Storms

We went to our beloved Botanics today and saw some of the results of the recent storm. This was the tallest tree in the gardens. No longer, sadly.

Poor tree. 

And this one. 

Still, my favourite tree, the Taxodium Distichum (or to put it tactlessly, the bald cypress - it's deciduous, as you can see) seems to have survived with only some twigs blown off. It's so beautiful in leaf, covered in lots of tiny lime green needles in the summer, which turn reddish in the autumn. And when it rains (what? in Scotland?) it's covered in diamonds of raindrops. 

So there are good things too, to distract us from the unbelievable things happening in the US and elsewhere. Snowdrops, for example. 

And sunshine, and lovely branches of other trees.