The clocks are standing still

I don't think I've ever seen such a spring for dandelions and dandelion clocks. Partly because the fine weather has brought on the flowers but also because there has been almost no disturbance by man or beast or wind to shake them out of their frozen stillness and send the seeds into the air. This was just one of several polka-dotted fields seen on a short foray to a quiet bay. It could be a metaphor for the  locked-down  existence of many of us, and the stalled economic situation that many workers  and small businesses are faced with. 

Extra: April 25th was St Mark's Day  which Wikipedia tells me is the anniversary  of the liberation of Italy from the Nazi-Fascists in World War II. It is also believed to have been the date that vampires were eradicated from Italy.
Entomologically, it's the day when Biblio Marci, St Mark's fly, emerges into its adult form and takes to the air, almost always to the very date. They are easy to spot and hard to ignore with their lazy drooping flight, legs dangling below their shiny coal-black bodies. Dipping up and down in large numbers they look slightly menacing but are harmless and act as useful pollinators. The main purpose in their short lives (a week) is to find a mate, and in order to do this the males have divided eyes, separately wired to the brain, allowing them simultaneously to keep track both of their position in the air and of the proximity of females. (A handy form of traffic control.)

I was very touched by the response to my previous blip which I had not thought would be of much interest. Thank you all for that. I sometimes have to drop away from Blip for a few days as it seems to involve too much time and pressure, but I am always glad to return to the fold.