Another weekend draws to an end.  This one was busy, productive and delightfully sociable.

I did the second of the 2 part photography course through Adult Education, based at St.Faith’s in Maidstone.  I think the course was good value for money and I will be looking at other courses as they seem to do a really wide range of subjects.

There were only three of us on the course and the teacher was very knowledgeable and very helpful so I came away knowing a lot more about my own camera and with a good basic knowledge of the various things to think about when taking a photo.  I am hoping you will notice a difference in some of my blog photos – not always though because often (like today) I go out with just a small camera rather than the Digital SLR.

Here are some pictures from the course.  We spent some time outside so we could make the most of the warm and sunny day.

I couldn’t resist looking through the open doorway. Who would have thought this huge park would be in the centre of Maidstone?

It was suggested the previous week that we take in some objects we wanted to photograph.  The teacher helped us learn how to capture the image we wanted.  I took Buddah because he is light and sturdy and I am very fond of him. I also took this little jar of blueberries because they are hard to capture properly.    It took several attempts but with tuition I got there in the end.  This photo is far too dark. Way too bright. Too blurry. Getting there but badly composed. Bingo! I captured a ladybird with the macro lens which was hand held so not as sharp as it could be. We also did some inside work under photography lights which was interesting.Today’s eating was quite good but vegetarian rather than vegan and had too much fat but loads of fruits and veggies.

Do you know what these are?  They are not potatoes!

I am used to them being brown and wrinkly!They are passion fruits. They taste just like the brown ones I am used to and I enjoyed this one over some fresh, sweet and juicy pineapple and banana. I did not enjoy these kumquats though.  What are you supposed to do with them? The central part is full of pips and when you take them out you are left with a fibrous centre and the pith which is like eating orange peel.  Horrible.

After my sunny yellow breakfast this morning, we headed off for Surrey and South London.  We spent a happy morning having coffee with Simon, Sarah and Alice and then went out for lunch with my Dad.  Lara joined us too which made a good day even better.

We went out for lunch to Galu, a Cypriot restaurant in Banstead.  I mainly ate plant based foods today but vegetarian rather than vegan.  As a starter I had the asparagus and asked them to serve it without the parmesan. None of the main meals were salad or vegetable based so I ordered 4 side dishes; spinach, mashed potato and braised aubergine.  The spinach and mash had butter hence vegetarian today rather than vegan.  They were all very delicious but quite high in fat, especially the aubergine but it was so tasty it was actually worth every gram of fat. I ate it with a large side salad and enjoyed it all.  Who needs meat or fish when you can enjoy all these yummy plants? I did have this trio of sorbets for dessert and I enjoyed them too.  I drank sparkling mineral water during lunch and ended with a double espresso.

Thank you for a lovely lunch Papa.

We then went for afternoon tea with Michelle and Ted came too.  We went to a great pub with a huge cafe in it called The Railway in Streatham.  We were all too full for anything else to eat but enjoyed a cuppa and a catch up with a dear friend.

After that lunch, I didn’t need to eat anything else for the rest of the day!  This coming week I am going to focus on more plant foods, more raw and less fat.