hot, bee, pirate

In the Farmers' Market is a stall with different chili sauces to sample. They range from mild and sweet to hot. At the hot end, is one marked "hot beware", and next to it, right at the end, is another labeled "beware hot". I assume the last one is king of the hots. I take a nip of it on the strip of tortilla provided. Six hours later, I can still taste it.

To my collection of unseasonable creatures this winter I must, this February day, add bumble bee. It explores a front garden as I pass.

Through the window of a cafe, I catch sight of a man with a scarf wrapped round his head. One end of the scarf hangs behind his neck like a pigtail; it is tied in such a way as to show the round shape of the top of his skull. He is seated at a table and, with a knife and fork, tucks in to something on a plate. He has a pointed black beard. In my fleeting glance, I do not see an earing, but there must be one, I think, for he is the picture of a pirate..