Echinacea, originally uploaded by andyskelton-a Blog a day http://andrewskelton.net.
… rain on another festival’s day. With the exception of this blog, I am putting all my normal daily activities aside to spend 12 hours in a muddy field, cold and wet, drinking beer with a rain water chaser and listening to deafening music. The worse bit is I do this every year at this time. For 22 years. Pardon, you’ll have to speak up I’m a trifle deaf (sponge in one ear, jelly and custard in the other).
It’s Reading (and Leeds but we don’t talk about that venue) Festival today and the excitement and adrenaline is starting to kick in as is the case each time this year. It’s 2 hours until the gates are opened to the arena and the most important thing I need to do before that (apart from find some in ear defenders) is to buy a new pair of Wellies. I have a pair of sturdy walking boots that I wear when ever I’m out and about and which I have worn there in previous years, but last year when trying to swap my ticket for a wrist band the mud had turned to slurry and nearly came over the top of my boots.. and it hadn’t rained as much as it has this time. Definitely need wellies.. or perhaps waders? Mind you, if I get a Gillie Suite, I’ll be so camouflaged that I will be able to walk straight into the area (probably not, there are people dressed stranger that a Gillie Suit!)
Today’s image is of Echinacea purpurea, the purple coneflower or as those who are into herbal remedies might know it Echinacea (the clue really was in the taxonomic nomenclature, a system that has been in use for over 250 years don’tchaknow!). Taken at the Eden Project, Cornwall (a good day out for all the family, best to share a sandwich from their cafe if you’re not a big eater), our second visit to the attraction, and a lot has changed in the 8 years since we were last there. A striking flower, I spent 20 minutes looking at and photographing two individual blooms out of a mass of several hundred which were part of an exhibit showing plans and the medicines that are derived from them. The display as a whole was fascinating and each of the individual examples offered a multitude of photographic possibilities, some may even find their way on to Flickr.
Right time for me to head out the door.. “Reading.. are you ready to Rock?” (yes as long as there’s a nice comfy chair I can do it from!).
Andrew Skelton: 
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