a given fact, even in Scotland. What more could you ask.
We do live on a planet of exceptional wonders. A green and blue fertile ball surrounded by a million miles of terrifying darkness, dust, barren rocks, gas and ice. If we mess it up through our own stupidity and greed there is no escape plan for us. So never take any current riches or life giving abundance on our floating orb for granted... it will survive for many eons yet, with new forms of life evolving on its renewable skin as the universe above spins on ... once free of our disturbing pestilence that is...the unknown birth of future creatures rising, falling and howling from countless swamps, caves and jungles from beginning to eventual extinction.....we, on the other hand, might not be there for that. Just one more dinosaur skeleton species from the ancient past of Earth to add to the other 90 percent of all life that once existed yet now no more. But maybe that's all part of nature's great plan as well. Who knows. Once a Goldilocks planet- always a Goldilocks planet. Our homely third rock from the sun. And that thought makes me happy.