The wonder of nature's colours

Much of the day has been dank, the rain starting before dawn and returning regularly until early afternoon. The intermittent sunny spells ended with looming black or grey clouds scudding in from the west.

As I ate a good lunch I watched the charm of goldfinches milling around the sunflower feeders, twittering away to each other. But the brilliance of these alstroemeria flowers which Rosie gave to us last weekend shouted out for me to blip them. I took the vase out onto the patio top catch the last of the sun before another squall arrived. I tried a few different angles but liked this backlit view best of all.

I also photographed a cosmos flower which I've been waiting for all summer. My friend Camilla grew a few from seed and gave me a couple of seedlings at the beginning of this spring. Her plants haven't flowered either she assured me this morning. So I am adding an 'Extra photo' of one of the three Cosmos flowers that have bloomed recently so she can see them. I fear it is not a pure shape with some of its petals being rather distorted, but at least it is a beautiful colour.