break in transmission

I apologise for this break.  I have been away but that is not the only reason.  Before I went to Adelaide I discovered that Google and Picasa have parted ways and most of my photos have disappeared.  I have been mourning them, particularly my house and garden ideas.  And am not quite sure how to proceed with getting photos into the blog posts.  So I'm working on it.  Listen to A Walk in the Black Forest in the meantime.