Love this shot.

Oh, how funny. It’s too bad we didn’t know this before or we might have reconsidered. April 9th is exactly our arrival date too. We should discuss this through email, but I wonder if something isn’t possible and worth bending plans a bit for. From Bari we’re planning on biking straight up the coast to Pescara, and from there we’ll take the Intercity to Ventimiglia, which includes a transfer in a Milan. When are you flying home or leaving the region?

We're flying into Milan (MXP) on 9th April. We've arranged an Agriturismo (Sant' Anna) at Somma Lombardo about 15 minutes NW from the airport. Super friendly woman (Margaret) running it and she'll store our stuff (bike cases and a few other things) until our return in mid June. The price was pretty reasonable at €150/night in April (apparently Milan fashion week is on and everything in the area is booked up!) and €90/night when we return in June. We weren't planning on checking out Milan anyway.
When were you two planning on arriving? It would be a shame if it was the same time and we missed each other. We're roughly heading from Somma Lombardo towards Ancona (arriving around Easter). Will you be anywhere near there then?

Did you ever read the Dr. Doolittle books? Maybe the tortoise was your version of the sea snail for you to cross the ocean.

Judging from the “flight” of the birds, I assumed this, but hoped not. Where are Mom and Dad to teach him otherwise? ;}

Yup. He’s the pest that caused them all to take flight.

And a cute boy having fun! ( I hope)

Sounds like a nice day!

There are two species of spring flowers here in Portland that are both lovely and completely evil, lesser celandine is one, wood hyacinths (Spanish bluebells) are the other. I'm on a many years'-long battle with the latter, and not done yet.

Yeah, the first few years I saw them, I thought they were fabulous! Then they spread... fast!

Thanks for identifying this one. I’ll think about it differently now.

Looks a lot like lesser celandine... Terribly invasive. Covers up everything in floodplains/low lying areas. It has only taken a few years to cover areas where there once were an abundance of species in our area.

https://www.brandywine.org/conservancy/blog/invasive-species-spotlight-lesser-celandine-ficaria-verna#:~:text=Don't%20let%20the%20sweet,they%20even%20have%20a%20chance.

...and a piece of the Steel Bridge for added spice. Nice!

Squirrels have perfected that innocent look. It's all a lie.

Either way, it's a squirrel.