Winter Lights 2026

As you may remember, for years now I've been going to the annual Winter Lights installations at Canary Wharf at the end of January. It's an annual show of light and sound sculptures, with the pieces installed outdoors on a walking tour through the neighborhood. They are always inventive and unusual, and they brighten the otherwise dreary days and nights at this time of year.

I went on Sunday and here's some of what I saw. Above is "Un-Reel Access" by KAPPA/Patrick and Kaori Jones of the UK and Japan. It's an illuminated doorway with one corner peeled up, and inevitably people would walk up to it and try the doorknob. "Through the power of light, Un-Reel Access asks us to abandon being bound by common sense. It is a portal that invites the curious mind to reframe and change its vision of the world," according to the sculpture guide.

Here's "Out of Body Experience" by Alaa Minawi of the Netherlands, Palestine and Lebanon. It's meant to evoke dancers and the capacity of dance to take us out of ourselves.

"Sol," by Artistic Latvia / Janis Petersons, suspends illuminated replicas of the planets among the trees in an indoor rooftop garden. "What if the stars leaned closer?
What if the planets themselves could rest in your backyard, shimmering softly beneath your gaze?" (That's from the guide again.)

"Colour Rush" by Liz West (UK) was made like this: "Two different large 'Concertina' drawings were created before being cut up, mixed together, repositioned and folded into eight individual stripes. It is these luminous stripes that are the basis of this new octagonal light box." I'm not sure I understand that but it sure is colorful.

"For Ever and Ever and Ever" by Anna Lomax (UK) is installed in three different locations, and I only visited two. It uses "infinity mirrors" to endlessly replicate lit features installed in a column (top) and panels (above).

"Whale on the Wharf" is a more permanent installation, but I hadn't seen it before last night. It's a whale made of pieces of plastic debris like toys, jugs, coolers and shoes, seemingly surging upward from the waters of the canal. That purple box at far left is Hawksmoor, the restaurant where Dave took me for my last birthday in November.

Those are the sculptures that are more static -- that don't depend on movement and sound for their full effect. But like last year, I also made a video so you could experience the more dynamic creations, which use music or sound and spinning, shifting, pulsing light.

In the video, we start with a crowd shot to show how many people were there on Sunday. Answer: a lot!

After that, we move to the art:

1. Two views of "Amplitudes" by Limbic Cinema (UK), meant to evoke "the diverse nature of waveforms that shape both the natural world and human experience." This is my favorite piece of the whole show. It uses light projected onto a spraying fan of water droplets, along with timed music.
2. At 1:55, you see "Lacto-Reacto-Light" by Jack Wimperis (UK), a lit panel made of recycled plastic milk bottles that reacts to movement in the crowd.
3. That's followed by "FloWeЯ PoWeЯ," by Aerosculpture / Jean-Pierre David and Christian Thellier of France. This was an interesting sculpture, but what's even more unusual is that the video fails to fully capture the color. Those little spinning "flowers" were much more vibrant and colorful in real life than they are digitally.
4. "Trispheric Garden" by REELIZE.STUDIO of Australia is supposedly inspired by "the architecture of dreams." From the catalogue: "Each obelisk houses mirror-like orbs that refract and reflect light, casting ethereal patterns across the water’s surface. Together, they transform the fountain into a ‘dreaming pond’, where reflections ripple like portals between reality and imagination."
5. "In Bloom" by Kumquat Lab (UK) was inspired by pollinators visiting flowers: "Touching a flower triggers a musical note, echoing the dance of pollinators moving from bloom to bloom. The work turns this natural ritual into a collective and intuitive act of music-making, celebrating connection and the vital role of pollination." (I couldn't hear music but maybe there were just too many people.)
6. "Aether" by Architecture Social Club (UK) looks like a nightclub. Light beams project onto a suspended collection of fine rods and a black backdrop, and it makes vibrant, shifting shadows on the floor, too! From the guide: "Like a dancer improvising, Aether translates music into hypnotic waves and phosphorescent fragments, stirring something deeper within the audience." (There are two clips of this piece.)
7. At 5:46 we have "Blueprint" by Studio Vertigo (UK), which is inspired by the twisting double helix of DNA.
8. That's followed by "Hulahoop" by Scale (France), a hypnotic light and music sculpture and another favorite of mine. "As the eye follows the lines traced by the installation, peripheral vision melts away, hypnotising the viewer into an almost dreamlike state."
9. At 7:29 you'll see "Sanctuary" by Ithaca Studio (UK), "a tall, almost cathedral-like open structure, designed to immerse the audience in atmospheric light and sound. Enter the Sanctuary and be surrounded by colourful, reflective, illuminations and cocooned in a soothing soundscape, as the lighting transforms from the soft glow of candlelight to the jewel-like, bright tones of stained glass." (Watch for my reflection too! I'm pretty easy to spot.)
10. "Manifestation" by Marcus Lyall (UK) was inspired by Victorian spiritualism. "Loosely based on ‘Thought Forms’ a 1905 book by spiritualist Anne Besant, who believed abstract visual forms could be linked to sounds or spiritual states, this piece delves back into the early dawn of ‘Visual Music’ shows, and their roots in seances and magic." (From the guide.)
11. And finally, there's "At the Hand" by LACROIX (Canada), in which spectators use their own hand movements to trigger a monumental hand made of light.

