Spring Sights

As I mentioned last year, the switch to spring seems to be very fast here. True, we have had a bit of a lingering winter but on the whole I am only slightly less amazed this time round at how quickly the new leaves appear, flowers bloom, festivities kick-in and something approaching warmer weather arrives. Seeing the sun out and the hearing the birds twittering, I wandered our gardens for a few snapshots.

Ornamental Pond Flowers

Two twin bulbs

Magnolia Tree and Close-Up

Apologies to all those south of the equator who are heading into colder weather! Still hard to work up much sympathy for the Brisbanites though ...

One Year More

My employer, Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), has offered me a contract extension of one year. Several difficulties have arisen in completing my project to the previous schedule (current contract was due to expire the end of July) and they have asked me to stay on to finish these experiments and to help out somewhat with others that are being developed. So we (the family and I) have agreed to the extension and will now be here until the end of July 2007. In many ways (financial & stability-wise, mostly) we feel this a good thing. A further extension is very unlikely and as to what is next, who knows? Feel free to post your outrageous suggestions or fervent wishes in the comments section and we'll consider including them in our pipe dreams. :D