Swéete April showers,
Doo spring Maie flowers
Thomas Tusser
The above lines by a little-known sixteenth century poet were transformed into a much better-known proverb: April showers bring May flowers. This is supposed to console us on wet April days with the thought of better weather to come. It reminds us that we need the rain to help things grow. But what if it doesn’t rain?
April in the UK has not been particularly warm this year, but it has been dry. In the south east, where I live, we have had only around a third of the monthly average rainfall. Nevertheless we were glad to head to the Algarve for a few days early in the month to find some warmer spring days. So some of my photography highlights this month look back to that trip; I’ve tried not to duplicate those already shared elsewhere in this blog. All the others were taken in local parks, gardens, or elsewhere in London.
Again I’m linking my April photography highlights to Ju-Lyn and Brian’s Changing Seasons challenge.
Technical notes
Most of these shots were taken with my compact Panasonic Lumix and a few with my phone. Some are straight out of the camera or with minor adjustments. But as usual I’ve enjoyed playing around with others. Those ones have been quite heavily edited with Nik Color Efex, or in a couple of cases Nik Silver Efex. As always, it’s pretty obvious which ones have been ‘fiddled with’!
28 Comments
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Ju-Lyn
Thank you for sharing a lovely April gallery! I was thrilled to spot Hammersmith Station (a very artistic view) – we pop into Hammersmith quite often whenever we were in London – one of our favourite neighbourhoods. We really miss our visits.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Ju-Lyn 🙂 We live quite close to Hammersmith but I have to say we’re there more often simply to change Tube trains than to actually visit the area!
Jane Lurie
You have a wonderful eye for composition, Sarah. Enjoyed this wonderful collection. Your florals are beautifully shot. And I love the door with the X and No Comment– made me smile. Also the comp in the Convent and cloud image and the wonderful Chameleon, green on green! Terrific post.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Jane, I always appreciate your feedback 🙂 I took several shots of that white dome and the clouds but this was my favourite!
restlessjo
Wow, you were lucky with that chameleon, Sarah! The no comment made me smile, and I’d recognise those cloud wispy blue skies anywhere.
Sarah Wilkie
The chameleon was a stroke of luck! We saw two guys staring at the ground and went over to see what they were looking at 🙂
restlessjo
🤣💗
Wind Kisses
I loved them all Sarah. The green chameleon was a great catch in it camouflage. My favorite photo was the No Comment mirror in Faro. We all need that permission sometimes, don’t we? Donna
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Donna, glad you liked them 🙂 You’re so right about that permission – in blogging as in general life!
Amy
Beautiful gallery! Thank you for sharing with us, Sarah!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Amy 😊
maristravels
Slowly edging back to WP but still having problems with glare and can’t spend long on the computer. Long enough though, to enjoy your selection of images for April. Hope you have some travel plans.
Sarah Wilkie
Lovely to see you back, however briefly 🙂 Thank you for making time to visit! Yes, we have plans for several short UK breaks, plus Sofia for a few days next month, probably Paris again some time and Nepal towards the end of the year 😀
margaret21
A lovely eclectic mix.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you – perhaps this explains why I always find it hard to answer the question about what kinds of photos I like to take!
margaret21
Exactly. Keep us guessing!
thehungrytravellers.blog
Nicely varied collection, Sarah – my favourites are Hammersmith station and the night shot in Faro. The wisteria made me briefly think of home – the comment about feeling chilly all month did the same but for different reasons!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you – it’s always good to get feedback on favourites. And you’re certainly not missing much weather-wise at the moment!
pommepal
Interesting collection of images8
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you 🙂
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Andrea R Huelsenbeck
Wonderful shots!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Andrea 😀
slfinnell
Less rain is happening in my eldest’s area with her first experience of a ‘dust storm warning’ on Friday evening. I’d venture to say it will be more common to have less rain, unfortunately, for many reasons.
Sarah Wilkie
Unfortunately I think that’s true for some parts of the world, while others may see more. I have to say I don’t particularly like rain but I know we need it.
Nemorino
I must admit I had never heard of Thomas Tusser, until now.
Sarah Wilkie
He was new to me too until I researched the origin of that saying for this post 🙂