These two chocolate Santas on our Christmas tree are definitely on borrowed time – several of the other edible tree decorations have mysteriously disappeared while we have had visitors here over the last few days, and the rest will no doubt be eaten when the tree comes down early in January.
Although it’s been pretty wet of late, when the skies clear late in the day, it can yield some fabulous sunsets. Today was another of those days, and like so many of my photos this year, it was only taken a few yards from home.
… and we now have all the Christmas decorations in place. We actually have 3 Christmas trees in the house – our usual large one in the kitchen, this smaller one in our sitting room, and a very small and special one in the hallway. Lots of twinkly light and baubles everywhere – wouldn’t be Christmas without them would it?
Not the first time I have taken a sunset photo from this point, but with sky colours like this I couldn’t resist it. Even more remarkable because it was actually raining at the time. In fact, it’s rained pretty much all day, and very heavy at that – lots of waterlogged fields…
An amazing full moon this evening – bright enough to light everywhere up long after it got dark. Sadly a smartphone camera doesn’t do it justice…
With half an hour to kill this afternoon, I parked up close to this woodland and took a stroll through the trees. With little to interrupt my thoughts, it was a good opportunity to think through some ideas and get them in perspective.
On our way home this afternoon after lunch with family we could see a rather nice sky developing as we drove near the River Severn at Arley. A quick diversion took us down to the river, where we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset, and mist forming on the river. With nowhere to park, and no time to set up my Sony camera, this was a quick shot using my phone…
Although farming in this area is mainly dairy cattle, a fair area immediately around us is given over to growing Miscanthus, or ‘Elephant’ Grass. This is harvested, dried, and used as bio-fuel, but can also be used as non-synthetic bedding for intensive chicken farming or horses. The grass grows to around 2m tall, and after harvesting, grows again the following spring. This is some of the last of this year’s crop still standing.
We had ‘a lot of weather’ here today – a fine start, then rain, cloud, and very late in the afternoon a couple of minutes where the sun shone through from under the clouds. This is just up the hill from our house.
I’m not generally a fan of image manipulation, either in camera or using software, but am a sucker for a nice zoom burst photo. This ancient oak stands beyond the top of our garden, and was the perfect subject to test out my new 24-70mm lens…
