At the reservoir

Yesterday evening my photography group had a little field trip. It was a gorgeous sunny evening, so we went down to the local reservoir where lots of sailing and windsurfing takes place. The light was beautiful as the sun was going down, so here are just a few of the shots I got.

Made an exhibition of myself!

I've been taking a photography course since September and have learnt so much during that time. I went from someone who mostly fired in automode, to now being able to play around with loads of effects and styles. The culmination of the course was an exhibition put on by all the students in the class. Everyone chose a topic or theme and spent the weeks running up to the exhibition getting their shots, printing them, mounting them, booking the venue and sending out publicity.

Despite the hard work of organising an event like this, there was a real sense of satisfaction last night at the private viewing, when looking around the packed room with people all gazing attentively at our photos. The exhibition is open to the public today and tomorrow and I was really shocked at how many members of the public we had in, just wanting to have a look.

All in all a pretty good experience. The only downer is it now means that my course is coming to an end, so I need to find something else to keep me focused on my photography. I'm not sure whether to take another class or join a camera club, but there will definitely be more to come.

My display!

And just because.... here are a few from the garden this week:

Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb

Totally worth the wait, I picked my first crop of rhubarb this evening.

The three crowns I bought a couple of years ago had been doing really badly in the border I originally put them in, so last autumn I moved them up to the veg patch and they've really thrived now.

I was very patient and didn't pick them for the first season, but now they're really going strong, I pulled my first stalks and the results were just mouth-watering.

So now, the decision is left... crumble, fool or simply sprinkled with sugar? Delicious!

LeMMMmmon drizzle cake

I'm taking part in a monthly baking challenge for an online community, and this month one of the recipes is Jamie's Lemon Drizzle Cake. I really fancied this this afternoon, so I decided I'd get cracking on the challenge sooner rather than later.

I was really impressed with this recipe. I love anything with lemon in it anyway, so I was probably always going to be on to a winner with this cake, but still, it was so easy and made a really light, fluffy cake. I'm not the best baker in the world, and considering this was my first attempt at making it and I didn't balls-up, it's got to be an easy recipe.

I couldn't find poppy seeds anywhere round here, so missed those out, and just upped the quantities of ground almonds slightly to compensate. The icing didn't turn out quite like the pictures of Jamie's cake, but I did think the quantity of icing sugar seemed quite excessive for just a drizzle over the top. Besides, I prefer mine with a nice, thick dollop of icing over it!

It didn't stay like this for long!

It's all ripening up nicely

With all this lovely weather, the fruit and veg are coming along beautifully, so here come a few more pictures.

I saw these on a couple of websites and just had to grow them. Yes, that's right, chillis that look like willies - what more could a girl want?! I can't wait for my willy chillis to start growing, but right now, my seedlings look like this:

I've got them on the windowsill in my bedroom at the moment, but not got a clue where they'll go when they outgrow their current position.

Outside, the strawberries are now getting beautifully ripe. The first berry was eaten today (before the dog discovered it!) but it looks like there are plenty more to come.