Today’s guest picture is another from my sister Mary’s visit to Rye. It speaks for itself. Simple.
I had to speak to myself today because Mrs Tootlepedal went off to Edinburgh to commune with TWGSP. My conversation with myself touched on cycling but when Dropscone rang up to say that the morning run had taken him ten minutes longer than usual because of the fierce winds, that conversation came to a halt.
I did a crossword, hung out some washing, emptied a bin, put a week of the newspaper database into the computer and thought about stuff in an arbitrary way and in this fashion, managed to pass the morning quite pleasantly.
A persistent pigeon spent a lot of time outside the window….
…and even made a bold attempt to get the coveted flying bird of the day title.
At one time, I was watching the bees on the plum tree through the kitchen window and I wondered if the other fruit was being attend to as well. I went to investigate.
I made myself a pot of carrot soup for my lunch and then put a second week of the newspaper into the Langholm Archive database. The clouds were scurrying over the sky, leaving some sunny spells and in one of these, I went for a walk.
I had hoped that I would find a woodland path surrounded by fresh green leaves. I found some wild flowers….
…and I found the path…
…but sadly the birch trees have not some into leaf yet. The view backwards was a consolation….
…and the path itself is delightful….
…but I had to make do with promises rather than the real thing.
It was a good walk but not the green delight that I had hoped for.
I stopped near Skippers Bridge but a brief rain shower ruined the light and I enjoyed the river worn stones instead of looking at the bigger picture.
The shower soon passed and I walked along the Murtholm to get home. There are lambs in every field round the town at the moment.
Luckily the grey clouds went skimming past me and the rest of the way home was nicely sunlit.
The wild garlic will soon be making itself obvious.
The three mile walk gave me an appetite for tea and toast and I was just boiling the kettle when I saw a welcome blue tit on the feeder.
Mrs Tootlepedal arrived back safely from communing with Matilda and as she had combined her grandmotherly activities with a stroll round John Lewis with an eye on some useful remnants, she felt that the day had been well spent.
The remnants will become cushion covers in the course of time.
After tea, I went off to the Archive Centre where I met Sandy and he helped me put two more weeks of the index into the database so it had been a very productive day of archive work even if I hadn’t done much else.
By the time that I got home, one of the remnants had already been transmogrified.
Mrs Tootlepedal wields a nifty needle.
I am hoping for a less windy day tomorrow as I need to get out on the bike and try to see how fit I am.
The flying bird of the day is a chaffinch for once. I have had complaints of too many flying birds with their wings tucked up lately so I have gone for the fully unfurled look today.
That’s better!
🙂
That’s a heavy pigeon! 🙂
Well fed on many local seed feeders.
The new leaves are beautiful, especially those in that last shot. I should know what they are but I can’t remember.
The landscapes are excellent too. I’m glad the bees are giving the garden a good going over.
Looks to me like horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) – Tom has a fine collection of budding trees here. His spring seems to be a week behind ours here in Rhineland where it is in full swing.
I think you’re right. It definitely looks like a nut bearing tree leaf.
It sounds like you must be at least two weeks ahead of us.
I don’t think it is a horse chestnut. Could it be a hazel?
Over here hazels are bushes and their leaves look somewhat like an elm leaf.
They can grow into trees here but I am not at all sure about the leaf in the picture. I just don’t think that it was a horse chestnut.
I meant to tell you that apparently you can’t buy the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-SZ7 camera that I have anymore. The new version is the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-SZ10. It has many more features but is still only about $20.00 more than mine cost 3 years or so ago. You should be able to find it there from what I’ve seen online.
It is available and looks good. I am pondering. Thank you for the research.
You’re welcome. I might have to buy one too. I dropped mine last night and I think it’s finished.
Disaster. That is rotten luck.
Yes, and the newer version doesn’t have a Leica lens. I bought a Sony with a Zeiss lens but it can’t come close the Panasonic so it’s going back.
I wondered about the lens since it wasn’t mentioned in the product details. I will be interested in what you finally choose.
Your nettle is a very nice Yellow Archangel (Lamium galeobdolon). If it has variegated leaves it is a garden escapee but if the leaves are plain green it is a wild native. Apparently it is scarce in Scotland.
I’ll have to look at the leaves next time I go past. It is near a garden so it may well be an escape
That is still an impressive hopping pigeon photo. The rocks in the Murtholm – is that ice or are the rocks some kind of composite with a lighter colored mineral? They are unusual and beautiful.
The lighter colour is not in the rock itself but appears when the water is low and parts of the rocks which are usually submerged show up.
The leaves will be green soon enough, I quite enjoyed them in their multi-colored state as they first unfurl.
I hope that you get weather suitable for cycling tomorrow, it’s been a while, I’m sure that you’re missing it.
I got the good weather, thank you.
I particularly enjoyed your picture of the river worn stones, running water always catches my eye as birds and lichens do for others. Hope you get to cycle today.
Thank you for the wide variety of visual treats again! It’s always a delight to check in each day. I appreciate you sharing these moments with us. Wild and woolly weather here for a change and my roof is leaking. I’m glad you no longer have that problem. 🙂
That’s bad news about the leaking roof. We are feeling very smug as the rain and wind lash unavailingly against our new wall.
Looks like your pigeon is fat enough to do well to get off the ground. Never any moss on Mrs T.
That is very true. She keeps going.
I admire the cushion Mrs T. did while you were at the Archive center. She is an allround wizard – wielding the paintbrush, the needle, the garden tools and more with alike skilfulness.
And a first rate carer for me too.
That was a very nifty needle wielded by Mrs. T, beautifully toning cushion to armchair.
Glad the sun came out. Enjoyed your woodland walk, even if the trees are not quite green yet.
Lovely fabric – not so lovely pigeon! You’re much more sanguine than I am about pigeons. I’ve had to put up wire gates and spikes to prevent them from nesting under the eaves of my house, blocking the stack, messing on the cedar shingles . . . not beloved at all on 15th Street.
They are no problem for us so I don’t bear them any ill will.
The promise of green looks awfully good to me. A lovely post, and your pigeon is a Wood Pigeon, which is much fancier than the ubiquitous Rock Pigeon.
I am hoping that the promise is not deferred for too long.
Beautiful photos all around today and in another example of one man’s trash being another’s treasure, I spend an inordinate amount of time attempting to eradicate oxalis from our garden…an unachievable goal, unfortunately; it loves it here.
They are very pretty in the wild here but it is true that they are sometimes quite rampaging.
I’m pretty sure the mystery tree is a horse chestnut. I have a bonsai one in a pot in my garden and the leaves looked just like that a few weeks ago. Your spring is certainly a little way behind ours as there has been wild garlic everywhere here recently and my apple tree flowers are open and buzzing with bees.
We keep waiting for spring to come but it keeps getting postponed.
I quite liked your persistent pigeon and that path looked like a tranquil place to walk. Of course, the lamb is always a welcome sight, too.
Lambs are always good value for a photographer.