I must not lesnerize. Absolutely not.

Further to my previous post, Robert Sheckley's Protection. If you don't already know this story, skip my last post until you've read it.

The golden apples of the sun

Not all surprises are unpleasant.

At the Bears' Carol Evening, before Christmas, I was talking to a fellow caroller - specifically, I was admiring the Christmas card she had sent the Bears, which was her own painting of a quince. Maggy is a botanical artist, which means that her work is not wild and impressionistic, but scientifically, objectively accurate. It's also beautiful: her quince glowed golden in its dark foliage like a promise of summer returning, and fruitful autumn harvests after. See for yourself, on Margaret Brooker's page at the Society of Botanical Artists.

This morning's post brought me a pack of note cards with a reproduction of that quince on them: I feel better already.

And here's Maggy's explanation of botanical illustration at the AOI web site.