It was a great show, made better by the cup of mulled wine I bought along the way!

Woad Walk and Cranberry Crunch

Well, we ironed out the paint choices. Ultimately I convinced Dave that maintaining a neutral beige in the living room would be wise. In return, I let him choose a darker shade for the bedroom than I would normally want -- but I think it might wind up looking pretty good. It's a deep blue, somewhere between peacock and teal, with the mysterious name Woad Walk.

Someone asked yesterday, "Don't you like the paint colors you already have?" I actually do, even though we chose neither of them. The bedroom, a sort of deep gray/brown, was painted by the previous tenants -- just as we lived with their couch for more than a decade, we've lived with their bedroom walls. The living room was repainted several years ago, at least partially, but it's time again.

This will leave only the dining room with its original off-white paint job, and honestly, we're not in that room much.

One thing we're not certain about is how much of the trim the painters plan to do. Are they repainting all the baseboards and molding? When we had the halls, kitchen and bathroom painted years ago, we did not do the trim or the doors or windowsills or any of that stuff. So I'm not sure what to expect there.

Oh! And they're painting our front door. We're going from faded, flaky dark green to bright red. Cranberry Crunch, to be specific.

In other news, I made another batch of squash soup with one of the front-porch pumpkins, which have been sitting in the chilly closet under the stairs. (I forgot about them until last week, to be honest.) This soup wasn't as successful as the last. I used the brown pumpkin, which turned out to be sort of pale yellow inside. It was more like a spaghetti squash and when baked and then blended, the texture wasn't as smooth as I would have liked. I stirred in some spices, stock and sour cream, and I ate it for dinner last night. It hasn't killed me.

Now I only have that green one to deal with.

I also finished a book yesterday, "We Contain Multitudes" by Sarah Henstra, a gay coming-of-age/romance novel about two high school boys who are assigned to write letters to each other in English class and have a relationship as a result. The novel is epistolary, told through their letters, and one of them is a Walt Whitman enthusiast, hence the title. I had to set aside some quibbles -- no high-schoolers would write letters like these, recounting events between the sender and recipient that had just occurred -- but it was interesting and it drew me in and held me until the last pages. I could never make heads or tails of Whitman, and I admire anyone who can.

I finished it on the tube last night as I went to see the annual Winter Lights display at Canary Wharf. More on that tomorrow!

(Photos: A healthy-looking teasel in the garden, and our snowdrops about to bloom.)

Signs of Spring

OK, it's a bit early to be talking about spring, especially with the USA buried under snow and at least another month of winter ahead of us. Here in London we've had some of our heaviest snowfalls in late February and early March. But the sun was bright yesterday, and this little robin was sitting in the Philadelphus outside the back door singing its heart out, and it reminded me that this interminable winter will indeed come to an end.

Just like the interminable administration of Donald Trump will come to an end. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

 I think I solved the Alhambra problem, in a completely unimaginative way. I got online and Googled "How to get tickets to the Alhambra when they're sold out." And several private tour companies popped up offering tickets at a slight premium. I guess they must buy blocks of tickets and then sell them to tourists. Anyway, I reserved two and they've been confirmed so if all goes well, we'll get to visit after all. I'm a bit wary because reviews for this company are mixed and some people say their tickets only came through at the last minute or not at all. But I'm hoping for the best, and if not, we'll find other things to do in Granada.

I realize it's incredibly shallow of me to write about problems like this when the USA is in such turmoil. But I don't see how I can help the situation by going off about how repulsive it is to watch federal agents shoot innocent Americans in the street. All I can do from this distance is help elect more opposition to contain that lunatic as much as possible until his term is up. (OK, I had more to say, but I really am stopping now.)

I spotted our first daffodil yesterday! This is usually when we start seeing them -- end of January or so. Dave and I had his co-worker Lorraine and her boyfriend over for dinner last night, so I cut the daffodil and made it our centerpiece. Dave made parsnip and leek soup, beef stroganoff with broccoli on the side, and lemon posset for dessert. He served the posset with a store-bought blueberry tart. I teased him for serving two desserts, and when he brought them out, Lorraine said, "Two desserts!" But Dave insisted that it was one dessert in two dishes, because the tastes went well together. OK then.

We walked up to Leyland (a home improvements store) yesterday morning to get paint samples to make some choices about the redecorating. Unfortunately we are not in agreement about the options. For the living room I want something very similar to what we already have -- neutral beige. Dave wants very light blue or light green, but I think that's going to be too much blue/green, considering that our sofa is blue and our rug is green and all the paint in the hallway is celadon. In the bedroom, I'd like a dark gray-blue, but not too dark -- and the one Dave wants is, to my mind, too dark and too purple. So we still have to sort this out.

