Pitchdrop

If snowdrop is the positive what's the negative? :) As white as snow and as black as the devil, a raven, coal, night, ink, your hat, Newgate's knocker, thunder, a skillet, the ace of spades and pitch.

Many of these were used when I was a child but pitch has been used to describe darkness since ancient times. Homer used it in The Illiad. I remember my mother quoting Ecclesiasticus 13:1. "He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled." Not many people today have ever seen pitch. It's a shiny black substance used for waterproofing the wooden decks of ships. My father used to use it for the same purpose in his wooden greenhouse gutters and had a crate of it in his toolshed next to the red lead! It's fascinating stuff, it will shatter, yet flow incredibly slowly. I was so excited when I discovered that pitchdrop, my title, is a thing. :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_drop_experiment

A well-respected wildlife photographer on Twitter has been trying to create novel shots of snowdrops. I'm not that into flower photography unless bugs are present but I thought I'd have a go too. I decided to photograph the clump of snowdrops against MrQ's black longjohns and convert it into a negative. :)

I greeted Scarface the robin when I went for a walk and was surprised that my voice hadn't spooked Reynard who was snoozing in number thirteen. I've added a dodgy image of him to extras.