Amelia's photos

The photo shows a very old sign that is gradually being incorporated into the trunk of a tree. It should read: Warrington Angling Association. PRIVATE FISHING. MEMBERS ONLY.

Today's Saturday Se;f Challenge is: "Letters and/or texts" Outside this little cafe is where we mostly stop for a cup of coffee when we walk around Shrewsbury. is a message board. Conveniently the cafe is called 'STOP', and I always make sure to look at the thought for the day. This is the first 'thought' since some Covid lock down restrictions were lifted last Monday. Was für ein wunderbarer Gedanke ist, dass einige der besten Tage unseres Lebens noch nicht passiert sind. Quelle merveilleuse pensée c'est que certains des meilleurs jours de notre vie ne se soient pas encore produits. The PiP shows a very old sign that is gradually being incorporated into the trunk of a tree. It should read: Warrington Angling Association. PRIVATE FISHING. MEMBERS ONLY.

This is the first time that we have ventured into Shrewsbury since mid December, and what a joy it was to walk along the riverside and have a nice cup of coffee outside in a proper cup! We didn't go near any shops ( I hate shopping) and everyone seemed to be aware of social distancing, so we felt quite safe. My second jab is on Sunday, but we remain wary of crowds, and cannot understand those folks who gather in great numbers in city centres, claiming that at last they can get some fresh air. Where have they been? Most people have been able to get out and about.

Donovan - Mellow yellow

Today's Sunday Challenge is: Something shiny. The orange colour in the tap comes from a bottle of Pears hand wash. The PiP is the base of one of our kitchen stools - specially cleaned. ;-)

Today's Saturday self Challenge is: "Electricity" This photo shows an example of static electricity. The plastic pen was rubbed against my hair to charge it, and then it was able to pick up pieces of tissue paper. The charged pen could also bend water, but I couldn't get a good photo of that. Static electricity can be a big problem of course. It can build up in clouds. This can cause a huge spark to form between the ground and the cloud. This causes lightning – a flow of charge through the atmosphere. It is dangerous when there are flammable gases or a high concentration of oxygen. A spark could ignite the gases and cause an explosion. And of course one can get an electrostatic shock if one is electrically 'charged' and touches something that is earthed. Occasionally I get a shock when I touch a car door handle, and it has been known for a computer to freeze when I walk near it. It is not all bad though. Factories use static electricity to reduce pollution coming from their smoke stacks. They give the smoke an electric charge. When it passes by electrodes of the opposite charge, most of the smoke particles cling to the electrodes. This keeps the pollution from going out into the atmosphere.

This ewe and lamb did not belong together. It just happened that two adjoining fields had ewes with lambs of different ages in them.

Large numbers of tiny female flowers form a dense, sausage-shaped spike on the stem below the male spike. In larger species this can be up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 1 to 4 centimetres (0.4 to 2 in) thick. The seeds are minute, 0.2 millimetres (0.008 in) long, and attached to fine hairs. When ripe, the heads disintegrate into a cottony fluff from which the seeds disperse by wind.

The larches (Larix spp.) are unusual conifers, in that they are deciduous and drop all their leaves each autumn, unlike their evergreen cousins. The new needles always remind me of green shaving brushes. European larch bears both male and female cones on the same tree (monoecious) at the tips of short lateral shoots on young branches. The short-lived, small, globular to oblong male cones are only seen in the spring. These can be seen on the left of the photo, and produce pollen which is carried on the wind. The egg-shaped, upright, persistent female cones are longer than the needles, with 40-50 scales. The female cones start out a somewhat showy red to pinkish-purple colour and mature to softly woody brown cones the first year. One female cone can be seen in the photo.

Today's Sunday Challenge: Take a picture of a mirror showing your surroundings. You may notice that the clock face is back to front, and strange things are happening especially on the right hand side of the reflection looking into the study. This is because of the bevelled edge of the mirror. The PIP shows the reflection of the living room in the same mirror.

Today's Saturday Self Challenge is: Broken. The photo on the left is the broken and bent end of the hour hand on our grandfather clock shown on the right. It is beyond repair and will require a specialist to make a new end for the pointer. Luckily the time is still readable.

The pathway leading from the railway station, across the covered Dana Bridge towards the prison which is now closed and awaiting redevelopment.