Category: Photography

April in Oxfordshire

The weather here has been true old-fashioned ‘sunshine and showers’…. real April weather.
I have been trying to dodge it over the weekend, attempting to plant a box hedge without being battered by the sting of hail.

I took this through the rain, as it fell, lit up by sunshine.

It gave the garden a surreal, scattered with diamonds look. At the back of the house, the sky was a deep purple – grey, like a mulberry stain, lit up by a faint rainbow.

March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers.

It will soon be St George’s Day

The title says it all. It will soon be the day that true Englishmen should relish, as well as being the day that William Shakespeare died and it was also, quite possibly, his birthday.

As far as Charioteers are concerned, it is also the deadline (at midnight)  for

Photo Competition 25.

After my last prod we have seen several more interesting photos of musical instruments, but it would be great if we had still more. Surely all of you have a pair of spoons sitting in your kitchen drawer 🙂

The cherry blossom

It may not last long, especially as the weather will be cold and there’s a fair wind, but the cherry blossom is looking wonderful. This evening as the sun went down it looked beautiful against the yew hedge, with the sun shining through it.

I grew up about 80 miles north of here and the cherry blossom in our garden used always to be out for my brother’s birthday in early May… are we really a few weeks ahead these days?

Only a couple of weeks to go….

Photo comp #25

Come on, fellow Charioteers. There are only two (very good) entries so far. Surely some more of you can come up with some photos of musical instruments.

It does not have to be anything grand, although it could be. Your kid’s school recorder, your toddler’s Fisher-Price drum or even a comb and bog paper. The potential for full use of your imagination is endless. 🙂

A Grand Day Out

Cold and wet with a blustery wind: that’s what we woke to this morning. The forecast did not suggest any improvement for the rest of the day.
After that lovely spell of hot Spring weather a week or so ago, we have returned to normal Easter Bank Holiday weather, here in Oxfordshire.

What to do?
With two boys disinclined to join in (understandably as both have major exams in the coming Summer term, and both need to revise) we three adults, Cyclomaniac, his mother (Milly) and me, decided to visit a National Trust property.

We are members of The National Trust and as such pay an annual fee and receive in return a regular newsletter, a handbook and free entry to many properties around the UK. Some of them quite spectacular.

Today’s trip was to Claydon House in Buckinghamshire, only about a half an hours drive away. The house is managed by the National Trust, but the gardens, grounds and other aspects are still in the hands of the Verney family, who live in a wing of the house.

After wandering around the outbuildings where we found arty shops and galleries, plus the cafe for a quick lunch we considered the garden tour, but given the biting wind and the earliness of the season, we decided to come back to investigate another time. We went next to a small bookshop… second-hand books in a warm snug room, with comfy chairs and several families enjoying the books. It was completely unmanned, and to pay  there was a small posting slot in a door. All done on trust at the National Trust!
We came away with garden books, novels, a hardback copy of AA Milne’s ‘When we were Six’ and spent about £15 in all!

Next the house. Continue reading “A Grand Day Out”

Magnificent morning

Good Friday and no work. No need to get up early. So why did I wake at 6:30 and find it impossible to get back to sleep? Typical.

Anyhoo because of the early morning and the lack of anyone else being up I had an hour of two of solitude and saw the sun side-lighting the magnolia against the backdrop of new silver birch leaves which was something special.

I nipped out in my slippers to snap it and noticed a few degrees of frost… the top of my car was white, across the driveway. However the magnolia seems to have been spared, perhaps in part due to the place I planted it, fairly close to the house, in the more sheltered front garden, rather than in the wind exposed back garden. I noticed several creamy white magnolias with browned flowers as we travelled about the county today.

The early promise of a beautiful day faded to grey skies and a cold wind. Who knows what tomorrow brings?