The unexpected

                                                      Happy

  Christmas      

No, I haven't gone mad!  Today, I received an email from a nephew in Argentina to say that he has just received a Christmas card from my eldest son, who sent it well before Christmas and with plenty of time to get there for the festive season.  I guess he was surprised to receive it now, almost 2 months after it was sent.  Maybe the postman swam there - even by boat it doesn't take that long!  Ah!. living with the unexpected!

I had another surprise at the weekend.  I was taking part in the RSPB's annual Big Garden Bird Watch.  This is something I am happy to be part of as it is necessary to have some idea of how the numbers may be changing and what effect the change of habitat and environment may have on our wildlife.  This is part of the garden space we have set out for feeding the birds.

During my watch on Sunday, I was counting the usual birds that come into our garden to feed when I noticed a bird I hadn't seen before.  I got the books out, looking for a picture of it and discovered that it was a Blackcap, rightly named for the black cap of feathers it has on  its head.  This is a bird that is usually a summer visitor to Britain but in recent years it has been noticed that a few stay in the southwest over the winter time - another indication of the changing climate tendencies.  So I was really happy that this infrequent visitor had decided to feed in our garden.  I have looked for him and seen him often since then so hopefully he will become a regular visitor here.  I wasn't able to get a live photo of it - it was too quick for me!   But I took this one from a book.

Life is full of surprises, some pleasant, some not so pleasant and some just bizarre.  In life I think the only thing we should expect is the unexpected.  At least that way we are not disappointed because our expectations haven't been realised.