Around The Garden

10-05-22

The Humble Dandelion

I’ve been trying to tidy up the garden a bit, but as usual keep getting distracted by the flowers and cats.

New Growth

Herb Robert

Lilacs

The Lilacs are just going over, I love the colour they add to the garden.

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Missed It

29-04-22

Missed posting on “Thursday doors” yesterday, was out in town for the best part and had chores to do and my cat Mimi to fuss when I got back to home. Whilst hanging out the washing this morning (the excitement never ends) I noticed the garden had sprung into life a bit, also noticed how much work I need to do to get it into some sort of shape. The weather in my part of the UK has been very mixed, it’s still quite cold and windy. The only camera I had with a charged battery was my old Olympus E400, but I managed to get a few shots of the spring growth.

Quite a lot of Bluebells this year

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The Rhododendron is covered in flowers

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Even one or two Cornflowers were out

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The Lilacs look and smell lovely

Gardening & Eyebrows

25-08-19

Gardening

It’s been unseasonably hot the last couple of days, 26 deg C / 78 deg, it feels much warmer. I thought it was about time I tackled some of the pruning that I have been putting off for far too long. With the strange weather we have had this year the garden has in parts gone into overdrive. To relieve the boredom I took a few quick photo’s with my old Olympus E400 and Zuiko 35mm macro lens.

Hips

Lavender

The Lavender has really gone berserk this year, good for the Bee’s though.

Bud

Still some buds on the Roses.

Blackberries

They are trying their best to take over the garden this year.

Liked By The Bees

Eyebrows

The visiting cat is getting a bit cheeky. At 4 am on Saturday morning I felt a gentle nuzzling on my eyebrow, it was the Black & White lad wanting some breakfast. He comes in everyday now and occasionally has a sleep over! my two cats fortunately are quite tolerant of him most of the time. During the day on Saturday I was working on the front garden, I went in to make myself a cup of coffee and as I looked back to the open front door there was a mother cat and two tiny kittens. The mother cat (long haired very dark Tortoiseshell) has been sneaking in and clearing all the cat food dishes (she’s very wary), I leave a bit of extra food down for her as I’m sure that feeding two little ones she needs it.

PhotoBuddies – Day Out #1

19-06-19

Now I have my new set of wheels I went out for a drive with my PhotoBuddies to Bradgate Park (interesting Wiki link) It’s been ages since I last visited the park, and I really missed going there.

I took along a film camera and my old Olympus E620 Digital with the standard zoom. We were lucky with the weather yesterday, well it was dry and warm at least. It’s been like late autumn over the last few weeks (it is today) dull and wet, will we ever have a summer this year ?

Tree & Dry Stone Wall

Bracken

I suppose the one plus point for having so much rain recently is that everything is very green and fresh looking.

Foxgloves

Dry Stone Wall Detail

Wild Flowers

Old Rocks

With PhotoBuddy

Some of the exposed rocks in the park are an incredible 560 million years old.

There are some lovely old trees in the park and I can’t resist photographing them, I’ll put them in the next post.

Back On The Road

04-06-19

At last I’m back on the road, managed to find a car that hadn’t got spaceship mileage, been used as a minicab or had multiple owners, can’t believe it’s been over 3 years since I was behind the wheel. Picked the car up on June 1st with some trepidation, could I still drive OK, shouldn’t have worried it was as if it had just been a few days since I last drove.

Golfing

To celebrate I took a drive to Launde Abbey  just a short 30 mile round trip, it was so nice to travel through the countryside, all lovely and green with the rain we have had lately. Took a few images while I was there, wasn’t really in a photo mood, too excited about being on the road again.

Day Of The Triffids

In The Walled Garden

Caterpillar Heaven

Launde Abbey is such a calm and peaceful place, I can see why people visit and go on retreat in the cabins they have in the grounds, also it has a really good Tea Room.

Cat Dreams

13-04-19

Fleur

While I was editing the following images Fleur was sleeping on my lap, she was dreaming, her ears were twitching and her paws were moving. I wonder what she dreams about, I’m guessing it’s chasing other cats from her territory as we have had quite a few new cats passing through. When she wakes she looks around and seems amazed she’s on my lap and not pursuing the interlopers.

First Signs Of Spring

Spring has been slow this year, the weather has been changeable so I’ve not been out Photowalking for awhile, just nipping out into the garden trying out my new secondhand macro lens. I’m finding it hard to get it to focus exactly where I want it to, but I’m getting there.

Weeds

Shy Bells

Sure Sign Of Spring

Botanics #2

10-10-18

It was a unusually warm day today, 71 deg F. / 22 deg C. Spent the day in the garden catching up on the chores I’d put off, pruning and tidying up, could do with another week at least. The best part was having my cats with me, both of them laying on the lawn enjoying the sunshine, interspersed with dashing around and investigating/supervising what I was up to.

Here are the last few images from my walk to the Botanic Gardens on Monday.

Cheerful 

Fuzzy

Maples x4

Fall Fallen

Seed Pods

Botanics #1

08-10-18

Wasn’t sure if autumn had shown up owing to the hot weather we had recently. But to prevent seizing up I needed a walk, the Botanic Gardens seemed a good idea, an easy 3 mile round trip. So off I went this morning with my old Olympus E620 digital camera and Minolta HiMatic of 1962 vintage. The weather was changeable so I set the Olympus to 400asa to get reasonable shutter speeds with the penalty of a bit of noise in the images.

Lemon & Lime

Autumn Grasses

Contrast

Still Blooming

Hostas On The Turn

Good For The Eye

Soft 1&2

The Arboretum tomorrow I think, it’s supposed to be a sunny day, better for film images.

In The Garden

29-05-18

The cats were out in the garden this morning practising their stalking skills on each other. Of course as soon as I went out with a camera they stopped and followed me around, I’m sure it was just in case I might have had some cat treats with me.

Fleur

Mimi (Fleurs Daughter)

They were both full of energy this morning, and brought a smile to my face with their playfulness.

The weather has been a bit unsettled over the last few days, but at least we haven’t had any of the severe storms like some other parts of the UK, Yet. The garden is very green at the moment, and lots of the plants are late in flowering. It was windy today making it a bit difficult to photograph the flowers that were out.

Rose

Sage

The Bee’s were enjoying this.

New Pine

Wild Rose

 

Blooming Rhododendrons and Midnight Visitor Update

13-05-18

We have had some reasonable weather (at last) over the past few weeks and the garden has really burst into life. I think the huge amount of rain earlier in the year has really benefited my Rhododendron. It’s quite difficult to photograph, but with a combination of the Sigma DP1 and Olympus E620 I managed to get a few images.

I put my old Tamron macro lens on the Olympus via an adaptor, It’s tricky to focus as the viewfinder on the Olympus is a bit small and the depth of field very shallow.

The Bee’s love it.

I tried the 1 to 1 adaptor on the lens and photographed a few of the plants around the garden.

The Humble Dandelion

The Bells

With Spider

Backlit Leaves

Midnight Visitor

My midnight visitor comes in every day now for his breakfast or tea, quite often both. He’s such a sweet little cat, today he was a bit dusty. I’m still not sure if he has a home of sorts, but someone must be feeding him as he is at least 9 years old. Of course he might be a (click link) “Six Dinner Sid” but I don’t mind.