Mum & Dad's garden

 Spring arrives in Northamptonshire a few weeks earlier than is does here in Leicestershire.

We visited my dad on Wednesday this week. For a while the sun shone brightly and the wind (which would by early evening begin to batter the UK with strong storms) was gentle and balmy.

Dad is regularly visited by large number and variety of garden birds, but on Wednesday the old apple tree had a family of 11 (yes, eleven) magpies flitting between it and the hedges!

Mum used to love a walk around the garden in spring, watching the various spring blooms coming out. So I took some photos in remembrance of her:

Aconites, Snowdrops and miniature Cyclamen nestle under the hedge.

An array of crocus, soon to be joined by Narcissus.

Shy Primroses have self seede between the path and house wall and are weeks ahead of the rest of the primroses in the garden. 

Vibernum blossom, dainty and scented.

Magnolia buds, soft and velvety.

More spring blooms in the corner by the shed.

When we were small my sister and I would pick spring flowers for mum from the woods in the grounds where we lived. When Mothering Sunday came early in the year we would pick tiny posies of spring flowers, our favourites being Violets.

Sunset, Monday 31st January, 2022

 

Impromptu shot using an old iPhone while walking the dog!

Perfect for skywatch Friday

Sunset, Tuesday 2nd Feb 2022

 

I was completely unprepared for the sunset this evening.

The whole expanse of the sky to the west was awash with colour. There was such a variety of colour I just had to get my camera out.

 

 

The above photo was taken from a window at the rear of our house.

The sky was only just visible through the skeletal trees.

A panoramic landscape photo would have been ideal, but I only had a very small opening through which to take a photo and very little room for manoeuvre.

 

I had to be very quick as the colours were fading fast and took the photos on auto mode which wasn't really the best setting ...

 

... but it does create a somewhat eerie atmosphere.

Head in the Clouds (or age related attention deficit disorder)

Tuesday 18th January 10am facing East

Tuesday 18th January 10am facing West

The sky this morning was astoundingly beautiful. On seeing it I thought, 'I must take some photos', and then promptly forgot (my sister calls it age related attention deficit disorder). Anyway, when I did remember about the photos (an hour or so later) I almost expected the sky to have changed completely, but, as luck would have it the clouds hadn't changed too much and I took a few nice shots.

And from this came the idea for the title of my blog.