Crunchy leaves

We had another interesting camera club competition last night, the judge was very strict but very fair - I learn a lot from the critiquing when the judges are reasonable, as he was. Next year we are going to be having hybrid meetings, 25% of the members voted to stay on zoom so they can do that and we can have up to a certain amount going in to the hall so it will be interesting to see how that works, and some of the competitions will be print competitions instead of PDI's. 

Today was warmer but dull and grey - I saw some enormous fungi on my walk but had the wrong lens with me so it is another shot of the amber leaves - I fiddled around by duplicating the layer here and then changing the blend mode.

While I never see goldfinches in our garden we get plenty of large birds like magpies, jays and green parakeets. When I get five parakeets on the feeders they demolish the bird food in no time at all - I took a quick shot through the window of the parakeets feeding (see extra). This image made me realise how worn out the feeders are and need replacing, so I have ordered some new ones. 

I am enjoying the new Mary Berry series on BBC1 at the moment, I do like her simple way of cooking, and so I treated myself to buying her new recipe book Love To Cook (Christmas present to myself!) Although she brings out a new recipe book every year I find that her older ones are too dated now and I no longer cook those kind of meals, whereas the new books use modern ingredients and always have a good vegetarian choice too. I now need to clear out the old books I no longer use.

Good news about the Covid booster campaign being ramped up in the UK so that all adults can get it, and not just those who are 50+ and vulnerable.