Talking pictures

Today’s guest picture is another from Dropscone who discovered this multi roundabout nightmare in Swindon when driving to a wedding there some years ago.  He came upon it while looking through his photos and thought that I might appreciate it.  I do.  It has taught me never to go to Swindon.

I didn’t have any traffic problems today as I didn’t go cycling.  It was  a damp and drizzly morning so I was quite pleased to have other business.  The other business was a talk on photography to our local Probus Club.  This is a regular gathering of retired and respectable old gentlemen who meet to chat, have coffee and listen to a guest speaker.

I showed them a selection of cameras and lenses, then had a quick photo editing demo on my laptop and finished with a run through of some of my pictures, both good and not so good to show that often not everything works as I might wish it to.

Owing to having to sit at my laptop next to the projector during the talk, most of my audience was behind me and it was quite a tiring experience to talk to an invisible audience without any visible feedback but I think that it went well enough.

Although the talk was quite short, setting up before and chatting afterwards meant that this took up the whole morning.

By the time that I had had my lunch, the weather had improved a lot.  Mrs Tootlepedal went off for a visit to a garden centre with our neighbour Liz and I set about scarifying and mowing the front lawn.  I needed a little sit down after that.

I spent some time between the lunch, the mowing and the sitting down looking out of the kitchen window.  The birds have made a welcome reappearance.  Dramatic gestures were the order of the day….

….birds came….

….and went.

Two young starlings appeared…..

And a robin made a shy visit.

I was rather puzzled to see what looked like a stranger in the feeder….

…but closer examination showed that it was a goldfinch.  If any expert can tell me whether this is a sick bird or one that is moulting, I would be grateful.

It made a sharp contrast with a neat and tidy blue tit on the feeder.

After my little sit down, I got up again and I mowed the drying green and the grass round the greenhouse. I needed a another sit down after that but by now, it was such a pleasant sunny day that I thought that a short walk was needed in order not to waste this unseasonable weather.  I went round Gaskells Walk at a snail’s pace as my knee has got a bit more painful lately.

I took some pictures as I tottered along.

Three kinds of lichen near the Auld Stane Brig

Rosebay Willowherb in autumn mode

A view of Whita from Stubholm to show the lovely day.

Wayside decoration

The park wall is a garden in itself.  All these were growing out of the side of the wall.

Mrs Tootlepedal had returned from her outing just before I got home and as I was now in need of very long sit down indeed, she kindly cooked my tea for me before we went out to our local choir in the evening.

We are preparing for a couple of Christmas concerts and our musical director has picked out a few rather challenging pieces for us in the hope that in some magical way, we will be able to sing them.  He may be disappointed but we will try our best.  Being a fine musician himself, I think that he finds it hard to comprehend just how much practice the non music readers who make up quite a lot of the choir need to master new pieces.  I can read but I can’t sing very well so I need even more.

The flying bird of the day is another dramatic chaffinch.