No birdies

Today’s picture comes from Switzerland.

It shows Dropscone’s great niece, Lena having a walk.  And yes, that is a Swiss horn player in the background.  Lena’s mother tells me that he hides behind the tree and when he sees a tourist coming along, out he jumps and starts playing.  We don’t get that round here.  Thank goodness.

What we did get round here was another fine day and Dropscone and I went to Waterbeck and back for our morning pedal.  The wind was a little brisker than yesterday but not enough to spoil the ride.  There are only one or two really bad bits of surface on this route and there isn’t a lot of traffic so it is really annoying to discover how often the two coincide forcing us to bump over the potholed sections of the road.

After coffee, I caught a bluetit in the sunshine.

There were no new surprises in the garden so I took this marigold as a tribute to two sunny days in succession.

Mrs Tootlepedal had been at work in the morning and as soon as she got back, she started tidying up a bit of a bed where she has removed a box ball.  I was motivated to do something useful too so I mowed both the lawns. Normally there would be little need for that at this time of year but the warm, wet weather has kept the grass growing.  I just gave them a gentle trim with the blades set high and the box off but the lawns looked well enough afterwards.

After lunch, I went up to have nine holes of golf in a geriatric four-ball and I would have had a lot of fine photos to show you if I had remembered to take my camera.  Dropscone has started playing a few holes again and he played very well for a man who has had a long time off the course.  I hit a few good shots and a lot of bad ones so nothing new there.  Having had no  birdies on the golf course, I had to look elsewhere.

When I got down the hill, I got the camera out and went to the Kilngreen to have another go at catching gulls in flight.  A little girl was getting ready to feed the many ducks.

A duck stampede

The heron was too dignified to join in the exhibition of mass consumerism and walked away along the banks of the Ewes.

The gulls circled round, fast and low, making it difficult to pick one out.

The clocks went back at the weekend and the evenings are drawing in.  Although it was only half past three, there was a feel of sunset about the day already.

I cycled home across the Castleholm and couldn’t resist another autumn colour shot.   Most of the trees are shedding leaves freely now but one or two are still a treat to see.

In the evening, I enjoyed a new experience when I indulged in a video call with my sister Susan in London using Skype.  It’s a wonder of technology and it’s almost as good as using the telephone.   I can see its use in overseas calls and I hope to see and speak to my brother in New Zealand soon.