Thursday 16th May 2013

As you can guess by the fact you are reading this on either Thursday or Friday that I got rather waylaid last weekend and I ran out time. I had the choice of photo-editing or blogging. And the photos won out, as they always do. And that is because we had a couple of really nice days over the weekend.

Saturday.

Up with the larks dead on the nose of half seven. We had breakfast and then decided to head to Preston to look at some plants and also to call at the butcher for something for the weekend. It was a fine morning, so we headed through Deal and out to Sandwich before heading inland to Preston. Whilst Jools did the plant thing, I went into the butcher and ended up with meat for each weekend meal: pork pie lunch, bacon for breakfast and a chicken to roast for Sunday along with stuffing, sausage meat, sausages and bacon to roll round said sausages. It was going to be a meaty weekend!

On the way back, I felt the impulse to visit a church I had not been to in nearly 5 years. Elsmstone is unusual in that it serves such a small village, but even more wonderful is that it has no dedication. Or more likely, that over the centuries the dedication was forgotten. So, I thought as it was only a mile or so out of our way, I felt the car turning almost by itself.



Once at the church I went round re-photographing it, when the churchwarden turned up and asked if we would like to go inside? Of course!! So, she let us in, and we both snapped it to death; the church has the most wonderful windows, and the spring sunshine was pouring through them casting coloured patterns on the floor. The warden was friendly, and we ended up chatting to her for ages. It was all very pleasant. And I now had it recorded and just need to process the shots to be uploaded.

Back home for pork pie and a cuppa. And whilst Jools did some gardening, I ended up making another batch of short cakes as I just fancied one with a cuppa. So, soon the house was filled with the smells of baking, which was all very nice. But even nice was when they were done and I brewed up so we could sit outside sipping tea and munching on still-warm short cakes. The air was full of the sound of bird song, it was all rather wonderful.



So, back inside for me for more editing and waiting for the Cup Final to begin. Now, I did write last week about how the Cup Final experience has changed, now with a five fifteen kick off, and I was so wrapped up in my work I only put the TV on at about twenty minutes to kick off. Twitter had supplied me with the teams and gossip.

The game was pretty forgettable, as Citeh should have run out easy winners over Wigan. But, football is never simple, and so it turned out again. City began poor and just got worse, although they played the better football at times, they lacked direction and purpose. As the game entered injury time at the end of the second half, Wigan scored from a corner and the upset was on. On and over. City had no time to respond and it was all over.



Goodnight Vienna.

Sunday.

Sunday was a day that held many promises. A walk in the woods, maybe tow and possibly Norwich securing their survival if they could win their last home game against WBA. But that was to come at three in the afternoon. So, up with the larks at six, when in truth we would have liked to spend more time in bed, but the promise of a walk to see the bluebells of Kings Wood before the crowds of dogwalkers turn up in their dozens or hundreds.



But first: bacon butties and a brew!

And then out into the early morning sunshine and a blast up the M2o to Ashford and then into the countryside to Challock and the wood. As expected, there were just three other cars there, so we grabbed our cameras and route-marched through the bluebell-less areas, past the less spectacular areas to the part where they cling to a hillside in-between trees so the sunshine can fall down between the trees casting dappled light on the blue carpet below.



I guess we have snapped this scene for the past three years at least, but it is always such a thrill to see something so beautiful, and is always worth the trip out just to be here in the calm of an early Sunday morning. And there wasn’t even the sound of any dogs, just birdsong filled the air. If was perfect.

But no time to ponder that, as we wanted to head to Petham to hunt for a very rare butterfly. I guess if it had a bland name we might not have been that bothered, but as it goes by the grand name of the Duke of Burgundy, it must be worth seeking out, right?



So, we had looked for the little bugger last year, but thanks to the fact that from the first week in May for several months we had nothing but wind and rain, we never got to see one. So, and I believe if you look at my last blog post for last year it says my sole ambition for this year was to see and photograph this butterfly. We knew where to go, so we drove down country lanes to the wood.



Now the two parking places look exactly the same, and we managed to park at the wrong one. And although as we walked into the wood it didn’t feel right, it took at least twenty minutes for us to both agree this was the wrong place. We re-traced our steps back to the car and drove on a mile to the other car park, and both agreed this was right. And set off.



Now, I took a shot of the butterfly from the visitor’s information board so we could compare it to any we might see and off we went two happy folks walking along a lane through the woods in the sunshine. In time we came to the enclosure, entered by the gate and begin to slowly walk forward, our eyes peeled for fluttering, but none.



However, there were orchids, which was always my fallback plan, that we could get orchid shots. So I snapped an early purple and a couple of Lady Orchids.

In the distance, I saw a guy crouching down in the grass, clearly taking a macro shot. We crept over. In front of him was a tiny butterfly, it looked glorious. He saw us and let us get shots, which was bloody nice of him. As time went on we saw more and more, and so we spotted them for each other so we could all get shots. I guess their wingspan was about 2.5cm, so tiny, but in the cool sunshine they were quite sleepy so we could get very close indeed. With my macro lens, I managed to get shots with the butterfly filling the shot.



Happy with that, we decided to head home at it was now eleven, and we were mighty parched. And instead of waiting for opening time at a nearby pub, we headed home so we could have a drink at home with lunch.

So, once home I cracked open a beer and cooked fresh asparagus with parmesan shavings; simple and delicious. Then I had hundreds more shots to edit, so Jools went outside to potter, and I put the radio on as the build-up the three o’clock kick offs began.

It was tense stuff, but City took the lead on the half hour, and as other results went our way, and as we were playing a team already safe and having a poor game, City scored three more in the second half, running out 4-0 winners and safe from relegation. Such a change from last week when it seemed so certain we were going down. Ho well.

Now to enjoy the rest of the season, well, the one game with no worries or frets. Welcome to the summer, my friends. Anyone for tennis?