I also downloaded the garden cam yesterday, with results above. We see several of our neighborhood cats -- Blackie, Pale Cat and Tabby -- as well as at least three foxes. I don't believe any of the foxes are Q-Tip, unless he/she is the fox whose poor tail has been stripped at the end, but honestly I have trouble telling them all apart. We see one of the foxes bed down several times behind the hazel tree, where it seems quite comfy. I moved the garden cam so that it has a more direct view of that spot -- I'd like to get some clearer footage of it nesting back there. Hopefully repositioning the camera won't scare the fox away.

A Bummer

I've got to get out and take some fresh pictures this weekend. When I started my walk home last night I reminded myself to keep an eye out for anything interesting, but I just wasn't motivated. Bleak January! Maybe today when Dave and I go up to the hardware store for paint samples.

I've had a rude awakening about our upcoming Spain trip. Someone in the comments recommended that we get our tickets to the Alhambra ahead of time. This seemed a little crazy, given that it's almost a month away, but I tried to go online and buy advance tickets, and guess what? SOLD OUT! They have availability the week before and the week after, but not a single day of the week we're in the country. Of course this is because everyone is on a half-term break from school, I imagine.

I wrote our hotel to see if they could hook us up somehow, but I haven't heard back yet. If we can't get into the Alhambra it won't be the end of the world -- I've seen it (albeit 32 years ago) and although Dave hasn't, he also doesn't seem particularly invested. I did buy advance tickets to the cathedral in Córdoba, so at least we'll be sure to see that.

Traveling is not like it was in the '90s, when you could just show up at the front gate.

Blogger was doing more weird things yesterday. I couldn't reply to comments and I couldn't see my entire blog roll, which is how I click back to read everyone else's blogs. The problem seems fixed this morning, thank goodness.

(Photo: A plaza off Edgware Road, last weekend.)

Decline Porn

It's a good thing I went walking last weekend and got lots of photos to blog, because I haven't taken a single photo in the last couple of days. It's been wet and dreary and I haven't seen anything inspiring. Better wet than freezing cold, like much of the USA, but still...I could use some sunshine.

As I walked home last night, I was listening to the newest episode of the QAA podcast (formerly Q-Anon Anonymous), which examines modern conspiracy theories weekly in a very loose, conversational style. This week they're talking about so-called "Decline Porn," those videos you see on YouTube in which travelers visit European cities and talk about how dangerous and decrepit they've become. This really is an entire genre of YouTube video -- I watched one such video about London several months or maybe even a year ago, just for kicks, and now I still get similar recommendations in my channel. The QAA episode specifically focuses on London videos but you also see them about Paris, Berlin, Lisbon and lots of other places.

They usually have a dramatic title like "London Has Changed," or even "London Has Fallen," and the gist is that while London used to be a nice tidy city full of law-abiding white people drinking tea, it is now a dangerous hellhole full of marauding dark-skinned invaders, phone snatchers and knife-wielding criminals. Of course this is nonsense, but it's interesting that there's an appetite for such content. These videos get significant numbers of views, often far outpacing regular travel videos.

I suspect they're being watched by people who already believe that Europe's capital cities are changing for the worse -- people who are fearful or critical of migrants, who aren't going to travel themselves and who want to hear confirmation that migration leads to civilizational collapse. Often these vloggers are visiting parts of town where immigrant populations are the highest and using them to represent the entire city -- a bit like going to Chinatown in New York or San Francisco and saying, "Look at this! The Chinese are taking over!"

In the video I watched, which I don't want to link to because I don't want to perpetuate the bullshit, the vlogger was walking along a London street and talking about how he'd seen swarms of phone-snatchers on motorcycles zooming past. As far as I could tell, anyone wearing black on a motorcycle was, in his mind, a phone-snatcher. I got news for you, buddy -- most of them are Deliveroo drivers carrying take-away chicken from Nando's.

And that's what these vloggers do -- they film regular everyday people going about their non-criminal business, cast that footage in a dark or deceptive light, and use it to represent the entire metropolitan area. Do we have litter and homeless people in London? Of course we do! We're a city! And we are a very diverse city -- one of the most diverse in the world. But the fact is, diversity -- despite occasional culture clashes -- mostly works just fine here. That's what the people who produce and consume these videos don't want you to hear.

I've lived in London for almost 15 years, I've walked all over this city day and night, and I have never been a target of street crime. I've never had anything stolen, I've never been threatened by anyone sketchy. Our home has never been burgled. I often walk with my camera clearly visible, and while I am careful with my phone I comfortably use it on the streets. I've never been pickpocketed. (Unlike in New York!)

So if you're seeing these videos, keep in mind that they're fiction. They're "Decline Porn," meant to titillate but not to represent reality.

Things Are About to Get Crazy

Here's a little shop I encountered on Edgware Road over the weekend. It seems to sell a bit of everything -- chocolates, produce, water, clothing, household goods and shisha pipes. I can't for the life of me translate the name of it but maybe some of you out there are Arabic speakers and can tell me what it says?

