Derelict artichoke

After a few days of quite chilly weather, today has been extraordinarily mild and windy. In the morning I dropped Alex off at Orton Pit, then Pete and I headed out to Grimeshaw Wood for a meeting with a couple of people from the Wildlife Trust. Unfortunately, due to illness, neither of them made it, but luckily Dan, the local reserve manager, had decided to come along just out of interest, so we had a useful walk round with him.

When we arrived home I found that my Blip 365 book had arrived. I was really pleased with the quality of the photographs, but a bit disappointed to find that it ended at page 353, and the last 12 photographs that I'd selected were missing. As it wasn't strictly a one-a-day book, but was a selection of my favourite natural history photographs from the last four years, it's not a disaster, but I have contacted Blipfoto to see whether it can be rectified. Has anyone else had any similar problems?,  

This afternoon was the annual get-together of the 'Grafton Girls' - a regular institution that I've attended for twenty years. I had planned to bake a stollen to take, but there wasn't enough time, so I improvised and made some stollen-inspired cookies with chunks of marzipan, toasted almonds, cherries, apricots and sultanas. They worked surprisingly well! It was good to catch up with everyone's lives and to meet a new neighbour.

All this activity didn't leave much time for photography, but I had a quick walk round the garden to see if I could find something derelict. In the end I thought this faded artichoke head was the most photogenic, though I'm not really sure it qualifies for Sarum Stroller's Derelict Thursday challenge!