Exploding Buds

One advantage of having a small chestnut tree in the garden is that I can see what is going on, in a way that's a lot more tricky with a full-sized example somewhere further south.
Most of us are familiar with the large sticky bud that a chestnut tree produces but what always fascinates me is just how much growth there is stored in a bud. In just days this bud has opened and grown to around 4 times its original size (so far).  That it looks somewhat alien in its present form just adds to my fascination.
In the next picture another chestnut bud has gone a little further and just started unfolding its leaves. I think there's a flower hiding in the depths, but we'll see in the next few days.
Nature is wonderful!
I spent today making back-up copies of the films we took at TaiChi, and starting the editing process in iMovie. The film will be just for participants as our teacher doesn't want them going to a wider public.
Once the technical work was done it was outdoors and into the garden to do some heavy raking. Until just a month ago there was a 3 metre pile of snow outside our door, and when it all melted it left a pile of twigs, earth clumps, gravel, and rocks that were scooped up in the winter, along with the just melted snow. See the cleaned up spot in the second extra!
We also took inner doors away and stored them in the barn until next autumn.
Spring advances!