I took two versions of the photo. I like the one above because it's clean, but it's also very static. Here's one with a little more street life:

Well, things are about to get a lot more exciting around here. Dave got a text yesterday from the contractors doing our interior painting/decorating job, and they want to start on Tuesday! We're supposed to choose paint colors but we're uncertain how to do that, given that we don't have any samples. They say we don't have to move furniture or anything -- they will supposedly handle all of that -- but of course I'll take down all the smaller stuff and tuck it away somewhere.

And our tree work is supposed to be happening at roughly the same time. Never a dull moment!

Did I tell you that when the tree man came on Sunday to do his assessment, he said, "I love a naturalistic garden," or something like that? I suppose that's what we have but it also sounds a little bit like a slam, doesn't it? Like, "Well, you've certainly let this go."

On the positive side, I got my test results back from my doctor's office and everything was normal -- even my calprotectin, which hasn't been normal in the last couple of years. Woo hoo! Calprotectin measures intestinal inflammation, and the doctor's theory is that my inflammation came from that polyp that my gastroenterologist removed last May. Now that the polyp is gone, things are back to normal. Sounds good to me! I'll take it!

An 8th Grade student -- the same one who wanted me to do his photography challenge -- asked me yesterday, "What's the worst pandemic you've lived through?" Which is kind of a weird question, but whatever. At first I said Covid, because that was strictly defined as a pandemic and had such an acute effect on the whole globe, but then I realized of course the answer is AIDS. HIV and AIDS definitely altered my life, on a deeper level, more than Covid ever did. This led to some questions about what it was like living in the '80s. I had to remember that for this kid, who was born in 2011 (after Dave and I had moved to London!), that's ancient history -- kind of like the 1930s were to me!

Tree News

Another photo from my wander along Edgware Road the other day. I love these stately old blocks of flats on a side street. I looked them up on Zoopla just now and they are quite swank -- one sold for £2.25 million a year ago, and another (slightly smaller) for £1.5 million the previous November. They're pretty big, too -- four bedrooms!

I woke to some possibly unwelcome news this morning. I say possibly because I'm still weighing what it will mean. The tree surgeon has been instructed to remove our fallen limb and cut the rest of the elder tree down to 20 feet (which is about as tall as it is already, I think) as well as to cut the ivy so that it dies in the upper parts of both trees. I'm happy with the limb removal but I hate to have all that dead ivy hanging there. I hope the tree guy can remove some of it so it's not so unsightly. Or maybe that will be left up to me.

On the bright side, I guess any squirrels or birds with nests in that ivy can continue to live there, unless the fact that it's dead puts them off.

I'm not going to fight it too much, but I may ask a few questions.

Harry (Not The Royal One)

I like this house in Marylebone with its stained-glass windows depicting peacocks. There are at least four of them -- I photographed another two more than 14 years ago (!) but it's even better to catch them at night.

Why was I in Marylebone last night, you may wonder? Well, remember the abandoned giraffe? I went back to see if it was still there. I know, I know -- I'm crazy. And it was already gone, which will no doubt make Dave very happy.

Instead, in its place, I found a sign for Harry's room or cabinet or something. I'm guessing that was also Harry's giraffe -- and possibly that's Harry's kitchen sink in the background.

Dave was busy last night with an audition for a part-time, evening conducting job with a local community band. He's one of four candidates. He's had fun with the interview process and I know he's enjoyed being able to perform more challenging musical feats with adult players. I'm not sure when he'll hear back about who got the job. It would mean working one night a week with the band, which he thinks he could manage. He's feeling a bit stale, artistically, only working with middle and high school students.

I was on my own for dinner so I made one of my famous clean-out-the-fridge omelettes and watched "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," a 1970s made-for-TV movie that I remember being shown in school several times. It's based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story and it's got a fantastic cast including Shelley Duvall, Veronica Cartwright and Bud Cort. It was a film that my high school English teachers often resorted to when we had a free day in class, between units or right before a break or whatever. I hadn't seen it in many years and, lo and behold, it was on Amazon Prime at no extra cost. I enjoyed watching it again.

Yesterday I added this book to our library collection, a new volume of "Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales," a history-based graphic novel series. This one is called "Bones and Berserkers: 13 True Tales of Terror." I got a kick out of the end papers. As I told my colleague, "This is the most accurate depiction I've seen of the current state of politics in the USA!"

Busy Sunday With Lava Lamp

The red hellebores are opening up, looking fresh and bright as a spring day. (I'm thinking ahead!) These are the same flowers that months from now will fade and darken and draw a collection of aphids. It's hard to believe that's even the same plant, isn't it?

The white ones are looking good, too.

I had a busy day yesterday, considering I barely left the house. I finished my book about the Lusitania, which was very good, particularly the account of the sinking itself. I didn't realize that the ship sank in only 18 minutes! I always thought a shipwreck was a protracted affair, like the Titanic, which stayed afloat for almost three hours -- but I guess a torpedo is different from an iceberg. Imagine being a finely dressed cruise passenger, having a fancy lunch, strolling the deck, and 20 minutes later you're floating around in the ocean in a sea of wreckage. (If you're lucky.)

