Wildlife

Aspe valley

Yesterday we went across the border to Somport cross-country ski resort. There's hardly any snow and the resort is closed, but it's a pleasant place to go for a walk on what are ski tracks in winter. The views of the Aspe valley in France are spectacular. 
At an altitude of 1,600 metres or so spring comes later than in Jaca. The leaves of the many beech trees haven't even begun to open yet: most of the buds are still tightly closed. The only green is next to streams. Everything is very dry.
All over the place the turf had been turned over, presumably by wild boars looking for food. This is a phenomenon I've seen before but not to that extent: a lot of the mountainside looked as if it had been ploughed.

I was glad to see the evidence without seeing the animals themselves!

Already summer?

The last few days have been hot; sandal hot! Images on TV of people on beaches are one thing, but here at 850 metres above sea level, Friday and Saturday I wore sandals and short-sleeved t-shirt!

Proof!

My garden's full of blue flowers!

Little rockery with muscaria, scilla and a pink

Flowers in my garden: rosemary, muscaria and scilla.

Forget-me-not

Violets

It's spring, but the only daffodils I've seen are in my garden. However, I've got wild violets (purple ones), and until they cut the grass there were white ones all over a park near us!

They were so tiny it was hard to take a photo of them.

Spring

I looked out of my bedroom window this morning and saw a robin. Then I saw another one! We haven't seen any for ages!
The fruit trees are all in flower. My daffodils are beginning to open.

Rome

We had a great trip to Rome last week. The weather was cold and windy, the hotel was basic, but....

there are some really spectacular buildings and ruins, like the Coliseum,

Trajan's column,

Piazza Navona,

I liked the market in Campo di Fiori, with stalls selling vegetables I'd never seen before. 

My first Roman capuccino.

River Ebro

I flew from Zaragoza to Stansted last week. This was the view from the plane just after takeoff.

You can see the Pyrenees

The river snaking across the photo is the Ebro.

Later we crossed the corner between Spain and France and flew alongside the beach of les Landes, just one long, straight beach all the way to the estuary of la Garonne. After that, clouds all the way.