Lichen the fresh air

The cold is generally in retreat, leaving the gooey chesty cough as an annoying reminder of unwelcome lurgy... but I aten't dead yet. Thanks for all your kind comments.

We took a brisk stagger around Westonbirt Arboretum, where it seems almost every dog owner on the planet had decided to spend the morning. In truth it did look like some of the dogs were unexpectedly paying for their owners' new year resolutions, and didn't quite know what had hit them!

This lichen looked fantastic. In fact, at the far end of the arboretum most of the trees are well populated by gloriously healthy clusters of lichen, surviving in the generally unwinterlike wintertime. Still, Imbolc soon.