The Thistles are out!

Firstly, yes ...... I know ..... I should be ironing.  But hey!  Life's too short!

Following my Daily Constitutional earlier this week I was keen not to miss the chance of getting some good pictures of the thistles once they were in flower.

On Monday morning I decided to start my walk down the back alley and were pleased to see that they were, indeed, starting to flower.

Tuesday morning, I headed the same way with the camera hoping for some good shots.  I didn't want to carry the DSLR so just took the Lumix, my small digital camera.

There were plenty of flowers and lots of bees gathering pollen in the warm sunshine.  I did manage to get a few good shots, but we have never really mastered the macro function on this camera so I ended up being quite disappointed.
The one thing this little Lumix is brilliant for though, is zoom.  It knocks the standard lens on the Canon into the park.

Wednesday morning and I decided to take the big guns.  So it was out with the Canon and the macro lens, something that I hardly use as I seem to struggle with it.  Whenever we need a close up shot I tend to just call for Martin.  But he was at work, so I was on my own.

Anyway, I took loads of pictures, most are on the cutting room floor.  I really struggled with the macro, I took lots of shots of bees, but in the majority of pictures the focus was on the thistle and not the bee. The breeze didn't help, as every time I was ready to shoot, the thistles just swayed in the wind.

Here's the best of what I ended up with, but I definitely need to put in some practice with this lens. Martin is definitely the expert when it comes to the macro.


I couldn't resist just a couple more shots of some yellow daisies and foxgloves on my way back. You just gotta love a foxglove!!
Now, I suppose you'd better point me in the direction of the ironing board!

See you soon.