It’s a windy, sun-through-the-clouds morning, and I am tapping my watch and waiting for Spring to well and truly spring. Greenery. Flowers. The regoldening of the male goldfinches. The return of rose-breasted grosbeaks and ruby-throated hummingbirds. Unfortunately, that will also mean the departure of the juncos to their northern breeding grounds. I love those little birbs.

Not so much looking forward to the return of flies and skeeters, but they have their place in the Grand Scheme, often as bird food. So it’s all good.

I did buy some tulips to brighten up the place, and just happened to check the insides of the blooms after they opened. The colors are stunning, and the layout is so…symmetrical.

In other news, after having watched NOVA series on The Universe and The Planets, listened to so many astrophysics podcasts, and read the odd book or two, I decided it was time to do something I’d been considering for a while. Behold:

It’s a Celestron StarSense Explorer 100AZ, a beginner’s ‘scope that requires a smartphone in order to function. But that’s the stage I’m at, and I’m looking forward to trying it out as soon as I get the apps downloaded and we get a clear nighttime sky.

Book stuff: all the Jani novels are in trade paper format EXCEPT FOR CODE, which I am working on. I am working on the next Jani book, too. The tentative title is Chaos Agent, and as with the previous books the plot is giving me grief because it’s complicated. But I have the beginning, which for me is an achievement. Beginnings are hard. No release date as of yet.

That’s all for now.

(yes, the bookshelves are double-stacked, I still play CDs, and I’ve excavated the vinyl. Going old school in my old age)