Monday (Morden Hall Park)

Morden Hall Park (Monday) with two friends. The three of us have birthdays just 10 days apart (all born the same year). We have enjoyed a get together as near as possible to our birthdays for the last 13 years. Two of us were able to meet earlier - we were joined by the third later.

It was cloudy and there was a sprinkling of light rain. The river was flowing quite fast.

Close ups of alliums in the garden centre.

This white allium has one extra long tuft. 

 A garden ornament casualty in the garden centre. 

There's a brilliant aquarium shop at Morden Hall Park. I find tropical fish utterly fascinating - there are so many different fish and other creatures and such a variety of colours and shapes. I took loads of blurred photos which catch the mood but don't catch many fish in focus.

Tiny crabs.

The lighting and colour of the background really makes the fish stand out beautifully.

Speckled fish. 

Anemones? 

The big room that all these tanks are in is quite dimly lit and I had trouble reading the labels so unfortunately I can't name anything properly.

I'll just have to call these "strange orange creatures". 

These long stripey eel-like fish have patterneed tails that they can fan out, which reminded me of the ends of peacocks feathers.

Blue Star fish crawling up the glass. I don't think I've ever had a good look at the underside of a starfish before. 

It was quite a while before I noticed the small orange creatures on the rocks which look as if they are covered in little pebbles.

Fish and corals. 

The fins on this fish looked like feathers and they wafted and rippled in the water like beautiful shimmery fabric.

Little orange creatures crawling on the floor. 

Big fish.

The big one swimming towards the glass looked worried.

Delicate slim striped fish. 

Amazing pale peachy orange against that blue striking background.

The fish in the foreground was such a glittery shimmery silvery blue

Large brain?

We looked around the second hand bookshop (and came out without buying anything). My friend was a little puzzled at me taking a photo of the floor. I liked the pattern of the little tiles and the metal grill which had been designed to blend in with the tiles (old stable floor?)

We enjoyed a leisurely lunch and then had another walk.

The horse chestnut flowers are fabulous at the moment. From a distance they look beige but if you have a closer look at them there are white flowers with lemon yellow and raspberry pink splashes of colour on them

A large tree was covered in showers of these delicate pale green flowers which hardly showed until you got really close.

Our other friend joined us and we had tea and cake and enjoyed chatting together and swapping birthday presents and cards. 

Thank you very much for joining me.