Caffeine o'clock

Today is International Coffee Day. Who knew? It's apparently all about promoting Fair Trade coffee and encouraging us all to make it our favourite hot beverage. I need no persuading, as I'm well-known for being a bit of a coffeeholic. Well, more than a bit, actually. As far as I'm concerned, more or less any time of the day is caffeine o'clock.

While taking a brief pause from a head-down writing day today, I lingered by the French windows, coffee cup in hand, and was surprised to see this trio of ring-necked parakeets on our Siberian crab apple tree. It was unexpected, because they're early.

Throughout the year we see and hear them flying over the garden, making their raucous squawks, as they go to and from their roosting places in the woods behind the house. They rarely land anywhere before late October, when the crab apples normally ripen. This year both the fruit and the parakeets are at least a month ahead. That's something to ponder over the next cup of coffee ...