I also planned our trip for February break. Dave and I are going back to Spain -- this time to Málaga, Córdoba, and Granada. We plan to visit the famous Mitchell and San Geraldo, as well as take in such sights as the Alhambra and the Picasso museum. I went to Granada many years ago, in 1994, but I only dimly remember it, and I've never been to the other two cities. Dave hasn't seen any of them. So we're looking forward to that! I booked our flight and our hotels, with two nights in each place.

Saturday self-portrait in a pub hand dryer!

I finally got our lava lamp working -- sort of. I thought the bulb had burned out, so last weekend I took it to our local hardware shop and we put another bulb in it -- and nothing. Dead as a doornail. So I left it for the hardware guys to repair, which they offered to do for £30. (Yes, I realize I could have bought a new lava lamp for probably less than that, but it's the principle of the thing. I don't want to throw this one in a landfill.) I picked it up on Saturday with new wiring and yesterday bought a new bulb, and it now works -- but the bulb is five watts stronger than is recommended for the lamp, which means it gets just a bit too hot, and all the wax tends to linger at the top of the cylinder. I suppose I need to get on Amazon and order a proper bulb.

This is a lot of trouble for a lava lamp.

Finally, the tree guy came last evening to look at our fallen branch so he can give an estimate to the landlords for removing it. He said he'd give three estimates -- one just for the fallen part, one for the entire tree and one for tidying that whole area in the back of the garden. I'm guessing the landlords will go for the first option, but that's fine with me.

Garden and Gas-Guzzler

Contrary to what this picture would suggest -- and we'll get to it in a moment -- I had a quiet morning at home yesterday. I worked on a couple of houseplants that needed some attention. We have a sort of elephant-ear plant with striped stems that has been prospering in our dining room for several years now, and lately it's been looking a bit yellow. I thought it might be too big for its pot, so I repotted it. But in doing so, I realized that it may be suffering from root rot, so it may not be long for this world.

I lose something to root rot every winter, it seems. This is why I tried to lighten up on the watering and wound up almost killing my maidenhair fern. Where is the balance?!

Anyway, I also repotted the bedroom rubber plant and I dealt with some outdoor plants that have died. The blanket flower, or Gaillardia, went deader than a doornail several weeks ago, and the brook thistles vanished from their pot as thoroughly as if they'd stood up and walked away. They were both several years old so it could be they'd just lived their life spans. I moved some tulip bulbs from the brook thistle pot into the ex-Gaillardia pot and now all vessels are back in use.

Well, wasn't that exciting?!

Then, Dave and I headed down to Marylebone to have lunch with our pals Gordon and Chris, who we haven't spent time with in a while. We work with Chris and we used to work with Gordon before he retired, so discussion mainly involved what was happening at work and our own retirement plans. (Dave doesn't have any specific plans yet but it won't be too long.) We booked a noon table at a pub and we got there just a few minutes beforehand to find the place dark and locked up tight. Turns out someone didn't show up for work. Some co-workers appeared at noon and got the place up and running before letting us in and it only delayed our first pints by a few minutes.

Afterwards I went walking through Marylebone and down Edgware Road toward Marble Arch, before turning around and walking all the way back up to West Hampstead. It's been a long time since I've done a photo walk so it felt good. Anybody want a free giraffe?

That top photo was the scene outside Shishawi, a shisha place in the very Arabic neighborhood along Edgware Road. I don't know what the heck was going on with that big pink stretch Humvee or whatever it is. How does the driver even turn a corner in that thing? I took 27 pictures of it before I got one that I liked, with just the right break in traffic.

Back home again, I downloaded the garden cam. When I set it up most recently, I apparently screwed up the date and time settings, because they are totally wrong, so just ignore those.

I wanted to film an area at the base of the hazel trees where I was pretty sure the foxes were making a nest. I'm not sure it's a proper den -- in other words, I don't think they're living there -- but they use it as a rest spot. I've surprised them there a couple of times when coming out the back door.

So this week's video first shows a couple of squirrels, followed by lots of back-and-forth by the foxes. Check out the one with the disfigured tail! It looks like he/she got it caught in something. We even see one of them in daytime, which is always a plus.

Finally we get some footage of them going back behind the trees and lying there, and even nuzzling each other there before making their funny little fox sounds. I dunno. I may have a fox family on my hands soon enough.

It's Out of My Hands

I walked past this corner after work one night  last week and liked the shadows on that wall. I took some photos with my phone, but vowed to come back with my big camera to get some better ones. And then it rained, and it rained again, and the shadows don't look the same when there's glare from the wet wall. When I walked past last night, the sky had lightened and the scene wasn't the same.

So, on the plus side, it is getting lighter out there. There's now a smidgen of daylight when I'm walking home from work.

On the minus side, my plans for a better picture were stymied unless I make a special trip later in the evening.

Walking to work yesterday, I encountered this flock of circling pigeons, seemingly struggling to choose which photogenic rooftop to settle upon. They flew around and around, and then just as I got out my phone and started filming, they chose the roof of the Camden Arts Center.

Sometimes circumstances decide what kind of photo or video you get, and that's just the way it is!

