And about time too !

Well it has been a few weeks! ah well, been around done a few things since the last update.

Eleanor makes progress on her walking, gone from not being able to walk the length of the house to walking to the beach, but then needs a sleep to recover but that is good progress, travel in vehicles is still not good though, 10 mins in the car make her feel like half a day on a channel ferry in a storm and she needs to sit still for 20 mins before she can get up and not be sick or fall over. Makes going to work impossible as she wont be able to get off the train/bus in time !

I am still learning to use the macro lens, when I can get it first that is now Verity is home, mind you I did mess with her head and cause some very un-lady like words to issue forth from her. 

She borrowed my camera with the lens on, I had shown her I set it up with rear button focus the previous evening but she forgot till she tried to use the camera. For those that want to know what that means, the camera, like most, auto-focuses the lens when you half depress the shutter button. However, the fact that I shoot macro / nature shots mainly, I set it up so it auto focused when you press the AE button on the back of the camera and not when you press the shutter button. In effect this allows me to have single focus, follow focus and manual focus as and when I want with no change to the camera setup. Fine if you know but if you don’t know you spend a while trying to figure out why the lens is not focusing when you depress the shutter button

The weather has been ‘warm’ while this is nice it does make macro insect photography challenging as the insects are very busy flying about, but at least its good to see a lot of butterflies, damsels and dragons

Anyway, a few shots from the last few weeks, various places various dates.

First of all down south in Cornwall, 

Attempted Murder - think about it

 

Beautiful Demoiselle - Calopteryx splendens

Ahh Peanuts, mmmm

 Then a few from Aberthaw a local reserve near us

Black-tailed Skimmer - Orthetrum cancellatum

That fraught moment for a male spider

Meadow Brown - Maniola jurtina

Large Skipper - Ochiodes venatus

Pyramidal orchids - just a small selection in the field

Robber Fly with prey

 This one was taken at Cerny House gardens, a really nice garden, very worth a visit - www.cerneygardens.com/

Herb Bennet seed head with spider web

The garden has gone mad in the weather and the allotment has suffered but we have had some fruit and veg, not a lot but nice to have any at the moment, the strawberries and raspberries were really nice – they taste so much better if you grow them yourself

Finally managed to get a brew on again – a short run Saison, 24 bottles in the end, should be ready for end of August, next week I need to get another short run brew on, a golden IPA I think then look at brewing a Christmas beer, something Nutty Brown and fruity I think.

Next its time to get the studio back in play - but not till it cools off a bit. I do however what to show Eleanor how to make a bead, I think she will like that and it wil be nice to get creative in that medium again.