Here Come The Long Shadows

It looks and feels a lot like spring this evening.
The bright evening sunshine is hitting the garden and trees sideways, creating the same long shadows on bright green grass that we saw in April. There is a sense of saying goodbye and also of new beginnings in the air.

I have a particular fondness for this time of year. I think it is the memory of childhood excitement of new shoes and new books, and my approaching birthday and, in recent years, a love of the mellowness of late summer colours and the gentle buzz of the tail end of the holidaymaker season.
And I love the sunlight in spring and autumn: the way it spotlights things and make them gleam.

Our daughter is riding the bike that we bought her for her birthday back in January. It was far too big for her then but we knew she would grow into it by the summer. And she did. She has learnt to cycle without stabilisers and only last month felt confident enough to use her big birthday bike. She now zooms about on it whenever it stops raining.

Obviously, as soon as she saw me approaching with a camera, the cycling became less about getting around and more of a performance!