Quince

The first time I saw quince in flower and subsequently in fruit was when visiting our oldest son at Oxford University. It was growing against the sunny wall below a window. I knew of the quince because it was the fruit eaten, sliced, with a runcible spoon, by the owl and the pussycat in Edward Lear's poem of the same name. As we have moved, over the years, from the north of England to the south west of the country, we have seen more quince, in flower and in fruit, due to the more equable climate. The quince above, a flowering variety (Chaenomeles japonica), was in full flower in Herefordshire in the last week of February, the blooms appearing before the leaves, a mass of red growing on a fence.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Worn leather upholstery

One of our favourite coffee chains is called Coffee #1. It started life in Cardiff, Wales, and has spread to south Wales and parts of south west England. The chain makes commendable efforts to celebrate the town in which each shop is based, decorating interiors with paintings, quotations and photographs related to the locality. Another characteristic is the heavy use of second-hand furniture - you don't often see more than one or two of each design of chair in a shop. Recently we were having a coffee whilst sitting on a red leather, buttoned Chesterfield sofa. The worn and cracked leather appealed to me and I took this photograph of it with my phone.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Weather vane and autumn leaves

This weather vane has featured in one of my blog photographs before. It is on a building in Ross on Wye that was originally a church, then became an antiques shop and is now a collection of flats (apartments). I was drawn to the subject by its close visual juxtaposition with the top of a tree that had turned red for autumn.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Japanese quince

Japanese quince (Chaenomeles japonica) is a flowering shrub that we have grown in a few of the gardens of the houses in which we have lived. It's the sort of plant that can look great or can look a straggly mess. Ours have tended to the latter. I particularly like Japanes quince that is grown against a wall and that's something we have never done. I've also noticed that the further south you travel in England the better the plant grows, particularly if it is planted in a location that is sheltered and sunny. A setting with these qualities also make it more likely to bear fruit and gives the grower the chance to make quince jelly. This plant is growing in Herefordshire as part of a hedge that receives plenty of light and is relatively sheltered. The number of flowers it is bearing this year is remarkable.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Red acer, blue sky

Can there be a more popular genus of tree than the acer? Flowering cherry I hear you cry, and I must admit they do seem to be equally beloved. I currently live in the well-wooded county of Herefordshire and here it seems that the acer almost competes in numbers with the fruit trees in the plentiful orchards. Breeders have ensured that an acer with almost any tint of red, orange, yellow and green is available and in gardens, parks, roadside verges, even supermarket car parks, they are currently (mid-April) showing their leaves to great advantage. This example is in our garden. We had a similar variety in our previous garden but it succumbed to successive hard winters. I have higher hopes for this tree.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Industrial lighting

Industrial lighting? Well, not quite. Christmas lights  on an industrial estate in Ross on Wye courtesy of one of the businesses located there. Mercifully traditional green and red was chosen and we were spared the very unseasonal dark blue that has proliferated in recent years. My first sighting of these lights made me wonder whether a competition between companies for the "best" Christmas lights will spring up to match the rivalry between householders that can be seen at this time of year.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Extinction Rebellion

On a recent visit to the Shropshire town of Ludlow we came upon an Extinction Rebellion demonstration. It seethed with people, demonstrators, shoppers, sight-seers, market stall-holders and more. So, I only got two shots of the three red and three green women with mime-like white faces and red or green, diaphanous robes. They looked like otherworldly echoes of the Three Graces of antiquity. I'm sure they weren't, but what they represented I don't know.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

River Nidd rowing boats

Ten years ago I photographed part of a row of green and red rowing boats tied up at the side of the River Nidd in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. I recently took another photograph of them - the row in the same location, the boats the same red and green. On the earlier occasion I made something of the numbers painted on them. But,there's only so much you can do with a subject like this so compositionally, this time, I went for repetition as the main theme, emphasising the elegant lines of the craft.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100