A pedal and a tootle!

Today’s guest picture comes from my son Tony and shows the welcoming committee gathering as they hear him coming home.

Although the temperature had risen considerably when we got up this morning, the weather had not improved in any other respect and it was wet and windy and grey and horrible.

To my amazement, there were still bees on the sedum….

…but they were looking bedraggled to say the least.

I spent some time putting another week of the newspaper index into the Archive Group database and some time idling around doing nothing more serious than the crossword and drinking coffee.  By midday, the rain had stopped so I put out some of the tempting pellets on the lawn feeder.  They soon created some interest.

The pink ones are the prize….

…for both jackdaws and starlings.

But when all the pink ones have gone, they eat the less attractive ones as well.

The old feeder was well attended too…

….but the siskins have found a better source of food at the moment so the chief visitors are chaffinches and sparrows.  There are occasional goldfinches and some great, blue and coal tits flit in and out on a regular basis but not in great numbers.

The garden had taken a battering from the rain and the poppies were either not to be seen at all or hanging their heads sadly.  The fuchsia seems more waterproof.

The tropaeolum is still in flower but it looked rather sad too today.

When the rain stopped, more bees appeared but they looked the worse for wear.

I was amazed that they can fly at all when they are in this state.

It was warm though and wherever I looked, there seemed to be plenty of insects about.

After lunch, Mrs Tootlepedal went to Longtown to get her new glasses to go with her new eye.  She kindly took my speedy bike down to the bike shop on her way.  It should be ready by tomorrow afternoon.  I am considering a new saddle and seat post saddlebag so I hope to get that sorted too.

While she was gone, I got out the slow bike.  The forecast was for a big drop in windspeed and some sunshine in the afternoon so in spite of some gloomy looking grey clouds, I set off to do a modest twenty miles at slow bike pace.

When I started, the roads were very wet still and the Wauchope was carrying a lot of water along its course…

…but the forecast turned out to be quite correct and as I pedalled along, the wind dropped away to almost nothing and the sun made an appearance.

The slow bike is hard work going up hills so I was happy to stop and take a picture of one of my favourite views as I went back over Callister on my way home.

I stopped for a last time just as I got back to Pool Corner when I very colourful bunch of rosebay willowherb caught my eye.

While I was pedalling along, I got a text from Susan to say that she was unable to come to recorders as she was suffering from a bad cold.

Mrs Tootlepedal was hard at work in her role as Attila the Gardener when I got back to the house.

She was clearing things out and putting things in so I sieved some compost for her and that went in too.

She had collected some bracken after getting her new glasses and she had laid this on a couple of the vegetable beds.

The bracken works as a mulch to stop the exposed soil getting battered by the winter rains and it has the benefit of being absolutely free of charge.

Near the bracken covered bed, the Golden Syllabub rose is having a late but somewhat soggy burst of blooms.

I noticed that chives have flowered again and that they too had friends.

It would be interesting to know how far the very wet bees have come to get to the garden today.  Perhaps they have a nest close by.  Does any knowledgeable reader know how far a wet bumble might travel from its base?

I chased what I think is a moth round the garden as it flitted from flower to flower but these were my best two efforts to catch it.

I looked on the internet to try to find out what it is but couldn’t pin it down so if any moth fancier can help me with an ID, I would be very grateful.

After giving some thought as to whether I was going to drive to the recorder group by myself in the absence of Susan, my usual chauffeuse, I decided to go and I am glad that I did as the four of us who came had an excellent evening of playing.  While we were waiting for the fourth player to arrive, we played two movements of a trio by Hindemith.  It was written for a music day at Ploner and those who only have a slight acquaintance with the music of Hindemith might be surprised to hear that is both not too difficult to play and quite tuneful and easy to listen to. (Though we didn’t play it quite as briskly as this.)

The flying bird of the day, taken after the weather had improved, was one of the many chaffinches.