Power Now Back,

so back to Thursday, first thing we were out,

and as usual on one of our days out, 

I took way too many photographs, so I am only making one post today, glad rags on, 

Steve and Kai kindly picked us up, and we were soon speeding into Croydon,

everywhere we looked, 

tower blocks dominated the sky line, like this one,

in no time at all we were at Mayfield Lavender Farm, 

and were blessed with a bright sunny day,

straight away the girls were off,

whilst Steve and myself took our time,

in the distance, 

Looby Loo, the ride around the lavender fields,

this is the first time we have been here when there was a bumper crop in the second field,

a few poses, 

this post will be full of them!

one more,

for the album,

in the distance Kai,

and I even starred in one, 

or two!

back to Diana,

this looks fine, but I had to take so many, 

because of these,

bees!

there were so many here,

which is a good thing, 

unless you want a photograph without any bees in it,

a quick panorama,

one more,

and then it was the turn of the bees,

as it happens,

there are over 270 different bee species in the UK

and how many were here? I do not have a clue!

but here are two different ones, a honey bee and a bumble bee,

looking quite happy together,

one thing Steve and I commented on was that most of the bumble bees had a white posterior,

but some a yellow and even a red rump,

meanwhile,

Kai and Diana were taking selfies,

the lavender was putting on a good show in both fields,

as the girls carried on snapping away,

whilst I took a few more,

of the bees,

Kai putting her selfie stick to good use,

Diana using her arm,

she just spotted me taking her photograph,

and of course one of Steve,

group photograph,

as it happens it was quite sunny, the big tree giving people plenty of shade,

in the distance the snack and coffee tents,

a panorama before we made a move,

for a coffee,

Looby Loo waiting to complete another circuit of the fields,

there was a queue to have photographs taken on the tractor,

and then a guest arrived on the back of my hand,

two of them if you look closely, 

this tent selling lavender themed goods,

Diana and Steve,

by some of the plants for sale,

and naturally lots of lavender plants to take home,

the girls will eventually settle on some bunches of lavender,

a short wait in the queue for coffee,

the interior of the lavender store,

I snagged a table by a part of the field given over not only to lavender, but wild flowers,

which looked nice,

Looby Loo just off,

for another circuit,

a left hand bend,

then up the hill,

Steve, Kai,

and Diana arrived,

with tea, coffee and a slice of lavender cake,

time to relax out of the sun,

and here I am,

'Cheers!', from Steve and Kai,

"Ah!",

another 'Cheers!',

then time to buy some lavender,

to pose with by Looby Loo,

the deal was for three bunches, so back to the table to split them 50/50,

and time for a pose,

one more,

then back out into the field, it was a glorious day,

'Cheers!', to Looby Loo,

who will be,

in another few photographs,

and one more close up,

the bees were being very unhelpful,

so a few more of Diana,

and myself,

and both of us,

we walked uphill,

past the wild flowers,

for the girls a stop at the telephone box,

lots of photographs,

Steve and myself started to walk to the phone box,

where a couple of Filipino ladies asked if Diana could take their photographs on their mobile telephones,

Diana with her one and a half bunches of lavender,

well I had too,

as well,

a couple more of Diana,

before it was time,

to go to the tractor,

no one was waiting,

so the girls,

had the machine,

to themselves,

from the left,

and from the right, 

back to the wild flowers,

a panorama of them,

we were now at the top of the hill that separates the 2 fields,

a last look before we were back in the car,

and on our way,

to Wing Yip,

for coffee and cakes,

everyone smile!

our selection,

from all of these, coffees finished,

we started shopping, and then made our way to Costco, 

naturally the girls had a look at the bakery,

especially the cakes!

as well as household goods everything was here, from sandwiches,

to sushi,

shopping finished the car was packed with goods, the girls having to share some on the rear seats, Steve and Kai kindly dropped us off at home where after putting everything away it was feet up for a coffee, we still did not have our BT TV box, so a few documentaries it was,

image BBC starting with Why Sharks Attack, but one scientist made a comment that was totally obvious, "there are more shark attacks because more people are going into the water" well who would have thought that? but in any event a interesting programme, 

image BBC we followed that with Woolly Mammoth: Secrets of the Ice, which was fascinating, 

image BBC we rounded of our documentaries with How to Build a Dinosaur, well not the dinosaur per se, but the metal skeleton that supports the real skeleton, an art in itself, for our film,

one we had watched before Mary Queen of Scots, after which we were off to bed.