Down came the rain again

Today’s picture shows the Japanese anemones bringing a little light to a dark corner on a gloomy day.

I got up with some difficulty as I was very stiff from cycling and concert going yesterday. Seventy miles wouldn’t normally make my legs hurt but the stiff muscles in my back certainly had tightened up my upper leg muscles by this morning. Nevertheless, I got dressed in my cycling gear and went downstairs to wait for Dropscone to come.  He rang up to say that he was in worse condition than me and was going to see the doctor instead of cycling.  I arranged to see him for coffee and sat down to consider what route I should cycle in his absence with rain forecast and sore legs.  Five minutes later I went upstairs and took my cycling gear off again.

I enjoyed coffee and scones with  Dropscone and then took the chance to mow the front lawn before the rain started.  I used the winter mower (it’s a little lighter and the blades are set higher than the summer mower)  for the first time since the spring.  The new grass is sprouting very patchily on the middle lawn and I think a re-sow is on the cards.  In spite of all the rain, the lawns don’t look too bad as long as you don’t actually look at them.

After I had mowed the lawn, I took the camera out in a search for colour.

These repeat flowering small geraniums seem to go on for ever

Not many of the cosmos are left

But the ones that are left keep their colour well

 

This clematis is rather sombre but is flowering well

I picked a handful of beetroot and cooked them. They were very small but they tasted absolutely delicious.  Then the rain started and kept on until the early evening.  I put a week of the E&L into the database and Mrs Tootlepedal went to a garden centre for more manure. She has decided that too much of the garden is on poor soil and comprehensive feeding is required.  Perhaps I will get bigger beetroot next year.  They are my favourite vegetables so I hope I do.

One of Mrs Tootlepedal’s cousins and her husband were visiting Langholm today on their way home after a visit to the Highlands. They have had an opportunity to sample the many kinds of rain that Scotland can offer but they were very cheerful in spite of it.  They weren’t able to stay with us because we had a B&B guest in but they came for tea and cake and later we enjoyed a good meal at the Douglas with them and hope that they will visit us again on their next venture north.

It looks as though any cycling over the next few days will involve dodging showers.