Poinsettia at teatime

About half an hour before I had to pick up Helena from her teaching job up the valley, I made myself a cup of tea. While I was working recently I came to savour teatime as a punctuation point in my day. While the kettle brewed I regarded the clearing rain clouds across the valley and suddenly decided to have a go at a blip of the Poinsettia I bought yesterday for £1-50.

I tried a free standing set-up, without my tripod which was miles away in the garden cabin. I took a few shots as I changed the various types of support I was using, including cake tins, books and coasters. I tried nearly as many camera settings too. Suddenly my tea was drunk and I was late and had to rush off to collect Helena. The background is virtually the same as the early morning landscape I blipped two days ago.

When I returned, the sky had started to clear, revealing the blue light of the approaching dusk. I liked this image best, which I managed to take before my next cup of tea and a slice of toast. It is now dark and we are off to the cinema to see an early evening showing of the new film about Marilyn Monroe and Colin Clark, abetted by Laurence Olivier.

ps
I am also listening for the first time to a brilliant new download of what is regarded as the finest (bootleg originally) recording of a live Rolling Stones gig circa 1973, called 'the Brussels Affair", which the Stones are now selling legally via their website. I do recommend it if you like the era of Mick Taylor in the Stones. It has obviously been very well re-mastered, crackingly good in fact, and it includes some of the then recent Exile on Main Street tracks.