Flat out

Today’s guest picture comes from our granddaughter Matilda. During a zoom meeting this afternoon, she showed us her latest artwork. I liked it, and she kindly allowed me to use it for my post today.

The chief business of the day here was the arrival of Rab, the roofer, and his squad. They came to renew the flat roof over our dormer, and they got to work with a will. The old roof was soon at ground level, while work on the new one began up above.

All being well, the job will be finished tomorrow, and we will be watertight and secure again.

While they worked aloft, down below fellow Langholm Archive Group members Ian and Sandy came round for coffee, and we caught up on what we are all doing. They are both very busy.

When they left, I did a little mowing and a lot of wandering about. As the saying goes, everything in the garden is lovely.

The birds were a bit distracted by all the activity but I did spot two of our most regular visitors, a siskin and a redpoll.

I helped Mrs Tootlepedal with some garden tasks, and took a moment out to circulate the notice for the AGM of the Langholm Initiative, and then it was time for lunch and a goat’s cheese and chutney sandwich.

After lunch, Mrs Tootlepedal set about making a costume for one of Matilda’s forthcoming dances, while I went off for a short walk to test out the replacements for some faulty boots which I had had to return to the shop. I chose a route with some track, some road, some uphill, and some downhill, and the boots proved very comfortable in all circumstances. The walk was good too.

Apart from the copper beeches at the entrance to the park, it is all very green still . . .

. . . with a lot of wild flowers to see on the way (any help with the identification of the final yellow flower would be welcomed). . .

. . . and some good views too when I got up the hill a bit.

I thought of Mrs Tootlepedal as I passed oaks both very young . . .

. . . and quite old.

I got back to find that our friends Mike and Alison had returned safely from a holiday in Wales, and Mike and Mrs Tootlepedal were enjoying a cup of tea in the garden.

I didn’t have much time to join in the conversation, because I had to take off my new boots and get ready for the regular Zoom with Matilda and her father, followed by another with my brother and sisters. We will see my brother Andrew and my sister Mary in person later this week. They are staying in Penrith just across the border for a few days, and will come up to visit the garden while they are here.

Between the zooms, I had another look at the feeder and found a different pair of redpoll and siskin perched there, with the redpoll busy dropping seeds.

We are hoping that the dry weather will last for another day as we are going on a day trip tomorrow, our first for a year we think.

The flying bird of the day is a siskin.