159/365 Tissington Alliums

I visited the home of Sir Richard FitzHerbert this evening. Tissington Hall, the home of the FitzHerbert family for 500 years, was built in 1609 to replace the moated manor house next to the church. The village is beautiful, the house modest by stately home standards, but full of character and dripping with history. After a guided tour of the house and having already spent some time in the gardens and grounds, we adjourned to the Coach & Horses at Fenny Bentley. (Visit http://www.tissington-hall.com/ for more.) I shall return for a longer visit around the village, its beautiful. I love alliums, but mine are a pretty poor show compared to these, I must get some more!

158/365 Alchemilla Mollis II

We have had a lot of rain this weekend, but it finally stopped this evening, and the sun came out and made everything sparkle. The alchemilla mollis is now in flower. (See 117/365 ).

157/365 The Witch's Familiar

I think Rosie may be a Witch's Familiar, or perhaps was a witch in a former life. She is part feral, so that explains some of her traits. She is shy and very sharp - never plays with her claws in - and if she needs medicating, we always have the vet do it. And a new collar is a four handed job. And getting her into a cat carrier? Well, we both have scars!

Rosie is so hard to photograph. Being black she fools the camera, both with exposure and focusing. Jodie helped to distract Rosie who is usually camera shy; lying full length on the conservatory floor didn't work, so I ended up resting the camera partly on the floor and pointing it at an angle roughly in her direction, and hoping for the best! This is one of 3 shots that (amazingly!) worked out, especially with a little PSE7 tweaking. Rosie is at floor level, almost under the table, with just enough reflected light to gently define her features.

156/365 Straw hat

I needed today's shot to be a swift choice, I looked around, and there, texture, form, pattern, repetition, natural materials. My straw hat. I only wear it when its really hot and if I have to be out in the heat either for a social occasion or the afternoon school run in summer. I don't cope well with heat, so this hat helps a lot.

155/365 Kate's happy ending

This is Henry and he's Kate's happy ending. Kate and I met as a result of losing our babies, she lost Louis and I lost Kim. Now we both volunteer for Sands to help support other parents going through the same thing. We had another envelope stuffing session today (127/365) and Henry was great, especially considering how dull envelope stuffing is for toddlers, and that he was also under the weather!

154/365 1st Sports Day

Today was Jodie's first Sports Day at school. Teams of children rotate around the field doing all kinds of different activities, jumping, throwing, running, various types of mini obstacle courses, and the top three teams in each year group get medals, with everyone getting a special "I'm a good sport" ribbon. Jodie was in the Swan team and had a good time taking part.

153/365 Allium stellatum (prairie onion)

Quick, get them in full bloom before Oliver's football knocks them off their stems! I often see broken stems in the garden because of Oliver's football, but one year the hydrangea fought back - one of its stronger pruned stems pierced the ball.

Today was too hot, I had such a headache by the time I had to collect Jodie from school. But tomorrow and Thursday are set to be cooler, which is good news as tomorrow afternoon is Jodie's first sports day, and Thursday is her first school trip!

152/365 Barn fire, Shottlegate

I photographed this huge plume of black smoke this morning from Mandy's garden. She, Rosie and I were having a meeting about handing over our committee roles in the not too distant future, when the smoke began drifting across the countryside, and after a while we heard sirens. Searching the Derby Evening Telegraph website this evening I found mention of the cause, a barn fire at Shottlegate - near my favourite pub, The Hanging Gate (116/365). Hope the pub's ok. :0}