Into the sunlight

The day's main event was the continuation of J's birthday celebration, with an online meetup and game with two uncles (my brothers), two aunts and three cousins, who joined us from five different locations. We played Outsmarted for an hour, then caught up with news and chat; it was lovely to see everyone, and to see J's cousins, who are now all studying and working away from their family homes, all sounding happy and positive. 

Earlier in the day, once the rain had stopped, the sunshine drew me out for a short village walk. After the weeks and months of apparently endless rain and gloom, it's so lovely to enjoy some light and colour. I took some close-ups of raindrops on skeleton hydrangea flowers and spent ages faffing around with the editing, trying both colour (the extra) and black and white, but in the end the gateway opening from the dark path into the sunlit field had more appeal. The green space is a playing field which, as a result of lots of work by volunteers, is now a very nice playground for younger children, with space for games, wildflower and herb gardens and recently planted trees.