Just one day

I took this a week or so ago in our garden. We bought the cactus in Phoenix probably about two and a half years ago and it wasn’t until mid to late last year it finally got planted in the ground.

Since then it, along with it’s companions have been doing really well and earlier this month the first flower bloomed.

It was ahead of the other three and I failed to capture it before it quickly faded the next day; you can see it in the middle here.

The other three followed swiftly after and I was ready with the Pen F Digital to capture it.

It’s not the best photo I have taken I should have allowed a wider depth of field but overall I am happy that we have this photo of it’s first flowering, I hope it brightens your day.

Slightly faded

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while’ I’m afraid blogging has been a struggle lately.

This rose bloomed in our garden this week; it was better the day before but I thought it deserved attention anyway… it reflects somewhat how I feel lately too.. slightly faded 🙂

The Smith Family Garden Luau

This will (I think) be the last of my posts of the Kauai trip.

We couldn’t be in Hawaii with all our friends without taking them to a Luau.  And the one we found most recommended was with the ‘Smith family‘.  They have a large estate and so there are a few options that can be a part of your package as well as the Luau itself; we went for the whole thing that included a boat ride to Fern Grotto, time to explore the extensive gardens, dinner and the luau show.

Vintage weight and horoscope machine amused us whilst we waited for the boat trip

The event started with the boat ride which is a large floating platform holding something like 100 people.  The captain gives a talk through of the sights along the way which to me at least sounded very random and odd in places and I think amused him more than some of us (or maybe that is my British-ness); you could tell he’d been telling the same stories for a long time, anyway it was a fun ride with beautiful landscapes.

The boat takes you to a landing stage where after a short walk through jungle-like scenery you find yourself at the grotto.  It is very picturesque with a small stream of water tumbling over a cliff with a small cave at the bottom.  Unfortunately because of the other 100 people its a little crowded and you aren’t allowed too close which is understandable.  Interesting white birds (long-tails?) flew around overhead and a small Hawaiian band played, it was very nice.

A white September

So September came and went super fast; so much happened and it went by in a flash.  As a result focusing on taking shots of white things for my ‘12 colours of 2018‘ challenge just didn’t happen.

So the below shots are a selection of shots I took on the Kauai trip that just happened to be of white things.  Apologies as most of them are (predictably) of flowers.

I will try to do better in October looking for Purple things to shoot.

7artisans 25mm 1.8 lens on my Pen-f digital

I’m not really one for product reviews other than trying to document my own collection of old cameras but I got this lens recently and I am impressed.

7artisans appeared on my horizon only very recently and I have to admit I was almost completely ignorant of them, I guess because I don’t really follow the latest equipment publications and reviews.  I don’t know why but I was browsing B&H and saw this lens, thought “oh that’s that manufacture I have seen recently” then I saw the price;  

April was Yellow

This is the fourth post in my series for Colours of 2018, focussing on specifoic colours for each month of the year. April was the colour of Yellow.

My sunglasses on the passenger seat; I liked how the sun was hitting them.

Evening wisteria

Olympus Pen-F

I think that wisteria is my favourite flower and if I ever own my own property again I will certainly find a place for one to grow.  I had one before and it took a few years for it to mature and produce those lovely lazy looking blooms.

I spotted these recently on a post work walk and the warm late evening sun really brought out the best in them and the hung from this garage.

Not sure I captured it perfectly as I didn’t want to wander onto someone’s property.

Succulent

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White flower

Was browsing the archive and found this which I thought was worth sharing

Tiny flowers

Spotted these during a hike at the weekend in Angeles National Forest

Gardens at Clivedon House

Another day out we managed during the recent trip home to the UK was to Cliveden (pronounced CLIV-den) House.

The house itself is a hotel but the gardens are open to the public and managed by the National Trust.  This is also the venue for a large flower show annually run by the Royal Horticultural Society; we just went on a normal day though.

Cliveden has a rich history;  Once the home of Nancy Astor

My friend’s prized peony

In the UK this week staying with friends 

Tell it to the bees

I love bees, here’s one buzzying about 🙂

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