Green (and red)

Squint hard or enlarge the photo and you should see a hint of green and red light coming through the gap under the clouds.

Yesterday evening I was casually browsing FB when I saw that people were reporting seeing the northern lights. One person in North Devon and another in North Wales posted photos of skies coloured bright green and red. That had been posted in the last 15 minutes so of course I rushed out to be met with almost total cloud cover. Out to sea there was a lighter area under the cloudbank and in the hope that it wasn't just a low lying cloud I took some photos. And yes my camera picked up a hint of colour so now I can say I have seen the northern lights. Maybe one day I'll get a better view.

This morning I could tell that bad weather was on the way. Sure enough we soon had light showers which gradually settled into what is now heavy rain.

 

Since this was the only day I would be free to go to the zoo I went anyway. When I got there I found one of the other volunteers wondering how the wolf dogs had dark green shading along their sides. We looked around the enclosure but the fence posts and the structures are all made of plain wood. The green algae that grows in damp conditions was a much lighter shade of green so that couldn't have been the cause. 

Then the reason came to light. There has been some refurbishment going on in the other part of their large enclosure and Dean, the owner had painted one wall dark green. He thought the paint was dry when he let the wolf-dogs back into that section but Cosmo, followed by Zeus gave the painted wall a good sniff followed by the pair of them rubbing their sides along the painted wall. The wolf part of their nature means that they are far too timid to be touched let alone brushed so they will have to stay green until the rain washes then clean again.

In the two hours I was there before rain stopped play I tidied up the gravel patch by the wolf-dogs. It was mostly picking up leaves and cones but there were enough weed seedlings coming through (all gone now) to make it worth having spent time there. It gave me a chance to see which of the plants I put in there are thriving and where I can top up the planting with things I've been growing at home. I'll wait until nearer Spring to do that.

At home I emptied the large bookcase, cleaned the shelves, dusted the books and put them all back. Looking at the piles of books on the floor I though they were a good visual illustration of the way I feel life is if I'm not organised. I would have to pick my way through things, spend ages looking for a particular item and live in chaos. As I get older I much prefer to know what I'm doing and know where everything is. (Don't mention the mess in the garage.)

It was raining heavily in the evening so I drove to the hall for Pilates. It was a tough session with plenty of work for our glutes to help prevent hip pain.