Spikies from out of the blue

I have been absent for a couple of weeks, enjoying my summer holiday on a beautiful Greek island. If there is one thing that could get me more obsessed than my plants, it's the oceon. I have always loved it, the sounds, the smells. Being on it, under it doesn't really matter.  For me there is nothing like it.  The sea in Paxos was crystal clear and while there was sadly not a huge amount of fish, being able to see so far in into the depths made snorkling every day a pleasure.

But even in this underwater world there were spikies to attract me, in the form of sea urchins.  Finding there shells was like looking for treasure as a kid.  Each one you saw and dove down to collect was a treat.  In many respects they mirror what I love in my plants; the symetry, and structure to each one.  Even the lines formed as the urchin grows are perfect geometric shapes.  We collected almost 100 shells in the end (all empty when we found them, we left the harvesting as a delicacy to the locals) and have a few project planned for them.

But now it is back to the plants and I need a good look around at how they have coped without me.  So it will be back to the more normal spikies for the next post.