Mood lifters

Grey days are not totally without merit, but we had been spoiled by such a long succession of brilliant skies, it made an impromptu excursion unappealing yesterday.

Yet I was loath to turn it down. The man was bound to come home and tell me he’d seen a unicorn if I allowed him to go out unescorted.

And I couldn’t have that.

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There was no unicorn, of course. However, we got behind a pickup truck that was puttering along noisily over the many ruts in our state route, which caused the man to dive off cross country prompting him to suggest:

“You can say hello to Mrs Pheasant.” (Since that is where we’d seen her.)

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And there she was.

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She strutted across the road in front of us.

Impossible to know if this is the same bird we’d seen recently in that very place, but somehow I felt that it was.

It is worrying, though, that she hangs about so close to the road.

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Earlier, we’d had a sighting from the kitchen window.

From the corner of an eye I’d seen a small creature streak across the snow and the movement had said chipmunk rather than Little Red.

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Soon, it was back stuffing its tiny face. It’s always good to see our little friends return.

Small joys to distract us from worsening news.

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Here is another, courtesy of Colossal.com that daily offers interesting articles related to art.

In 1960, the above incredible painting was deemed not to have been made by Rembrandt and it was sold to a private collector, disappearing from sight.

Then, recently, the owner began a two year reassessment which reversed the earlier finding. The painting has just gone on display at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where it will remain on long-term loan.

The subject matter is not one I would choose, but I find the painting mesmerising.

Colossal.com offers items like this every day which often cheer me up.

Which I thought was worth mention.

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