Project 365 day 208: Bees on teasels

The sun came out late in the day. I went to see what was hanging around on the thistles, but only found lots more red soldier beetles. However, the teasel flowers are now opening and several bees were enjoying them. I struggle with bee photos, it was windy, and I am using the old Canon 400D which my brother passed on when he upgraded, J having reclaimed her rather nicer 750D for some stop motion, so I was pleased to find four of my (many) photos were potentially useable even after significant cropping. I don't (yet) have a macro lens, so I am never as close as I should like. The extra has a better focussed bee, but I prefer the composition of the photo I have chosen. The teasels are such striking shapes that it seems a pity not to include some of their spines and sepals. I'm sure they will feature again.

I had coffee with C in his garden this morning, and was pleased to find him in better spirits than recently. He sent me to help myself to surplus courgettes, but although I had removed all the large, runaway marrows from his plants last week (and brought some home for P to turn into soup), the small courgettes I left had, in the meantime, become more large marrows. A week was clearly far too long to wait. P has harvested the first of our courgettes this week - they are late starting because my first tray failed to germinate - and today he picked five large cucumbers destined for gazpacho and more ajo blanco.