As I opened the front door, this HOUSE FINCH (thanks for the correct id, ) greeted me in the little tree right outside, with its bright, beady eyes...

As I crossed the road, I realized that it was going to be quite cold, as these cloud formations (that’s ice causing the rainbow effect) portended:

Some of the jets passing overhead had left their vapour trails , but interestingly, another one at a lower altitude was not leaving one. Left me to muse on how, and when, jet vapour trails form ( or whatever they are called, according to that link!) : I saw two people riding these recumbent bicycles (thanks, Mayank and Vasu!) They looked SO comfy and much more laid-back and relaxed than those "let's cycle up to the top of Nandi Hills from Hosur in 40 minutes flat" kind of cycles that are supposed to be aerodynamically wonderful! The wiki entry says that these cycles produced such good timings that they were banned from competitions! :) Entering Forest Park, I saw that soon, soon, the looked-forward-to (by me and my daughter) Shakespeare Festival is on the point of arriving (it starts May 20): No prizes for guessing which play this set is being constructed for: Isn't that a sweet Romeo serenading his hefty, balding sweetheart? :) They can be The Carpenters when they sing to each other... Here's the link to the Festival. I miss Ranga Shankara sorely, so it's going to be great to see the plays! Each walk brings something different, but it's always interesting; here's a seed-pod that I saw, very similar to our silk-cotton pods: This flowering shrub looked so lovely, too:

And yes, I saw the the legendary sword of King Arthur :

I did like the message at the bottom! When things are tough…do just that…shut up and hold on!