Entropy

Our African daisy (Osteospermum) is trying its best to bloom right now, mysteriously. There's not a bee or other pollinator in sight out there, so why it wants to have flowers in the middle of January is anyone's guess. The flowers were a sort of dull greenish-orange until I moved the plant inside to protect it from our recent freeze, and then they all turned bright orange.

Well, this has been an interesting morning already. I tried to sign in to Blogger as I always do, and although it allowed me to see my blog, when I clicked on "new post" I got this:

I use the same browser every single day, so why it would suddenly be "not supported" is a mystery to me. I updated Chrome, thinking that might solve the problem, but no. So I'm writing now on Safari, which is not the browser I typically use to blog. Who knows what the heck is going on, but I think it's on their end. God forbid a Google website should work with a Google browser!

Anyway, yesterday was rather hectic. I went to the doctor in the late morning because my IBS (or whatever it is) has been acting up lately and I wanted to touch base with the experts. I was sent home with a couple of routine tests, which is fine because I haven't had them in a while and it makes sense to do them regularly.

Remember the kid who wanted me to take pictures with his camera? Well, I told him that rather than doing that, and faffing around with film, I'd take some photos at school using my own phone just to give him a sense of the types of things he could be shooting. That's one of my pictures, above, which I haven't shown him yet. It wouldn't win any prizes but it's kind of fun.

The message I'm trying to get across to him is, you can take a creative picture anywhere -- even in a room where you spend practically every waking moment and already know like the back of your hand. I know he also wants to process film for other people, but I think getting his friends to shoot film is going to be an uphill battle. Getting me to shoot film certainly is.

And here's a picture of the elder tree that has collapsed on the back garden wall. The point at which the trunk broke is just out of the camera frame on the right. I think it got so saturated with water, and so heavy, that the wood gave way. An arborist contracted by our management company called Dave last night to schedule its removal, but now we've had some confusion about whether he's coming or not, so we still have to iron that out.

It's always something, isn't it? Browsers not working, doctor's appointments, trees collapsing. Isn't "entropy" the idea that orderly systems eventually degrade into disorder? That's what life feels like lately.

And now my Chrome browser seems to have corrected its issues and it works fine with Blogger. Sigh.

More Tree Drama

Here's some amusing graffiti I found on my walk to work yesterday morning. The note beside the drawing says, "To you who prefer a blank wall, I pity you."

We had some excitement yesterday morning. One of the old elder trees in the back of our garden -- which you may remember I went through a lot of stress to have trimmed a couple of years ago -- broke off and collapsed onto the back garden wall. I have no idea when this happened. I was out in the garden yesterday morning, but it's possible that I just didn't notice it. Anyway, while I was at work I got a text about it from the caretaker of the apartments behind us, and I told him we'd report it and I'd try to get it taken care of as soon as possible.

The branch is too big for us to remove ourselves -- we'd need  a chainsaw, for one thing -- so the management company will have to handle it. I'm sure the apartment caretaker is annoyed because this is exactly what he was concerned about when he pressured us to have those trees trimmed.

Oh well. I did my best, and meanwhile the birds and other critters got to enjoy it for two more years.

Speaking of trees, remember when Dave and I went to Penzance last October? We went to the Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, a forested ravine full of artworks and lush plantings, and we had a view of St. Michael's Mount off the coast. Well, apparently that area got decimated when Storm Goretti passed through last week. St. Michael's Mount lost 80 percent of its trees, and the sculpture garden lost many too. They had 112 mph winds!

I don't think Storm Goretti is responsible for our tree falling. I think I'd have noticed it before now if it happened last week, but I could be wrong.

Apropos of nothing, here are a few more photos from yesterday. First, I found these little handmade pottery vessels sitting on a garden wall, waiting for someone to adopt them. I left them there because I was headed to work, and they were gone when I passed that evening, so someone took them home.

Here's a fun pillow in the window of a futon store on Finchley Road...

...and a mysterious critter in the Lost & Found at school. (I think it's a hat?)

Yesterday I spent an hour in a meeting with my department to choose our final statement of purpose. Remember how I went to a meeting several weeks ago to help wordsmith that? Well, this time we were presented with two options and asked to choose the one we preferred. They were both very similar, and I still struggle with the need for a statement of purpose anyway. As I told my co-worker, yesterday's exercise was like being asked whether I preferred a white marshmallow or an ivory-colored one. Ultimately, we all chose the same option, which made the meeting easier than it might have been, I suppose.

I also got two Christmas cards in the mail last night, including one from former blogger Vivian, who painted Olga's portrait several years back. She mailed her card a month ago and it's only just now arrived -- but nonetheless we appreciate the thought, Vivian!

A Film Assignment

OK -- I'm going to be less perfunctory than yesterday. Yesterday's post is what happens when you start blogging at 7 a.m. and you still have to get ready for work and eat breakfast and be out the door by 8 a.m.! Sometimes time is not on my side.

