And after winter folweth grene May
Geoffrey Chaucer
While May has been green this year, we haven’t always had spring-like weather; quite the contrary! Some days have felt as chilly as a mild day in winter, while towards the end of the month we had a heatwave that would have felt fairly extreme even in August, with temperatures topping 34 degrees Celsius, breaking – no, smashing – all records.
I was away for part of the month for the annual Virtual Tourist Euromeet, this year hosted in Liverpool by my good friends Colin and Josie. From there I went on to Hull to spend a few days exploring the area with a smaller group of VT friends. I’ve already shared a few photos from both places, with many more to come no doubt!
Either side of that I’ve been busy at home. There was the usual round of U3A activities: table tennis, and study groups looking at art history and Roman Britain. And I joined a new group which visits a different garden in the area each month. This month it was the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park. The weather was very disappointing for May, chilly and wet. But the azaleas and rhododendrons were lovely despite that (see feature photo), and we finished with lunch in a cosy pub.
Chris and I spent a day in Winchester meeting old friends for lunch. There were also meals out in London with various friends: from Plan Zheroes, from school (!) and one from our group tour in North Korea.
We went to the annual Sony Photo exhibition at Somerset House, finding it less good than usual but with some gems. We also went to the cinema twice, to see The Christophers and Tuner. I highly recommend the first of these, while the other was also enjoyable. And, more unusually for us, we went to the theatre, the Globe to be precise, to see Mother Courage and her Daughters. I’d bought the tickets for Chris’s birthday last month. The production was excellent and it was a lovely evening to be by the river. In contrast, on one of the rather cooler evenings early in the month, I went on a photo walk with my photography group along the Thames Path in Brentford, which I’ll share in more detail some time soonish.
Technical notes
This month’s shots were taken almost all with either my phone or my point and shoot Lumix. The latter include the Banksy statue, those from the Isabella Plantation and most of those taken in Liverpool and Hull. The final shot of the moon was taken with my Lumix bridge camera, while the remainder are all phone shots. Most have been edited in Photoshop Elements, many also with Nik Color Efex and one with Nik Silver Efex.
As always, I am linking my selection to Ju-Lyn’s and Brian’s Changing Seasons challenge. And I’m also linking to Natalie’s Monthly Wrap-up. Please use the arrows to navigate the slideshow if you want to see all the images.
2 Comments
Anne Sandler
Beautiful, especially the street photography.
sustainabilitea
Gorgeous flowers, Sarah.
janet