Today’s guest picture is another of the pond in Regent’s park. It was taken by my sister Mary who wants to point out the charm of added coots.
Once again our weather was lacking a bit of charm in the morning, being grey and windy with occasional rain. I wasn’t tempted onto my bicycle as I am having a day or two of rest and it was too dark and windy to have a useful walk with camera in hand so once again, I stayed in. I did improve the shining hour* by making a loaf of bread and looking out of the window.
After lunch, I ventured out into the garden. With the temperature staying above freezing, the snowdrops have begun to open out.
There is activity to be seen elsewhere.
And the winter long bloom in the primula department goes from strength to strength.
I had been a bit worried in case roaming cats had eaten or scared off the universal robin but it made a welcome appearance.
And a blackbird appeared too.
Apart from fleeting visits by great and blue tits and occasional arrivals of greenfinches, our regular visitors to the feeder appeared today in one shot.
Rather annoyingly, after a dull morning, the sun came out in the afternoon. This was annoying because it coincided with the moment that we had to get in the car to go to Carlisle for our choir. However, the sorrow of missing the chance for a walk was soon drowned out by the pleasure of the choir meeting. The choir master is absolutely on the ball and as well as enjoying the singing, I learn something new about technique every week.
In the evening Dropscone rang up and we arranged to go cycling tomorrow in spite of the forecast of 30 mph gusts. I am hoping to get home before lunch.
The flying bird of the day is another ‘Look, no hands mum,’ chaffinch.
*A poem by Isaac Watts starts:
How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour….
Tootlepedal's Blog 
You fit the quote to perfection, it was well chosen. Loved the snowdrops and the robin in particular.
I like the Robin top picture! 🙂
I’m glad. I liked it too.
Thought provoking line from a poem, has prompted to read the rest of it, also love the composition of the robin photo x
You’ll have to read Lewis Carroll’s parody in Alice too….How doth the little crocodile etc
Robins? poems? once again a unique blog Thanks Tom
My pleasure.
I like the flower photos, even if they make me even more disgusted with the weather here. Be safe tomorrow in that wind!
I shall cling on to my handlebars tightly.
It’s a pleasure to see the flowers. We have another foot of snow forcast for midweek, so we won’t be seeing them here for a while yet.
That’s bad luck. You must be heartily sick of it.
I am a big fan of both Robin pictures. And the Euphorbia is lovely too. Even on gloomy days you have great color.
The garden has stayed quite green during our frost free winter.
I want that robin!
You’ve got Gutsy, leave my robin alone.
The robin and the blue peeling post is a nice composition.
I’ll have to make sure that Mrs Tootlepedal doesn’t repaint the bench.
SUPER!
🙂
Love that poem! Snowdrops are so very pretty and pure. Again, your bird photos are superb!
They symbolise a nice clean new year on the way with only us to make a mess of it.
The wee robin is beautiful set against the lovely weathered blue paint. And the snowdrops . . . well, I much prefer looking at your photo than at our actual snow!
From a scenic point of view, a fall of snow that lasted three days (if accompanied by some nice blue skies) would be welcome but the sort of thing that the US has been suffering from would be very much to much.
Splendid pictures of the robin, and the snowdrops and primulas make a fine show. So glad you enjoyed the choir, that is good news.
Sounds like a productive day despite being stuck indoors. Nice to see the garden beginning to come alive again too.
It is indeed.
It can be annoying, in the winter, to have to DO something during the day when the weather is good.
Very annoying!
Gosh, what a lot of January flowers.
It is an odd year so far.