Last week I had a slightly awkward situation arise with a student. An eighth-grade boy who is very into photography -- and who knows I take a lot of pictures as well -- wanted me to shoot a roll of film so he could develop it. He was going to loan me a camera and do the processing. Initially I said I would, but after giving it some thought it seemed a little too personal -- borrowing his camera and taking even harmless pictures on the street that he would then see before I did.

So I went to a principal and asked for advice, and she suggested I shoot the film at school, not including people in the photos. That seemed like a good compromise, but then finding time to do that -- when I didn't have to be at my desk and when there weren't many other people around -- wasn't easy. Finally, Monday afternoon, I tried to shoot a couple of pictures in the library and I couldn't get the film to wind.

I finally gave the camera back to the kid and said I'd tried. He showed me that I was winding the film incorrectly, but by that time I'd lost what little enthusiasm I had for this project. I told him I'd be happy to continue talking about photos with him but I'd rather not borrow his camera!

The whole point was that he really wants people to shoot film rather than digitally, and he and I have had an ongoing debate about which method is better. As someone who struggled for years with the constraints of film, I love digital photography. But as someone who grew up in a digital world, he enjoys those same constraints and finds the limitations and chemistry of film challenging.

Anyway, it was kind of a strange situation for me and now that I look back on it, I probably shouldn't have agreed to do it in the first place. You want to encourage students but at the same time there are boundaries!

I downloaded the garden cam again last night and I still didn't have any nighttime shots, which is very strange. I discovered that the batteries were low. Apparently when that happens, the camera shoots during the day, which uses less energy, but it stops doing nighttime infrared filming. That's why I didn't have much content the last few times I downloaded the videos.

Anyway, I made a short compilation of what little worthwhile footage I've collected over the last two weeks, including some images of snow and passing foxes and cats (Tabby and Pale Cat). And now I've recharged the batteries and I'll set it up again this morning. Hopefully next time around I'll have more interesting nocturnal images!

(Top photo: Graffiti by Abotz in West Hampstead. I've blogged Abotz before here.)

A Perfunctory Post

I heard from our landlords yesterday about our flat. Apparently they're planning to do some minor maintenance and painting sometime soon. We knew something was up because the management company had been sending around contractors for estimates -- we let them come in with keys while we're at work. They want to "redecorate" the living room and the bedroom, which basically means repainting and repairing some hairline cracks in the ceiling in both places.

The landlords didn't even realize the Russians -- our erstwhile upstairs neighbors -- had moved out, and they've been gone seven months! I guess they're not in touch very much, even though they jointly own the building.

Anyway, we'll see where all this leads. My chief question, of course, is where to put all the houseplants when we've got painters and equipment in the flat. I guess everything will live in the dining room.

Otherwise, yesterday was nothing special.

Unveiling

I forgot to tell a story from my walk on the Heath on Saturday. I was walking on the Extension, past the field where Olga and her canine pals used to go with their dog-walker every day. A passing golden retriever ran up to me, gave my hand a sniff and then huddled against my legs, sitting on my feet, as I petted him/her. It seemed like a greeting from the dog kingdom, the greater dog consciousness. I traded smiles with the owner and went on my way but it gave me a boost.

I took a walk yesterday, too, but nowhere in particular -- just around the neighborhood, just to get my blood moving. The picture above wasn't taken yesterday, by the way. It was taken during our cold spell last week when we had those clear blue skies. We are blanketed with clouds now, which isn't so bad because it's keeping things warmer.

Which means...

...it's time to uncover the avocado!

I thought you might enjoy seeing the process in action. The music was Dave's suggestion. Those of you who know your '70s British humor will recognize it immediately.

As you can see, the avocado pulled through pretty well. There are a few frost-nipped leaves at the very top and a cluster of leaves at the tip of one branch broke off, but otherwise it appears unscathed.

Barb the banana, on the other hand, looks pretty rough. But the leaves die back every winter, so this is expected. In spring I'll trim them up so the stems are exposed and she'll grow from there. She's a tough gal.

Otherwise I spent yesterday reading -- I'm still working on Erik Larson's book about the Lusitania -- and we watched "One Battle After Another" on Amazon Prime. I enjoyed it, but I always like Paul Thomas Anderson's movies. I like their wry humor and loose, informal style. I loved "Licorice Pizza" and "Punch Drunk Love," and "Magnolia" remains one of my all-time favorites. I am now a fan of the name Perfidia Beverly Hills, who is one of the revolutionaries in "One Battle After Another." I'm sure some drag queen somewhere has already adopted it.

A Heath Walk

I felt like I needed to get out of the house yesterday and get some exercise, so I took a long walk on the West Heath, Sandy Heath and Hampstead Heath Extension. It's a route I often took with Olga, so there were canine ghosts around every bend in the path. It made me sad, but I also found myself laughing at memories of how wild she'd get chasing squirrels and running with her Kong tightly gripped in her jaws.

The pond on Sandy Heath was thinly layered with ice, and there were signs warning people not to try to walk on it. Surely no one would be that clueless.

Here's the Pitt House Gateway, where I photographed Olga many times. According to a plaque on the gate, it dates from around 1766, when it was built as an improvement to the residence of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham.

