If the small Hampshire village of Buckler’s Hard is a little busy today, it is only so with tourists. But there was a time when it would have been a hive of activity. It was once home to a bustling and successful shipbuilding industry. Here three of the warships for Nelson's fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar were built, as well as many other naval ships.
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There is something very intriguing about ferns. Almost prehistoric in nature, it is easy when among them to imagine dinosaurs walking the earth. Unsurprising perhaps, as these often-beautiful plants actually predate those dinosaurs!
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I like to caption my photos; I like to illustrate my words. But when it comes to Paula’s monthly Pick a Word, my task is to illustrate her words. She assures me that I ‘don’t have to do all of them, one is enough’. But I always like a challenge so feel compelled to try!
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Surely our photographs help to bring words to life, and help them to live on? As always, Paula’s monthly Pick a Word challenge prompts us to match a photo to a single word and bring it to life.
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While I love to see dragonflies and damselflies I often confuse one with the other. But I hope I have captioned my selection of these delicate insects properly!
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I know far too little about fungi species to ever pick one in the wild to eat. I don’t even touch them! But I do know that they are essential to our ecosystems.
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All of us who love to travel, and are fortunate enough to be able to do so, will I hope be looking back on a year filled with both familiar and foreign places. For most of us, 2022 was the year in which we began to feel comfortable travelling again. When, despite a few new forms to fill in and masks to be worn, perhaps reluctantly, on planes, the world opened up again and we could scratch that travel itch, relieve that homesickness ‘for the places we have never known’.
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Tina’s proposal that for the last Lens Artists challenge of the year we share some shots taken in 2022 but not yet shared for any of the challenges sounds a simple ask. But I decided to make it harder for myself by searching out some favourite images not yet shared in any post.
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In 1902 Charles Jones, Ealing’s borough surveyor, published a book. In it he referred to Ealing as the ‘Queen of Suburbs’. His aim of course was to promote the area as a place to live.
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In the last few years, with the batterings the world has taken – Covid, war in Ukraine, prices spiralling – flowers have been among the constants that have kept many people’s spirits up. The pandemic in particular reminded many of us to value the little pleasures of life, and what gives more pleasure for its size than a flower?
