A winter’s tale

Today’s guest picture shows a friendly squirrel which approached my sister Mary in the hope of a snack.

After yesterday’s gloomy and damp afternoon, I was more than pleased to wake up to this view from the bedroom window this morning.

After breakfast (and a little lie down to get my strength up), I looked out of the kitchen window….

…to see some visitors….

..and then set off to climb up to the monument to enjoy the snowscape.

It didn’t take me long to be able to look back over the town.

My route ahead was a challenge.

But I plugged away and in the course of time was able to enjoy the views from the top of the hill.  I looked east into the Tarras valley….

…and north up the Ewes valley.

I would have liked to linger a little longer but there was a brisk and biting north easterly wind blowing…

…so I was soon on my way back down amid the snow covered tussocks.

Luckily I had my Yaktrax in my pocket and I put them on for the downhill section.  They were useful and I leapt from boulder to tussock with great confidence.

Near the end, I walked down the golf course which wasn’t looking quite as green as it was yesterday…

…and got home in time for lunch.  I was very grateful for my new knee as I wouldn’t have been able to contemplate this walk last year.

I had time to look out of the window again….

…before I had to go off to see the dentist for a routine check up.    Sadly, I am going to have to go back and see him again soon.

It was such a lovely day that when I got back, I persuaded Mrs Tootlepedal to come out for a walk round Gaskell’s.

We noticed a huge and quite old fungus on a tree stump which we have passed many times.  It has been hidden until recently by some scrub which has now been cleared.

 It was very nice to be out in the sun but we had to keep our eyes down as the tracks and paths were very icy in places.  It was a relief to come out on the road at the Auld Stane Bridge where we could look about and walk at the same time.

It was hard to relate my snowy morning walk to the mellow sunshine on the fields beside the road.

..but we had a glimpse of Whita and the golden light as we came back into the town.

Using his advanced tea kettle detector skills, Mike Tinker arrived just as the pot was being filled and enjoyed a slice of Selkirk bannock with his cuppa.  He told us that an article in his morning paper had said that the hair frost, which I had seen yesterday, was present in dead branches which had been infected with a certain fungus and this fungus had caused the holes through which the frozen moisture is exuded.

In the evening, we went off to the Ewes SWRI Burns supper where we had an excellent meal, listened to some well delivered speeches, were enthralled by Grace’s renowned recitation of Tam o’ Shanter and generally had a good time.  Luke and I played four tunes on our flutes.  Luke played very well throughout and I played better for the second pair than I did for the first two.  It was incredibly hot in the hall and it took me a bit of time to get the feel right.

It was -4°C when we came out.    Definitely a winter’s day today.

The flying bird of the day is a chaffinch.

I owe Evelyn Carlyle a deep apology as I inadvertently put her embroidery into last night’s post upside down.  I blame the lateness of the hour, old age and natural stupidity on my part.  I have rectified this in the post and put it here the right way up .