251/365 Moving on up

It was Oliver's first day at his new senior school today. He was one of many nervous Year 7s in new and sometimes ill-fitting uniform making their way to new friends, new experiences, new challenges, new subjects and new responsibilities. The good news is, they break up early an the last day of each term; the bad news is he has maths first thing on a Monday and last thing on a Friday - his least favourite subject! :0}

250/365 Back to school!

Jodie went back to school today! She's in Year 1 now, in Mrs Harper's class. She was quite happy to go back, looking forward to seeing all her fiends and also making some new ones as the classes have been shuffled from last year. Tomorrow Oliver starts at senior school - no prizes for guessing what tomorrow's blog shot might be!

249/365 Toll House, late summer

The Toll House always looks lovely in summer with troughs and window baskets planted. See 98/365 & 33/365 for Spring & Winter shots of this house.

248/365 Herringbone cotoneaster

There's a mass of red berries on the herringbone cotoneaster (Cotoneaster horizontalis) in my garden. In the spring it was covered in tiny pale pink buds and was buzzing with bee activity. There will be lots of bird activity in the coming months, especially blackbirds.

247/365 That tickles!

I found a couple of baby snails today when I cleaned the paddling pool ready to put it away now summer is over (what summer was that then?). They were nestled in the gap between the inflated rings. This little guy woke up and began crawling across my hand virtually as soon as I'd picked him off the pool, so I grabbed the cam and managed to remove the lens cap and set it to manual focus with my right hand while he tickled my left! Here he is on the end of my little finger. He's so tiny!

246/365 Alien Invasion VII

Regeneration complete.

245/365 Sunshine shades

Its been another grey day today, raining steadily from late afternoon, so in desperation, a shot that wreaks of sunshine. But... what exactly is it?? Answers on a postcard please...

244/365 Downpour

Shortly after we came back from Belper, the heavens opened. The storm was pretty much overhead for a while with bright lightning flashes and loud cracks of thunder - I switched the pc off and unplugged it from the wall! We had been shopping for new school shoes and saw omenous clouds west of Belper, so we didn't linger, and got home just in time.