Botanical abstract

Lunch with my niece at Cambridge Botanic Gardens was a very welcome distraction from dealing with my accounts. She has a week's residency at a bothy on Eigg at the end of the month, and wanted some advice on cameras and photography, as she has to produce an illustrated blog post. 

We had fun trying out different cameras in the cafe and the greenhouses - in the end she felt most comfortable using Alex's little Lumix LX7, which she's borrowing for the trip. It sounds so exciting, though I wasn't so taken with the idea of an outdoor shower (hot) in January!  

Initially we'd planned to go to Wicken Fen, but in view of the weather forecast, decided the Botanics was a better bet. The rain was certainly torrential for several hours first thing, and on my way down to Cambridge the fens looked bleak and waterlogged. The rain didn't clear till about half past two, when it was replaced with glorious sunshine - mostly while I was travelling home on a crowded train! So today's image is an abstract of something I found in the botanic gardens - I wonder how many of you can work out what it is?

I see together we've exceeded the £100,000 mark - a great achievement, but there's still a way to go to save our site, so, if you can afford to, please make or increase your pledge here.