Forgive the horrible photo I couldn’t convince the camera to focus on the flower and was too impatient
I hope it’s OK if I leave the Wikipedia links expanded, with preview, instead of in a paragraph like here, it’s just that it might save someone from having to click and go for a longer read over there (I myself often get lost there, for hours.)
And then, recently, I managed to schlepp myself to the park across the street once again, and I sat on the bench in the small center roundabout, in the sun, when I saw this, about 2 metres awayx:
Cotoneaster horizontalis (German common name: Fächer-Zwergmispel) on the terrace of the old friend whom I visited (and mentioned in another thread) yesterday.
Garden Star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum), also Grass Lily, Nap-at-Noon, or Eleven-o’Clock Lady (because the flower open later in the day), in the small park across the street. Probably NOT planted there.
Meanwhile, when walking through the village, I need many pauses, and I walk very slowly due to breathing problems. If you smoke, please quit immediately. I quit 7 months ago but COPD is a lethal disease that progresses no matter what, once you have it.
I’ve seen plenty of horse chestnut when hiking, and I even remember the first time I looked it up in my tree book about 50 years ago, because it has a distinctive leaf pattern and seed pod. However, I don’t think I have ever seen it in bloom. Very pretty.
Forgive the bad photo (resp. the dirty window but I don’t clean them so the birds won’t fly against them and break their necks) … and s/he moved so fast that I couldn’t manage to take a better picture that shows it fully but it’s the largest bird that visits my peanut silos!
and on the other side, the burned forest is slowly healing. They also had a couple of deer there. I had never seen a deer up close before, it was lovely
From where I live, the fastest way to the mainland is, unfortunately, the ferry… that thing lands on the same small port in the mainland for decades and decades. Every trip I take, it is always some hectic scramble to “get back in time for the ferry”, so there is never time to enjoy that place or even just venture outside the small port and see what’s up.
I thought I’d change that today when (for once!) I arrived almost 50 minutes early for the ferry. So, instead of going to the port, I decided to go for a spin around that place… turns out it is very very neat and probably better than what we have going on the island, as far as I can tell.
I couldn’t convince the camera to focus on the flower and was too impatient 
)
