Early April weekends again

Hello again

It's already more than two weeks since Palm Sunday and over a week since Easter but I found it interesting to see the difference in vegetation then and now -- the heat we've been having these last few days is more like mid-July than mid-April, the only difference, perhaps, in that the nights still cool down considerably.

All over my neighbourhood, parties were happening and people enjoyed their balconies, gardens and barbecues -- not necessarily to the pleasure of neighbours, I'm afraid. I for one am pretty peeved to find I either have to go out, or sit indoors with my windows closed, or be smothered by the fumes from numerous barbecues all around. Lighter fluid creates especially obnoxious fumes but burnt fat comes a close second. Yuck!

Anyway, rather than harping on about this, here are a few more early April 07 photos.

A little to the south of Berne is the lovely Elfenau – Elves' Glade – park. During a walk there on Palm Sunday, I was delighted to see the lush white-and-green carpets of wood anemones that cover deciduous forest floors.
A few steps further lay this massive victim of Lothar, the December 1999 hurricane.
The local kids have transformed a nearby fellow-victim into a play-trunk -- great fun for them. Fungi and small creatures have evidently had a feast, too.
And the next photo may be another remnant from that scary night just after Xmas 1999 -- our woodlands are still strewn with evidence. Forestry management research has found that devastated areas revitalise more quickly if fallen trees and debris is left on the ground.
Nearer to my friend's house stands a larch tree. They're hard to spot on this photo, but the very tips of its branches are dotted with tiny red blossoms just bursting out of their pods.