273/365 Birds of a feather

Two found feathers. One is from a fancy hen, not sure about the other. Fine and soft as silk, markings crisp and rich. Fabulous.

272/365 Arcade

Looking through the entrance to the old Market Hall towards the Market Place. And from the Assembly Rooms past QUAD towards Morledge.

271/365 Door handle

We live in a 1930s house and we love the period details. We recently found the door handle that fits on the french door. See 39/365 for part of the original stained glass front door.

270/365 He loves me... he loves me not...

When I re-arranged the flowers from 265/365 some petals fell and took me straight back to seemingly endless long hot summers of childhood when I remember sitting with my best friend pulling petals off a daisy, he loves me, he loves me not...

So that was the inspiration for today's blog shot.

269/365 Nerine

These beautiful flowers are growing in a nearby garden. Jodie and I pass it when we walk to and from school. The other day the afternoon sun was catching the blooms but I couldn't go home for my camera without being late for Jodie,

and by the time we'd come home, the light had changed, so this afternoon (with permission of course) I spent some time on the owners' front lawn!

268/365 Where to?

This cuddly guy has gone to live at my daughter's school, but don't worry - I made him move over so I could drive ;0)

267/365 Thistle seed head

I caught this thistle seed head on the way back from running an errand this morning. Between breezes I caught a few good shots.

(On the home straight now - less than 100 days to go!)

266/365 So long and thanks for all the fish

I stepped down as Treasurer of a local charity at last night's AGM and was presented with a beautiful bouquet. I love gerberas, the bouquet is in autumn shades of yellows and oranges, beautiful. As my fellow officers and I step away we leave the charity in very capable hands after over 3 years in office. (For those who are not fans, the title refers to a book by Douglas Adams, the fifth in "The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy" series.)

265/365 Quad meets Wheel

The Derby Wheel reflected in the side of the QUAD in the Market Place today.

264/365 Hama beads

Jodie loves these colourful hama beads. The vacuum cleaner finds them quite tasty as well! ;0)

263/365 Tower of strength

A brick pillar, part of a modern building near the Rams stadium. Derbyians - answers on a postcard please...

262/365 Industrial corridor

Another load of boxes went into our storage unit today. The corridors in the warehouse all look the same. The builders start in a few days, its going to get worse before it gets better, but it'll all be worth it.

261/365 Tricyrtis 'Taipei Silk', Toad Lily

I often buy plants for my garden that I want to photograph and this is just such a plant. I saw it at Swarkestone Nursery on Thursday and had to get it. Hopefully I'll get to plant it (and about 6 or 8 other plants and shrubs) on Sunday. While the others were out on a short bike ride and the sun was starting to set, I was on the deck with camera with this little beauty. The bloom is about an inch across.

260/365 Washroom shadows

I was struck by the shapes of the shadows cast in the Ladies Loo at the pub today. My lunch companion may have wondered if I was employing delay tactics to get the bill paid! But no, I was taking half a dozen potential blog shots (bog shots??) ;0)

259/365 Crazed

The glaze is crazed and since the last blackberry & apple crumble, the crazing has been more marked.

258/365 Pink petals

I'll look up the proper name tomorrow, but for now... pink petals on pink flowers.

PS. Aster

257/365 New wardrobe

Oliver's new wardrobe came today - its huge! I was very impressed by the timely delivery and assembly by M&S - 2 lovely lads arrived when they were supposed to, brought all the parts upstairs without damaging anything and assembled it in just less than an hour in Oliver's room, taking away all the packaging as well. Brilliant! 5 star service!

So I tried a few shots and found... well its too big to get it all in one shot (wide angle lens on wish list!) and how do you make a wardrobe look interesting? Oh well... You win some, you lose some... :0)

256/365 Jodie gets static hair

The longer Jodie's hair gets, the more it makes me laugh when it goes all static on the trampoline :0)

255/365 Spider's web

The sun caught this stunning web spanning the gap between our garage (left) and our neighbour's garage today. This image doesn't really do it justice, but webs aren't easy to capture. The size of the main web is about 12-14 inches across, and the creator of it was huge as well! Our garage will be demolished very soon, and the new extension will leave a much smaller gap.

254/365 Helen's Front Door II

Today was another beautiful sunny day - high-contrast light, ugh! So I tried out exposure bracketing for the first time and combined 2 frames to produce this. This is my second attempt as just as I had completed the first, and was literally mousing towards 'save'... there was a power cut! >:0( But once I got back to it, I think I did a better job the second time.

Last time I shot this door it was a flat dull dismal day (9/365) in January - how much I've learnt since then??!! With what I have learnt I could make much more of the earlier entry, with my new enhancement skills and software - I have a guru to thank for getting me started and encouraging me to develop my skills.

Thank you - you know who you are :0)

253/365 Pride Park Stadium

The boys are going to Pride Park on Saturday to watch The Rams vs. Sheffield United. I picked up their tickets today and took advantage of the amazing blue sky and almost complete absence of people to shoot the stadium from all angles. Thing is, with Mark being a Sheffield lad, which team will he be rooting for?? This image has been messed with in PS :0)

Collage necessary.