Today’s guest picture, sent to me by my daughter Annie, shows a tree surgeon cutting up the eucalyptus tree that was blown over in their garden by the recent gales. Sadly, it makes for poor burning so all of it will go to shredding.
After two days of sunshine in Langholm, the meteorological authorities, fearing an outbreak of unconstrained merriment of even riotous jollification, put the sun away this morning and covered us up with a safe grey sky to keep us in our place.
Luckily, they had put away the strong wind too and Dropscone and I went round the morning run in our fastest time since December last year. As we set off, Dropscone noticed this new outbreak of primroses in our drive.
They have come to join the fine display in the bed beside the greenhouse.
There were other new flowers about today. Here are two colours of aubretia on the other side of the greenhouse.
Apart from the morning cycle, I didn’t do very much today as it was rather grey and uninviting for a walk but I did find time to make a sourdough loaf and have a first go at some sourdough crumpets following a suggestion from Jennie, Maisie’s mother, from New Zealand who is a sourdough enthusiast.
Sourdough crumpets are a good way to use up any spare sourdough starter and are remarkably easy to make, even for me. I made a small batch to see how they went and they tasted very good. More will follow.
I also walked round the garden looking at daffodils. The lighter wind helped them to stand a bit taller and the lack of sunshine actually made it easier to photograph them. Mrs Tootlepedal likes daffodils and has quite a few varieties. Here are most of the ones that are out at the moment.
I don’t know the names of the daffs but the first two pictures show miniature earlies.
The next three are taller.
She has the standard version as well.
Needless to say, I did a little bird watching and welcomed a lone brambling back late in the day.
The down side of the siskins, as I may have mentioned before, is that they are very wasteful nibblers. The sunflower seeds are just a fraction too big for their dainty beaks…
…but luckily the chaffinches work hard to keep things clean under the feeder.
They were busy in the air too.
Some were more restful.
The birds have had to be on their toes lately as a sparrow hawk is making frequent visits to the garden. It tends to flash by before I can pick up my camera but I got a glimpse of it today, lurking behind the branches in the walnut tree.
The temperatures through the day are rising and I thought it was time to turn my thoughts to the lawns. I got the mower out and gave it enough care and attention to get it moving after its winter snooze and then perpetrated some random acts of violence on the moss which has taken over from most of the grass.
Add in some crossword time, a few moments to clean the transmission on my speedy bike and pump the tyres on that and the slow bike, a visit to the corner shop to replenish my cheese supplies, an interval to exchange a few words with Mrs Tootlepedal and have a cup of tea with Mike Tinker, who paid us a visit, and the day was well filled with undemanding activity suitable for an elderly person.
It was rounded off with a chauffeur (Susan at the wheel) driven trip to Carlisle to play with the recorder group. The playing was very enjoyable and we even found a piece or two which we have never played before to entertain ourselves with.
A chaffinch is flying bird of the day.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
I think overcast days are better for most flower and plant photos and sunny days seem better for landscapes.
The garden looks great for this time of year.
I agree with you about the overcast day and flowers.
Your garden flowers are so beautiful! 🙂
They are not really mine. The guardian angel of the flyovers is Mrs Tootlepedal. She allows me to look at them though.
I didn’t know there were so many typed of daffodil. Could you take a photo of your next crumpet adventure? That flying chaffinch is delightful.
There are more daffs to come I think. I will post a picture of a crumpet when I get a really good looking one.
Okay.
I’m keen to witness the crumpet adventure, too. Remember us next time 🙂
I will.
The daffodils and narcissi are really lovely and the final flying chaffinch is a star!
Female chaffinches always seem to look charming.
So many flowers make a grey day seem cheerful.
That’s the benefit of living with Mrs Tootlepedal (among many other things too of course).
Loved the flowers! The female chaffinch about to land on the male has a devilishly smug look on her face, you capture their personalities so well.
She looks as though she knows what she’s doing.
Great variety of daffodils. Those crumpets sounds very successful.
Sounds like a good day was had. Loved the flowers in your garden.
The daffodils are splendid. I think that sparrow hawk is teasing you though.
It’s a shifty beggar but I’ll be at the right place with the camera in hand one of theses days.
I picked a good spring day to visit, Tom! The flowers and birds were putting on a good show. Not being exactly sure what a crumpet is, I’m certain I would hardly know the difference from a plain vs. a sourdough one. So, I’m with your other visitors above in my request for some pictures of your next crumpets! 🙂
Crumpets are just batter scones done on a flat griddle and the sour dough gives them a nice bit of sharpness to offset the butter which is dripping from them as crumpets are always eaten lightly toasted.
No wonder you’re partial to the chaffinches if they’re such diligent tidiers. I love the way the wings on the Day’s Flying Bird gleam as if they were a metal sculpture.
If I leave the feeder to become entirely empty, the chaffinches clean up every scrap of seed from the ground underneath.
Oh, those daffodils are so lovely! Such vibrant yellows! Made my day, as did your very humorous start to this post. You certainly gave me a smile today! Enjoy your crumpets.
The crumpets disappeared in double quick time.
The Cooper’s hawk today made 3 mad dashes after birds in my yard, but if he got a kill, thankfully it was not in my yard to see.
Don’t look at this Friday’s post then.
Beautiful flowers and a lovely garden. ~SueBee
Lovely stripes on the lawn and a great assortment of daffs!