The Beast from the East

The snow storm experienced by Cambridge UK is known as the Beast from the East.  It has hit all of Europe.  It is reported that people were skating on frozen canals in Holland, a rare event.  Should you be so inclined, there is a formal skating tour - The Elstedentocht, 200 kilometres long.  It has two components - a speed skating competition, and a leisure tour, with 16,000 skaters. The potential to skate in Holland is monitored and celebrated.  The temperatures need to drop for only a few days...oops, perhaps for more than a few days.  The headline for today is that two skaters fell through too thin ice on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam on Thursday.  They survived.   The article closes with "the canals may be thick enough to skate on over the weekend."   They lure of skating in Holland is like our love of hockey in Canada.   We distract you from the return of Winter in the multiple Cambridges.  Today our Niagara landscape is white on white - the result of the overnight snow storm.  Our schools are all closed, and driving will be slippery as the snow was preceded by ice. So instead, we'll look at Longwood's 2017 May Conservatory display. Look at the Hydrangeas filling the frame from top to bottom, and then the Foxglove hybrid, called Digiplex, in the second image.  These are great horticultural accomplishments.