As it says on the tin

Taken in my front garden this morning.

You might notice I've changed my Avatar. I don't like it one bit because it gives the impression that I'm looking down my nose at everyone 🙈. Bear with me whilst I try to find the previous one ..

A fake rose, which was Dave's buttonhole at Alex and Jade's wedding in 2017, for Macro Mondays.

Photographed on a mossy stone by a pond to get the background bokeh.

Rose is 3" across.

I think the caption says it all.

Whilst I was out to lunch yesterday, my OH went to our local garden centre to pick up Grow Bags and other gardening paraphernalia. The first think I noticed as I stepped out of the car was this colourful pot of Spring Flowers on our covered front door step.

Another charity event today - a Golf Day at the Grove Golfclub, Porthcawl and rather rub people's noses into it like yesterday's upload this is one of many swallows that settled on the fence of the Clubhouse's verandah.

A long day for the team what with setting up MS Cymru's buntings, logos etc , with me photoing players teeing off, and ending the day with photo-ing the presentations after the last team of golfers came in gone 7pm. Catch up with commenting tomorrow.

A poppy in our wildflower patch taken this morning and taken from underneath my umbrella.

A bedding plant that appears to decreasing in popularity - grown from seed on our greenhouse and now sitting pretty in one of my back garden borders. Loving the fact that my new camera has more focal points - see if you can tell which flowerhead I focused on.

Captured at West Cross , Swansea in between two fundraising meetings - both at SA1 but needed to pick up an auction lot for our March 1st Charity Dinner from Mumbles,

So on Christmas Day I woke up to heavy frost and clear skies and had already been out around the field close to home to just stand and watch the mist rise . The birdsong at that time of morning was as if the whole avian population was singing its own Song of Joy. By this time I needed to get more 'properly ' dressed to go out so took this as I hung out of my front bedroom window. I did also watch and capture the sun as it rose through the mists but those shots can wait.

We returned from our travels to find that the hydrangea bush in the back garden had flowered substantially to the extent that I feel I must be harsher with my pruning this year.

PS I've double checked the colour on this and it looks oversaturated on two devices but OK on my PC.

After travelling to Mumbles to pick up goods for our forthcoming Charity Event later in the week, we took some time out to enjoy the sunshine. This is Singleton Park, Swansea on a glorious Autumn morning before we popped into its Botanical Gardens to eat our packed lunch.

Quick post late in the day for Macro Mondays. Four tiny shells from the Purbeck Hills In a Row...

Each shell is only 0.5" long, shot at almost 1:1 focus.

When thinking of Childhood Toys for Macro Mondays, I kept going back to these. I particularly remember being in a school evening dance display, and waiting in our classroom for ages, trying to play Jacks (aka Fivestones or Knucklebones) quietly until it was our turn to do our American in Paris themed dance.

Luckily the local store had some in...

At first I thought I wasn't going to attempt Macro Mondays this week, then I Googled the topic, and decided it might be fun!

There were several ones I thought of using as inspiration, including Andy Grimshaw's Chip on Fork with Ketchup, but I decided it would be too easy to just copy that one.

Instead I chose the classic flavours of tomato, mozzarella, basil and olive oil. The fork was 10p from Oxfam this afternoon, as I liked its shaping.

All in all a fun time, and edible props are never a waste, right?Framed within the 3" maximum for Macro Mondays: Styling Food on a Fork.

... When it's a bonfire!

Alex's shed from his old house finally getting burnt on the bonfire, as the sun sets behind the smoke!

I had arty frost photos from this morning, but this described my whole afternoon.

One for Macro Mondays. A lemon at 1:1 focus, 11 images focus stacked, then converted to B&W in SilverEfex to add mystery.

Another day of mainly rain, then the sun came out, and I was able to go for a quick wander. My choice of barbed wire was a given for Macro Mondays, having had horses for years and battled with the stuff for most of my life!

This patch of golden light at the bottom of a neighbour's garden gave the effect I was looking for... This reflects the way I have been feeling over the past two weeks, when it just doesn't seem to have stopped raining, and I've been fenced in to the house.

The barb is about 1" across.

Macro Mondays theme for today is "A Spoonful..."

If I ever tried to suggest to Mum that I wasn't feeling well before school, when she knew I was fine, she would head for the medicine cupboard and get the Milk of Magnesia out. Easily enough to send me to school!

I didn't have MoM, but I did have a bottle of cough mixture which was only 15 years out of date, so it proved useful before being ditched.

Crossed polarisation thanks to monitor screen and polarising filter... Screen laid flat and protected with clear perspex, and yes, it would have got very sticky.

Measured shot in comments... Exactly 3" across long edge.

Misty morning play before short committee meeting, coffee club meeting, then an afternoon helping a member out with LR and PS.

Yet another day when the rain hasn't stopped. Noticing that I was becoming down earlier and to a greater extent each wet day, I decided to liven things up with a morbid Still Life.

Sheeps skull to represent Death, lit candle for Life, and pomegranate for Resurrection (or fertility, but that wasn't what I wanted to say today). Add a couple of books for Knowledge and a flagon of wine for Material Pleasures.

Red cotoneaster berries enjoying sunshine in the garden for Macro Mondays Red theme.

The two berries together are about 1/2" across.

It appears that my favourite comfort food has been rebranded HMM!

Just for the record the can is 7cm diameter, height is 6cm.

