Was thinking of @mattukernow.bsky.social yesterday when I saw some unusual trees coming into leaf in Durham University botanic garden. How did your exam go, Matt? 😊 Assuming you’ve had it by now? xx

Have you been keeping a record of events and how they’ve been affecting you? If you haven’t, then I would! You never know when you might need it. xx

Managed to save an expensive trip to the garage today. Orange warning light on car dashboard - main dealership quoted us £185 just to take a look! So instead we bought a cheap code scanner and reset the warning light ourselves. So far it hasn’t come back.
What a scam some dealerships are, seriously!

It’s good that you’ve got that source of info and support if you need it. Given the extent to which your health’s been affected by the employer, a sensible precaution. xx

Tulip display consisting of yellow, red, pink and orange tulips.

Bluebells in a woodland area.

White rhododendron flowers leaning gracefully down towards the ground in a woodland area.

Trees coming into leaf with a bench and a sculpture in the distance.

The Botanic Garden is a real asset to Durham. Such a lovely resource for the university students especially at stressful exam time, and for us locals as well. 😊

It sounds awful. I hope you’re a union member? Just in case. xx

Ooh best of luck! (I failed the first time 😆)

I hope she’s ok and feeling better. xx

Is that normal? 😔 I hope whoever it was, was supportive and not demanding you go back before you’re ready. xx

Goodness! A fair few there by the look of it. I wonder if they all get on with each other? 😊

That’s stunning. A sea of blue. 😊

A semi-circle of stone benches in sunshine beneath pink flowering cherry trees.

Pink cherry blossom in the Sakura Friendship Garden.

Pink cherry blossom in the Sakura Friendship Garden.

A semi circle of stone benches beneath pink flowering cherry trees.

Went to Durham Botanic Garden today, to see if the cherry blossom was in flower in the Friendship Garden. It was! 😊 Timed it just right for peak flowering, I think. Very lucky.
Thinking of people in Japan whose everyday activities have been disrupted by the earthquakes and tsunami alarms today. xx

He was best known for his war poetry, wasn’t he? But he wrote beautifully about nature as well. 😊

Thank you! Yours too. 😊
Do you have many? What do you do with all your apples? We found that one tree was enough to supply all our appley needs most years. 😀

Idyll by Siegfried Sassoon In the grey summer garden I shall find you With day-break and the morning hills behind you. There will be rain-wet roses; stir of wings; And down the wood a thrush that wakes and sings. Not from the past you'll come, but from that deep Where beauty murmurs to the soul asleep: And I shall know the sense of life re-born From dreams into the mystery of morn Where gloom and brightness meet. And standing there Till that calm song is done, at last we'll share The league-spread, quiring symphonies that are Joy in the world, and peace, and dawn's one star.

Reading one of my favourite poems this morning, to soothe anxiety about returning to work tomorrow. Here it is, for anyone else who needs soothing too. xx

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😊

Nor will I after what’s happened to you, Gill. Forewarned now about how awful they are. xx

I could do with knowing someone that talented! Orange light on dash we can’t get to bottom of. Hope your car is ok!

Sorry to hear about your friend. xx

My goodness. I’d complain!!

Lovely. Your tree is ahead of my little sapling, which is budding up for the first time. 😊

🥳

Stars and crescent moon and post sunset colours. 😊

I sent the letter with full tracking (cost £6 🫣) so I shall know once they’ve got it. No excuses!! 😉

You seem to have squeezed a lot in. 😊

Another peaceful sunset. An everyday miracle. 😊

It looks marvellously blue and springlike. 😊

No, it was very interesting. And I did ask!
I’d be intimidated by having to solder anything, personally! 😀

I do hope return to school goes smoothly and you don’t all end up with coughs and colds in short order! 🫣