Rather wasted day

Today’s picture shows the reconstruction of the Globe Theatre on the south bank of the Thames.  It comes from my sister Mary.

It was a day that was never quite sure of what it was going to do.   As a result, I was never quite sure of what I was going to do either.   Every time that the sun came out and I thought I might be able to do something interesting, the sun promptly went in again and took my enthusiasm for action with it.   I have only cycled 129  miles this month and I am getting used to a slothful way of life and it needs to be a very good day before I stir my stumps.

I had to go to collect the key for the Town Hall gallery just after twelve and I managed to spend the whole morning just waiting to do this and nothing else.  There were birds to watch to take up some of the time.

A siskin caught in a sunny moment

A rather ragged blackbird

A young rook finds a bit of fallen fat ball.

So disorganised was my morning that I didn’t even manage to make a pot of coffee which is a very rare occurrence.

Instead of drinking coffee, I was watching greenfinches approaching the feeder.  It was either two different greenfinches or the same greenfinch twice.

I think that they are different birds.

 

I did manage to mow part of the back lawn but I had to do in two parts as it started to rain when I was halfway through.

The siskins were as aggressive as always.

You would think from the pictures that it was mainly sunny but just before I went to get the key, this was the picture.

The hail was stotting six inches off the lawn.

Fortunately it passed quite quickly and I was able to get the key without getting too wet.

After lunch, the sun came out for two hours of uninterrupted summer.  Of course these were the same two hours that I was sitting in the gallery looking after the exhibition for the benefit of the complete absence of visitors.  At four o’clock, we took the pictures down and at ten past four, two visitors arrived to look at the exhibition.  It was that sort of day.

We have had about 100 people in to look at the photos, which I thought was a little disappointing over two weeks, but  we have agreed to put on another exhibition next year as those that have come seem to have enjoyed themselves.

When I got back  home, the variable weather was back but I was able to sieve a bit of our own compost, add some earth and a dash of fertiliser and then use it as a bit of top dressing on the middle lawn.  I mowed the front lawn as well so it wasn’t an entirely wasted day.

We have got some expert opinion on the brownish pigeon that has been visiting us and it turns out to be a first year homing pigeon from somewhere in Scotland.  Pigeons of this colour are called chequered birds.  The expert, Alistair brought round a pigeon box and some seed in the hope that we could entice the bird into a corner and catch it.  When he came in the evening, it had refused our bait and flown away.

Alistair and Mrs Tootlepeal contemplate the bird that had flown

The day ended quite well and I was able to take some pictures of flowers in the garden.

Mrs Tootlepedal is pleased with this combination of clematis and rose in the back border.

The white irises are coming along well.

A rose looking very well indeed.

Rosa goldfinch, one of the few roses of which I know the name.

There are places in the garden where there is not a great splash of colour but where the effect is got by the contrast between flower and shrub or hedge.

I like this corner.

I took a couple of pictures of young birds in the plum tree.

I went out at quarter past eight in the evening and the day was at its best because the wind had died down and the light was very clear as you can see from this glimpse of the monument from the back garden.

I took one last picture of a rose before going it to watch Andy Murray play at Wimbledon for as long as I could bear.

Although I didn’t watch it all, I am pleased that he won in the end  because it makes the expense of several hours of your life seem a bit more worthwhile than if he had lost.

The bird of the day is one of the flying greenfinches from this morning.