I have seen a Nutria!  "What is a Nutria?", you might ask?  It's an animal related to a beaver, that comes from South America, but is now found in Europe and North America where they are descendants of escapees from pelt farms.  We saw one today on a walk along the river in Torino.  It looked like a big rat put through a ringer, sort of elongated and flat.  There was an old gentleman watching it swim who told us what it was.  The Po, Torino's river, is much cleaner than it used to be.  Back in the 70's it was lifeless but is slowly coming back.  There are a lot of water birds but this is the first mammal I've seen.   Today is lovely and spring-like.  The older I get the less I like the cold.  If winter wants to be over now I'm fine with that.  xxoo me