Open afternoon at the allotments

[shewhomust]

We would not have known that Open Afternoon was this afternoon had J., who knows it's something we do most years, asked if she could join us. So we invited her to lunch, and afterwards we all strolled down to the allotments.

I know this isn't the greatest photo: the roses in the foreground are out of focus, but the cathedral is barely visible above the trees. Still, it catches something of the bright and breezy afternoon, and the joy of seeing the cathedral unwrapped after all this time.

The same roses, but in focus this time! And a lupin:

because I was charmed by the colour match with the paintwork of the shed.

There was the usual poll for the best scarecrow, and we voted for this hedge cutter, because it had a poem about how the pigeons and the badgers between them had stripped the plot bare, and because we admired the colourful boots. There was a rather fine Boris Johnson, immediately recognisable, especially from the rear view, which caught the hair and the posture perfectly. But as J. said, "You can't vote for Boris!"

The grower of these Sweet Williams was very apologetic:

"They're over, really," he said. "I should have taken them out, but then there's just be bare earth..." I was glad he hadn't.

Ending as I began, with a picture that doesn't really work, but I like it anyway:

The camera didn't understand that I was trying to photograph the gooseberries, and has focused on the netting that protects them from those pigeons. It makes me think of drowned treasure...

Comments

[cmcmck]

Cameras do that! There are times when manual focus has its uses.

Shrewsbury Abbey is also finally out from under the scaffolding too. :o)

[shewhomust]

I really ought to learn to ,ake better use of my camera! I've tried following the instructions for manual focus, without success. I should try again. But my eyesight is so bad that it's a real temptation to let auto do all the work!

[athenais]

I like that last picture very much. I would not say it didn't work. It's got lovely movement and lines thanks to the vagaries of the netting.

[shewhomust]

Well, it didn't work as intended! But I like it, too, or I wouldn't have posted it.