Shock!

He wasn't expecting to see me! I was crouching down... for reasons best known to myself... and he landed on the fence all abother.

Now, I am writing this on Day Three in the Netherlands.... and here I have heard blackbirds and I think blackcaps, wrens definitely and tits. Starlings, pigeons, jackdaws and magpies. Parakeets. But I am not sure about the robins. Harry says they visit more in the winter.

Marianne and Harry say they have hedgehogs in their garden. They rescued a baby one who had lost his way and got cold. A wildlife hospital rehabilitated him until he was strong enough to be released.

Apparently there are foxes as they ate a neighbours' chickens, but they have not seen them.

Marianne shares a horse, with whom she has a wonderful relationship. A Friesian mare. Part of me feels that I would like to rediscover that. I remember the relationship I had with an aged Arab ex-racehorse, Zouby. I dream of the communion. I long for the freedom that I relished with Syringa, as a child.

Maybe one cannot be free again.