After a busy weekend spectating and photographing at the Canoe Slalom World Cup in London, I am a bit behind with Macro Mondays theme of Curves. After my OH mentioned last week that the Alexander Rose (given to us by friends 29 years ago for our son's christening) was flowering, I knew it would be my choice for the theme. This rose has featured several times in my 365...

Captured at Ferryside, West Wales after meetings in Carmarthen and a catch up with our son. Admittedly I've used this vessel as a subject before for my 365 , but a busy day and hope to catch up with commenting from tomorrow onwards.

A wander around the woods to see if the bluebells are right yet. They probably need another week...

Always love a bit of ICM in bluebell woods to get rid of the mess.

Camera Club Challenge 2019 April topic: Woodland.

FCB's 52 Week Challenge for Week 16: Movement.

Somewhat out of order, but here's my effort at the lunar eclipse. It was cold out there!

Approx 1 minute after maximum eclipse

The first day of meteorological Autumn today and my garden acer is beginning to turn and put its Autumn gloves on

As soon as I saw the Macro Mondays topic of Made of Wood, my eyes went to this little fellow sitting on top of a pencil in my pen pot on my desk.

He wanted to be howling at the Moon, so I used an old photo of the Moon on my screen as his background.

Wolf is 1" long, Moon image under 3".

Picture of Wolf back in his natural surroundings in comments in case you can't work him out...

Treasure Hunt 35: Head

Captured in my garden this morning

A play with my steampunk style pocket watch. Had to keep resetting the time to get 6pm! Fairy lights for bokeh background.

Treasure Hunt 71: Watch

FCB's 52 Week Challenge Week 51: 6pm

My second attempt at Jewellery for Macro Mondays went better, mainly due to being able to use natural lighting...

Torch used to get a little detail in the jewel.

'Card' is 2" across.

I've been waiting for a day like this to get an image for the FCB's 52 Week Challenge topic of Low.

Needed to dry the camera afterwards, but managed to make an image I had hoped for.

FCB 52 Week Challenge Week 37: Low

"Knolling is the process of arranging similar objects in parallel or at 90 degree angles as a method of organisation. " I thought I'd revisit last Monday's "Macro Mondays" theme of knolling to see if I could improve on it. It would have looked Ok, I feel if the shell on bottom right hadn't had a mind of its own.

Diascia flower head against a pot of Bizzie Lizzies ( Impatiens) . Taken in my garden this afternoon.

EDIT: I'm saddened to have to say this but if anyone faves or comments on this, or follows me, I shall block you if you have anything pertaining to porn or nudity in your stream , or if you have no photos visible in your streams.

Taken standing under a gunnera plant at Swansea's Clyne Gardens this morning.

I'm never happier than when I'm on the beach, or any coastal area, so after a day at home I took myself to Swansea Beach. It was light when I arrived so I experimented with movie footage of the waves crashing, also with my little orb. This is one of very many shots that I took there, so many that it was difficult to choose one for my Photo a Day.

Pareidolia for Macro Mondays...

At first this was going to be a Stands Out from the Crowd shot, then I realised it looked like a certain pop video, so here are Freddie and the gang with Universal Rhapsody.

Blue used for a natural colour pop (not edited for colour). Around 2" across.

Treasure Hunt 21: Colour Popping

OO Scale GWR 0-4-2 Tank Engine (2" tall) steams down the tracks.

Steam under the engine at capture (incense stick burning underneath), smoke from the boiler added in Photoshop from home-made smoke brushes.

One flash on left.

Macro Mondays "Hobby".

Several camera club photographers have recently got back into train photography, and OH is considering an N gauge layout if and when he retires...

A failed attempt at a jewellery shot for this week's Macro Monday theme. I also took a few OOF ones of the background for bokeh, and am using one of these as my 365 and for the FCB's 52 Week Challenge topic of Bokehlicious.

These are rudbeckia seed heads in my garden this morning covered in frost.

A dismal day, so finally summoned up the energy to have a play with smoke.

Lit from the left with one speedlight + red filter, desk lamp to the right to aid focus and see when the smoke was doing something instead of just going up in a straight line!

Our annual visit to Bosham today at low tide- this gave us the opportunity to explore it further than on previous visits. The sunlight was too harsh in many of my shots so a 'thistle-doo' photo.

Another very cold day given that it's May. This was taken as we arrived at the NBG Wales but it soon clouded over again

The heavy showers that hit us today have been brutal to say the least. I picked this hydrangea flower head in between showers this morning as a standby in case it was too wet to take my camera out. I'm glad I didn't too because by the time I got home from a Chiro appt in West Cross , Swansea , there was major flooding at the bottom of the hill where we access my patch of planet due to the showers we'd driven through.

Forecast is better for tomorrow I believe..

A poppy from the garden, remembering those who lost their lives in conflicts past and present.

The reflection is in a bit of shiny packaging.

See Macro Mondays version in my photostream.

Another from the Lensbaby walk with Polina Plotnikova at Sheffield Park Gardens.

A Flower in a Novel Manner for Challenge 2019.

Treasure Hunt Monthly Project 10: October Lensbaby Image.

Which corner I'd like to know because it was damp and drizzly this morning but at least it's warmer than of late.

... because I found aphids on our garden lupins and thought , what better form of pest control ? Taken with a low flash setting to balance out the light and shade.

Today we travelled to Hampshire and back in a day at the invitation of my friend Jan following on from last week's 60th birthday celebrations. This time it was a 'ladies only affair’ - an Afternoon Tea at a local Golf Club.

This was taken through the car window as we crossed the Second Severn Crossing at approx midday......................