Photo of the Month - May 2011

May was quite a good month for my photo collection, mainly because the last five days we were in Switzerland for the beginning our our visit to Emma & Co.  However I did manage to take a few snaps before then.  The month began with a walk from Wormit to the ruins of Balmerino Abbey.  It is a very pleasant walk which I have now done a few times.  On this occasion we were joined by a little dog, some kind of terrier, who just decided to tag along with us.  Liam gave him the name Scruffy and here he is with Liam, Jamie and Alessio.

 The walk is a grand one for wildlife and flowers.  Here is a lovely butterfly and below, a spread of flowering wild garlic in the woods.  The wild variety gives off a fine subtle aroma.

 The walks ends in the grounds of the ruins of Balmerino Abbey, before you make your way back along the estuary.  Here I am with my two beautiful daughters in a photo taken by Jamie.

May was also a very kind month for the garden with lots of flowers in bloom.  Below is a collage of some of them.

By the end of the month we were in Switzerland, which is always a delight for amateur photographers.  The shop window displays are just amazing.  They are nearly always artistically designed and sometimes as below a bit whimsical as well.

Here are some more displays and a beautiful door.

Our first trip out of Zürich took us to Eglisau, a charming little town on the northern banks of the river Rhine, though it is part of Switzerland.  Here are some of the traditional buildings along with an ultra mordern black metal statue.

And here is me resting by one of the old townhouses.  Photo taken by Alessio.

We followed this up with a trip to Lindau on the northen shores of the Bodensee.  This time we were in Germany, the tiny bit of the Bodensee that belongs to Bavaria.  And a sweet, picture postcard little town it is too.  Below are some of the lovely façades to be seen throughout the town.

Lindau also has an important harbour and here is one of the many ferry ships coming into port between the two guarding towers.

We had delicious Italian lunch in Lindau, which everyone enjoyed as you see from this photo of Kathleen, relaxing after the meal.

Lindau is quite close to Friedrichshaven which is the home of the Zeppelin airships.  They are still around and I close this month with this photo of an airship above Lindau.