Buff

The bee, not me.

R and I spent much of the day emptying and cleaning the kitchen and snug, in preparation for the decorator who will be starting work on them at 8am tomorrow. There are a couple of pieces of furniture that R decided (probably wisely) I shouldn't be lifting in my non-buff condition, and which he and the decorator will deal with in the morning, but apart from those the snug is empty and the kitchen is cleared down to the white goods. I hate the whole business, to be honest - the disruption involved in decorating drives me completely up the wall - but I know I'll appreciate it once G has finished his always-meticulous work and everything looks fresh and clean.

After lunch we both went out for a walk, but not together: R is now in thrall to his Fitbit and wanted to impress it by marching along like a determined person, and I preferred to meander back and forth taking photographs. The butterfly field was entirely devoid of butterflies, which probably didn't care for the weather, but there were a few bees and some grasshoppers around; and I also spent a while photographing a couple of chaps baling bean straw in the field where I took this shot. But my favourite photos of the day were three that I captured of this buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), browsing a neighbour's lavender; I especially like the way the macro lens has thrown most of the plant out of focus.