Brave fuchsia

I slipped out into the garden this morning on the hunt for today's blip, as I knew that opportunities later on would be limited. Despite the fact that we're now heading into my least favourite month (dark nights, dull days and childhood memories of tonsillitis) this beautiful fuchsia is in full bloom. We thought we had lost it last winter, and it took a very long time to recover, which may be the reason it's flowering so late. I just hope the frost stays away long enough for us to enjoy it.

The day was busy but enjoyable - a morning dog walk along the river (where I photographed a very bold male swan, but decided not to use it as my blip because there were so many good bird portraits today!) and an afternoon spent studying density, pressure and gas laws with two other home-educating families - helped out by lots of side-tracking, giggling and eating of cake. The only distraction was looking through the window at the beautiful sunlight on the autumn trees and limestone buildings of Oundle, which made me wish I could just sneak off for half an hour with the camera!