Project 365 day 112: different things to look at

I'm posting this a day late: having selected photos from Thursday, I couldn't stay awake long enough to write even a couple of sentences. We took J to an outpatient appointment in the little community hospital in Whitstable, which gave me the opportunity to snatch a sea view, the first in many months. This is Tankerton Flats, where a steep, grassy slope and a sea wall are home to a long row of beach huts which in places becomes three rows, almost stacked on above the other. I was looking west along the Thames estuary, with the Isle of Sheppey visible on the horizon. It was a beautiful bright day with a chilly wind, and we didn't have time to walk, but it was lovely just to stand and breathe it in.

It was our longest drive for over a year, forty five minutes or so to the north Kent coast, and it was a delight. From here to Canterbury we drove through our rolling downs landscape, with sheep and tiny lambs round every corner; north of Canterbury, the route passes through the dappled sunlight of Blean Woods, a considerable expanse of ancient forest. The Canterbury ring road was a revelation, with one development completed since we last passed through and another very large one now well underway; the banks of daffodils below the city walls were fading, but the experience of driving through part of a city, after nearly fourteen months in our garden and village, was a feast for the eyes, so many shapes, colours, patterns and juxtapositions to look at and mentally frame. On the way home we made two short stops for wildflower observation and photography. The wonderful bank of cowslips on Derringstone Downs has sadly been mown this year, and although they are springing back, they are smaller and fewer than usual; the small bluebell wood at North Elham was glorious with bluebells and wood anemones, and I surprised a partridge quite close among the flowers. I only had my compact camera, so they are not the best flower photos, but it was lovely to see them. The many views and environments we drove through have left me enthusiastic for June, when we will all have had second vaccinations and will start, cautiously, to go out and explore again. I have enjoyed and learned from my year photographing my garden, but it will be wonderful to find more varied subjects.