A Prickly Subject

Isn't the power of videos amazing?
Instructions by e-mail on how to get a good focus with my 105mm lens left me bewildered, but animated images have done the trick I think, and hopefully this macro image of a thistle will still be in focus when zoomed on the computer to 100%. As instructed in the video, I shall wait for the acclaim....... or not.

The whole exercise left me 'glowing' with the effort involved in getting the camera fixed to the tripod in the correct position to actually find the thistle in its sights and then to focus in on it while my bent knees and back ached. I'm sure things can only get easier from now.

First thing this morning I went to watch EcoDad taking his last football training session with the girls in the Meadows. He promised me some cake, but it was too soon after breakfast, and anyway I couldn't stay long enough to partake.
He is such a natural teacher and motivator that I think he should change his day job.

I just got back to the castle just in time to welcome son#1 and his family, who dropped in on their way south to collect an electricity lead for their camper van, and daughter # 1 and granddaughter who came to meet them and have a coffee.
There would have been more of a crowd had daughter#3 not been staying overnight with a friend. She will catch up with them when they return north.

It's funny that when the family congregate I feel it incumbent to resume the role of mother hen , dashing about getting drinks and biscuits (and banana loaf!) when I would much rather be sitting listening to the conversations taking place: conversations which probably sound more interesting when I only catch snippets.

His Lordship pottered in the background rounding up tools for son#1.
Obviously there is no room to store such things in the Dower House and in any case "Do it yourself' is not a phrase widely used here. Much better they reside somewhere that they might actually be used.

After the visitors left we had a quick dash down to the farm shop at Gosford to pick up provisions for the next influx of bodies, rewarding ourselves with a relaxing cuppa outside on the patio.

The drive back along the coast was delightful with the tide hard up against the shore and the hedgerows full of roses, poppies, forget-me-nots and daisies.
June is certainly a lovely month and the lanes of tall grasses and wildflowers some how remind me of days gone by, recorded in books such as 'Cider with Rosie' by Laurie Lee.

A good day then.