Stunning weather but cold

Hello again

Just a quick note to reassure you: yes, I'm still around, still going strong.
But extremely busy and trying to catch up on stuff left behind when I decided -- rather on a whim -- to take off for a week in Scotland.
Wheeee -- it was grand! An excellent tour visiting some old and not-so-old friends, returning to beloved places like Iona, Mull and Oban, and discovering new things. I know I've promised photos but time is very short just now. Thank you for your patience.

As I said in the header here, the weather in Berne has been stunning but really cold. Sycamores are still splendid with red, russet and gold crowns; hedgerows are shot through with colour as well. Some flowers still valiantly defying the cold nights, too: asters, marigolds, alyssum, ... and the tiny purply-silvery-blue grapes dangling off wild vines that have already dropped their deep-burgundy leaves. Blackbirds are having a feast.

[It's Nov. 14, and I'm sneaking in a long-promised photograph, taken about a week ago from my office window:
Since then we've had the first serious snowfall -- the earliest in about sixty years! Today, we actually had something resembling a brief but intense blizzard, and some rooftops are still white with the snow.]


More anon. TTFN, cheerio and see you soon. :)