sealavender, I had a similar experience in Midtown Manhattan, December 1992 (I think). I was in my hotel room in the afternoon getting ready to go out, and I noticed from the vanity mirror that there was what looked like ash falling down on the other side of my window, and I thought the building was on fire. I had never seen snow falling in the daytime before, especially with the sun hitting it, and I went into a panic. I will never go back to NY in the winter, but the rest of the year is fine for me. I was shocked, however, at how brown Central Park was in the winter. I'm used to seeing green in the winter instead of brown or snow. When I was little, my grandmother had a painting in her living room of a landscape that had a dark river running through snow, and I didn't know what snow was, and so I thought the white patches were ghosts or monsters, and it scared me. For a long time, I was afraid to go into that room. I think I was about ten before I figured out what the painting was of, although I still had never seen anything like it in person. Even today, when I see pictures with snow on the ground, I usually think the snow is sand, unless it is also on trees and rooftops.Salt flats in Death Valley, which is now I interpret scenes with snow on the ground. Photo of me taken by my brother, winter 2002.

Nest ...... of the Ruby Throat Hummingbird. I have shown this before...probably more than once. But everyone needs to see just how tiny that nest and those eggs really are. The nest about the size of an english walnut and the eggs the size of peas.

Picture from 1942. My uncle who served during the war. His nieces and nephews surround him. Of course I did not take this. I am the smallest one in the group.

The condo birdhouses are an artwork called Spontaneous City in Norwich. It's in an old Horse Chestnut tree next to a medieval tower. https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Spontaneous_City_at_Cow_Tower