A line of golden setae

The sun was sinking as the smoke from my small bonfire drifted up the garden and its rays shone through the  bright setae of the moss growing on the trunk of the fallen wild cherry tree.

It was high winds one night in December 2013 that brought the old wild cherry tree down. We knew it was affected by the parasitic fungus, Laetiporus sulphureu (Chicken of the woods), so its collapse was not totally surprising. One of its offspring is still holding part of it up. The same storm also brought down a tall eucalyptus which added some interest to the climbing frame.

Some of the eucalyptus wood is still in the woodshed. It burns well in the stove. Some day I might shuffle up the old cherry trunk and start sawing branches....

Rain later

This morning I woke to a starry, clear sky. The weather forecast said "rain later" so I cycled to work thinking that it wouldn't matter if I got wet on the way home. There was a ten percent chance of rain when I would be on my bike. Toad and I have often interpreted that ten percent chance, as the met office call it, to mean that we'll be in the raining ten percent of Argyll. This interpretation works well. Today I took a chance based on the clear and starry, crescent moon lit sky and got wet, well, damp. Hey ho.

Based on the weather forecast I expected to get wetter cycling home but as it happened the 40% chance of rain for that later time meant that my cycling home period was dry. So I had a chance to stop and chat to a raft of eiders on the loch. They were very chatty. There was even a wedge of blue sky over to the north-east.

 

It was light enough not to need bike lights by then but I have pinned to the back of my Aran cycling jersey the back half of the reflective whatsit that Toadlet used to wear when walking to school in the winter. I also have reflective stuff round my ankles. I'm one of those strange, old-fashioned people who just wears ordinary clothes for cycling.

Even without that whatsit the light wool should be easily visible in car headlights. I have good bike lights too. Most drivers around here seem to know how to overtake cyclists properly but it never hurts to be hyper visible.