Dover beach, Sunday morning

It was a lovely, bright morning with the threat of rain later, so we ate our breakfast waffles more briskly than usual so as to fit in a short outing before lunch. Although we've been to Dover many times for various reasons, we had never explored the seafront and marina area, and J has been keen to try some hand-over-hand sketching using the little Android tablet P bought a while ago, which we have practised a bit at home with reasonable success. The seafront provided parking, seating and a huge variety of visually interesting things. It was lively, with lots of young families and dog walkers, but not uncomfortably busy. We found a shady bench, P went for a walk, and J and I quickly discovered that the day was too bright for the tablet, even in the shade: we could barely see the icons and controls on the drawing software and struggled to do even the simplest things. Fortunately I had brought analogue backup, and she really enjoyed attempting to sketch the view of the cliffs and clouds with watercolour pencils. The drawing is far from finished, but J's hand can't cope with gripping and holding a position for too long at a time. We returned home with photos and good intentions, but haven't yet managed to return to it. 

I'm again struggling to keep up: there's too much to pick and preserve just now in addition to the usual demands on my time. I continue to take photos every day but don't always download them and frequently don't find time to select and edit, so I often share things several days late. I also regret that I'm not looking and commenting much at present, as I always enjoy following others' journals and appreciate your comments. I hope to find a little more time to reciprocate as we move into autumn - the evenings already seem very dark.