Pecan Leaves

I found the inspiration for this shot in the early hours of this morning while having a cigarette on the back deck.

I happened to glance down and saw this clump of pecan leaves in the light of the spotlights that illuminate the deck. With cigarette consumed, I headed to the office to fetch my Ricoh GRD III

I took five or six shots, trying different compositions. On balance, I thought having the planks of the deck at the angle probably worked out best.

No change in Stoke City's fortunes against Manchester City today. Stoke were trailing 1-0 at half-time and I wrote an e-mail to wife saying that the game would probably end 3-0 to Manchester City. With absolutely no creative players in Stoke's line-up, and manager Tony Pulis's decision to take off striker John Carew and replace him with Rory Delap, Man City's goalkeeper Joe Hart could have brought a deck chair on to the field.

Mind you, I was treated to two stunning goals by Man City's Carlos Tevez. He is my second favourite player in the world after Barcelona's Lionel Messi. Do you think it is a coincidence that they are both Argentines? :-)