Blossom

"Without anyone to love you
What will you blossom into?
Without anyone to hold you
How will you grow?
 
And in the Wildwood trees
The wild wind blows
And the nighttime crushes the hurricane rose
And with no one to care for you who knows
 
Blossom for me rose 
You're the picture of my love"

Ryan Adams - Blossom


The blossom on this almond tree was just so spectacular in the Spring sunshine today that it helped lift my spirits at the end of what has as times been a difficult week.  The magnolias are not quite out here, but I'm looking forward to seeing their candle like flowers glowing in the light of dusk.  It can't be far away now.  In the meantime the almond blossom this year seems to be even better than normal. Try having a look at this in large...

I spent the best part of this morning filling in the application form for Russian visa's for Cathy and I - we are off to see Jess (our daughter) in St Petersburg in a little over a month.  If you've not applied for a Russian visa, it is an interesting process.  The forms require details of everywhere we have ever worked, complete with contact details for supervisors etc.  It also wants details of every foreign trip we have taken in the last 10 years, with dates.  I didn't think I did much travelling until I got down to filling in the form.  Cathy laughed, she tells me that I'm always off gadding on some trip or other.  Now that we have filled in the form, and have a visa support letter from our hotel, we have to make an appointment to go to London to be interviewed and have our fingerprints taken.  I kid you not. Getting a visa for Russia has become more difficult in the last 6 months, could there be a link with the imposition of sanctions by the West? 

The sun shone this afternoon, so we had a leisurely lunch at the garden centre poring over the Saturday papers - what luxury :-)  When we got back I wanted to be outside in that light, even though there was a bit of a cold wind.  So I washed both our cars, earning myself loads of brownie points with Cathy for doing hers as well as mine. 

I hope you are all enjoying a relaxing and revitalising weekend.