Winter flowers

I met up with Val, a very old friend, this afternoon. She is my age, and had Covid a few weeks ago. Thankfully she's made a good recovery, but it's been sobering to hear what the breathing difficulties and chest pain were like for her, even though they weren't bad enough to send her to hospital. 

Part of Val's recovery may be due to the wonderful Zoe Covid symptom tracking study and app, which we both complete every day. Info here: https://covid.joinzoe.com/

Through that study, Val was allocated to an experimental treatment that is intended to reduce the risk of long Covid.  Her view is that it has helped... so we're awaiting full study results with interest, whenever they become available.

In the earlier lockdowns  Val and I sometimes met up to walk from her house to Sheffield Botanical Gardens - enough of a circuit to get some exercise, but manageable even when time is short. So we did that again today.

Today's been bright and crisp, and the gardens were looking wonderful as ever. The best find of the day was this Chinese witch hazel, or hamamelis mollis.  The bushes in the gardens themselves were only just unfurling the tip of a bud or two. But the one at the grand entrance gates - a sunnier spot - is in full flower.  We have one in our garden too, but it has yet to open any flowers.

I have been watching the news from Georgia with bated breath. Maybe, just maybe, both Democrats will win and the Biden/Harris administration will have a real chance to make progress. After these last few weeks of increasing Trump derangement, what a relief that would be.