PARADISE PONDS
The ponds welcome rain with a gentle hiss. A drop lands on a water lily leaf and rolls to the centre where more raindrops accumulate and enlarge until, too heavy at last, they slide into the water through the slit in the leaf. I am watching a frog watching me. Despite being overcast, it is luminous, poetic even, under the trees by the lily ponds.
ODE TO MAY
Nature is absorbing at any time of year, and May – mild in temperature and abundant in life – has its own qualities. Birdsong. Blossom. Ferns unrolling. New leaves pulsing with light. May is when dormice wake up, cow parsley froths, swifts return and even droughts aren’t always perilous – though irrigating
