UK public opinion might just be expressing a move to the left - at last ...

You may be in need of a Hiroshige owl, possibly?

Year-round in Reading #rdguk

I know we're supposed to hate Canada geese - but really, how could you not welcome these little balls of fluff? (Especially after the election result, of course.)

It isn't just the USA:

RIP Michael Longley. I first heard this poem on 'Poetry Please', while driving. Had to pull over, couldn't see through the tears.

One of my neighbours turned 90 the other day. She celebrated with a ride on the Ferris wheel at Reading Winter Wonderland. #rdguk

So this is what happens if your orchids get mealy bugs and then you spray them with undiluted neem oil by mistake:

Yesterday I led a small-group meditation session on joy. It's there if you look for it - today's news has Assad's downfall, and the Notre Dame rebuild. Not to deny all the horrors and griefs, but we mustn't deny the joys, small and great, either.

Really recommend this. Nostalgia, music gurus, feelgood story all in one package.

Well, maybe I'm not very organised, but at least all the ducks are in a row.

Kew's Waterlily House looking fairly spectacular this morning.

Lovely walk in Richmond Park yesterday after family birthday lunch. However, total confusion about new wire fences interspersed with doors for small animals. But which small animals? Can anyone explain?

Helped to babysit Milo over the weekend - a labradoodle who turns out to have the genetic inheritance of feeling continously hungry and never full. He now has a disconcerting habit of scraping his empty ceramic bowl on the stone floor when a human is eating and his bowl is empty. Noisy but funny.

Six of us - only one of whom could be described as anything younger than middle-aged - cleared this deserted encampment and one other in 2 hours on Saturday morning. #KeepCavershamTidy #rdguk. Lots of rubbish, lots of laughs - see our FB page.

Keep Caversham Tidy was at the Reading Cycling Festival yesterday - and it hardly rained at all. Happy days! #rdguk

If you visit the Tate Modern Turbine hall (though preferably not on a Bank Holiday weekend) you can help to create Oscar Murillo's Flooded Garden installation. We had fun watching from the walkway, but the queue to join in was non-trivial.