Gently does it

Today’s guest picture come from my younger son and has a rather specialist appeal to those who can appreciate the wistful sense of humour of the tradesmen of who superimposed the ‘for sale’ sign on top of the word ‘better’ on the now closed ‘better together’ shopfront.  The scratched out sticker on the lamp-post in the foreground used to say ‘Yes’.

We had another in our run of dry days but it was chilly enough in the morning for Dropscone to remark that he wished that he had put on a second layer before bicycling round with some scones to go with the morning coffee.  Sandy joined us, having been up to fill the Moorland bird feeders (and been bitten by midges).

We had all been busy before coffee, as I had put a week of the newspaper index into the Archive Group database and Dropscone had been out on his bike for the first time for some weeks.

It warmed up a bit as the day went on but I wasn’t tempted out on the bike as I thought that the message from my legs yesterday was clear enough to warrant a day of rest.  My only morning exercise was a little compost sieving and a wander round the garden. It wasn’t sunny but the light was rather sympathetic to the plants and I took far too many pictures which accounts for the composites below.

Poppy, geranium and hosta

Three Astrantia still giving value

Today’s poppy parade

Some flowers earned a solo appearance.

There are a lot of insects about and it was quite hard to find a flower without one on.

I took a portrait of one bug eyed monster and the gorgeous pansy it was sitting on.

I couldn’t resist a second visit to poppy and poppy.

The yellow crocosmia and colourful poppies finally arrived together when Mrs Tootlepedal wasn’t there to see them.

The feeders were as busy as usual but I have confined myself to a single shot of this very neat great tit.

I had a leisurely lunch, dallied over the crossword and then got organised to go out for a walk with Sandy.  While I was waiting for him to arrive, I looked at all the insects on the sedum by the feeder again.  It was fairly humming with life but interestingly, the other sedum, in a border behind the middle lawn, was attracting no customers at all.

When Sandy came, we drove down to Broomholm, where we parked beside the river and then we walked up through the woods.  There were signs of autumn to be seen.

Both large….

…and small

Our walk took us through oak woods…..

…and birch woods….

…and Sandy suggested trying a little black and white work so I did.

Oak in the middle of birch.

We walked up to the Round House and then back down to the road beside the river.  We visited the path that gives what I think is the best view of Skippers Bridge when the water is low and calm.

The view was delightful whichever way you looked.

I had hoped for a feast of fungi on our way round but they were few and far between.

Although we hadn’t seen anything of startling interest, the woods and the river were so easy on the eye and so peaceful that we both agreed that it had been a top quality short stroll.

We got home in time for me to spot a robin in the plum tree….

….chase off two cats….and catch up on a little business (among the items was writing to my MP to defend the interests of the BBC) and cook and eat my tea before it was time to meet up with Sandy again and go off to the Archive Centre.  The internet connection teased us for a while but finally settled down and let me put another week of the index in while Sandy sorted through some possible pictures for our revolving window display.  (It doesn’t literally revolve but is refreshed from time to time.) After a refreshment at the Eskdale, we retired to rest.

The flying bird of the day is a determined chaffinch.