FREEDOM! (sorta)

I’m finally allowed out – with limitations. I can go for a walk within a kilometre of home from 6 – 10 am or 8-11 pm, and alone or with someone from the same household. People doing sport can go further, but I’m not sure that hiking counts. Anyway, a kilometre is enough to get me to the little thermophile forest reserve, so that’s where I went.

Pyjama bugs on wild carrot

After almost 7 weeks of staying home with a few trips to local shops it was heady stuff. Even the roadside weeds were fascinating, especially the ones with bugs on. I think I need to take the good camera tomorrow.

I’ve been very glad to have balconies at home: it makes it far less claustrophobic. But it was wonderful to see a different view.

 

When I reached the forest, everything smelt of green. Perhaps it ws my imagination, but I felt I could almost hear the sap rising and the soil microbes fermenting. I had a wonderful time on Saturday, but today I got out earlier and had more time, plus the sun was shining, bringing out all the textures.

I found the super twisty verode bush again. I have no idea why verode branches sometimes twist like this.

There was plenty of rabbit’s foot fern too. Ferns come in the most elegant shapes.

Why is this one called “rabbit’s foot“? Because that’s what the roots look like.

I was quite sad when I had to go home but I was tired too. It was nice to sit down and go back to work. I’m still correcting my translation “A Breathtaking Window on the Universe” and doing research and making character notes for “Murder by Starlight.”

Posted by sheila

Sheila came to La Palma with a six month contract and has stayed 24 years so far. She used to work as a software engineer at the observatory, but now she's a writer and Starlight guide.

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