A hot sunny day when we met today for our virtual GreenCloud gathering. Nobody felt that great when we checked in though with sadness (Poppies), feeling things were difficult, feeling low and lost, lots of anxiety as we started our group
As we began to talk about our experiences in nature
we started to get more comfortable though!
Some beautiful images were shared, many featuring wild fowl and their young – 27 goslings in one picture, a beautiful swan with a single cygnet and this pair of swans with five cygnets!
We also saw detailed, close shots of insects including this ladybird 
and a very ‘arty’ photo of these horses taken on a bike ride (apparently it was late afternoon with a ‘pollen’ haze)
Of course, as always we learnt a lot through our discussion – from the colour of horses (they are called grey not white Tony!), planting out Calendulas, using south facing walls to get early flowering and the magical process of making Kombucha with Rex showing us his pet scoby…
After our break, we looked at all the images members had contributed to 
our search for a planticon to represent anger and the final consensus was a this: apparently called a Nodding Musk Thistle.
We then all took part in the Nature Picture Quiz devised by Rex – this became very competitive with ‘Quacks’, “Miaows’, ‘Woofs’ and ‘Pig-like snorts’ being heard, attempting to drown each other out. Two people tied for first place – a good feat considering that one of the questions didn’t even have the correct answer in the multiple choice selection. 
Here is the picture
Officially called a Lenticular cloud. And often mistaken for UFOs J
Checking out with our planticons as usual – no more Poppies
(sad and painful) but things were still difficult but worthwhile with the 
Flowering Thistle being chosen, plus more hope with our Seedlings being chosen being “Hopeful, promise of progress/new life”.
It is always good to be together and have connection with others and with nature – plus some fun and laughter to help brighten our mood! And we can look forward to next Wednesday when we meet again in our GreenCloud.
PS if you are still wondering what the answer is to last week’s blog question – “What country is named after a tree?” then the answer is…….….Brazil!