Spring has sprung, the grass is riz

Today was officially our first day of spring.

Balmy weather, the first horseflies, suncream unearthed, sunhats sought, doors opened to let in the warm air.

It was also the first day of the grape harvest...the children spending a fair part of the afternoon picking the ‘grapes’ from our ornamental vine, which is putting out leaves, flowers and shoots as fast as it can.

They produced a gourmet meal of salad, followed by pudding, with much hard work on the part of the youngest chef.


I celebrated by photographing arum lilies, up to my knees in wet grass, trucks thundering past on the main road as I focussed, composed, recomposed on a prolific patch of the waxy white blooms, casually growing in a ditch beside the N7.



My birthday present behaved admirably. (A Canon Powershot A620, pocket sized, great macro, sharp focus and big enough file size for our photo library). The best thing about it, is that it can see more sharply than I can, so I literally can point and shoot, without having to wear my ever-more-necessary glasses, though I have to wait to get back home to the computer and said glasses before I can see the pictures properly!