And here's St. Jude on the Hill, a prominent church on the north side of Hampstead Heath Extension.

The weather was cold and wintry but at least it didn't rain on me. I listened to my iTunes and wished the world could be as simple as pop music suggests, when The Mamas and The Papas told us to "go where you wanna go, do what you wanna do, with whoever you wanna do it with."

I passed this house with a blue plaque, which I don't recall ever seeing before -- but it's on a side street I don't often walk so I've probably just missed it. Michael Ventris was an architect and classicist who deciphered Linear B, an ancient Greek script, and then died young in a car crash.

Back home again, I downloaded the videos from the Garden Cam, and what a boring week it was! I got no nighttime videos at all, perhaps because it was so cold that the animals weren't out moving around. (The coldest temperature the camera recorded was 29º F, at 9:20 a.m. on Jan. 4. I'm sure it was colder at night, but if there was no movement to trigger the camera I'd have no record of it.) My daytime videos were mostly pigeons. I had one brief glimpse of Pale Cat and two brief glimpses of a fox, perhaps Q-Tip:

But really, there wasn't even enough to compile into a video. Let's hope the coming week gives us some better footage.

Goretti and Global Madness

Yesterday morning was truly miserable weather-wise. It was cold and rainy, but thank goodness not snowy -- although one of my coworkers said she would have preferred snow to the blustery rain. We got some wind but nothing too severe. I don't know of any downed trees or other damage comparable to what Storm Goretti brought to other parts of England.

I put an extra strap of duct tape around the avocado and hoped for the best.

Tonight is supposed to be our last freezing night for a while. I think I can unwrap the avocado tomorrow and give the poor thing a week or two of fresh air, sunlight and moisture. I'll probably have to wrap it up again before winter is officially over, but coming from Florida, I find this perfectly normal winter gardening. We cover and uncover plants all the time in the American South, depending on what the weather does. Dave finds this rather mysterious and labor-intensive, but that's beause he's from Michigan, where no amount of covering will protect a plant from winter so they don't even bother.

Anyway, I did walk to work despite the weather, mostly because the Jubilee Line wasn't running. I had actually planned to take the tube but walking was forced upon me! (I could have ridden a bus but that takes ages. It's faster to walk.) On the positive side, the parent organization at the school gave us all hot chocolate when we arrived.

Bonus points to the first person who can figure out what this is!

I feel like I should be writing something about the madness engulfing the USA's current government, but I'm just not sure what to say except this is NOT normal! And Americans can't allow it to become normal. This period of aggression against our allies, violence against our own citizens and others who are legally entitled to reside in the USA, international land and resource grabs, and glorified toxic masculinity is an outlier. We just have to get through it and survive it, which is not a foregone conclusion, and then we have an opportunity to right the ship. To the government and people of Denmark and Greenland and the rest of our NATO allies, I humbly apologize as an American citizen for my country treating you so awfully. I don't think this will last forever. Just treat us like we have gone temporarily insane -- keep your distance, try to avoid our flailing limbs and ravening jaws, and try not to take too much offense at the outbursts we seem unable to control.

The thing I don't understand about Trump's rhetoric on Greenland is, America already controls it -- jointly, through NATO. We (and Europe) are already responsible for its defense, there's an American military base there, and we are in a position to negotiate the use of its natural resources as needed. What does occupying it achieve?

As for the murder of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, it reminds me of the Kent State shooting in Ohio in 1970. Harmless protesters and trigger-happy, nervous gunmen are never a good mix, and the ICE agents shouldn't be there in the first place. Who are these guys who work for ICE? Who could do that in good conscience?

Nothing Much Yet

We are supposedly in the midst of Storm Goretti, which is wreaking havoc elsewhere in England but doesn't seem to be doing much here. We're getting some wind, and I was worried about the avocado's big fabric "bubble" and whether it would be shredded, but in its protected location on the patio it's only slightly rocking. Later this morning snow is possible but I'm not seeing any yet.

The artwork above is on the window of an estate agent's office on the high street, in this building:

I noticed before Christmas that they hadn't yet put out their annual winter lights, but now they're up, so I  guess they finally got around to it. Better late than never, right?

Starlings

I remember wondering in the past if starlings migrate, and here's the answer. Not entirely! We still have some hanging around in our garden, though they seem fewer than in summer. I don't see the starling squabbles on the bird feeder that I see in warmer months.

According to a quick Google check, starlings in the UK and in warmer parts of Europe tend to stay put, while starlings from colder areas like Scandinavia and Russia migrate south. They are a "partially migratory" species.

So there you have it. I knew that was keeping you up at night.

Not much happened yesterday, aside from being super-busy at work. We've had lots of books coming back and I've had old displays to take down and new ones to put up, just to get past all the Christmas/holiday stuff.

I had to abandon my walk to work yesterday morning because the sidewalk was so icy and slippery. I found my feet sliding around a few times and though I didn't fall, I also didn't want to take the risk. I hopped onto the tube about a third of the way to school, but I did walk home last night after the ice had melted.

Free boots, anyone? With a sort of icy castle/princess theme?