Not quite as fast as we hoped

Today’s guest picture was sent to me by Mrs Tootlepedal.  Having wakened at an unsatisfactorily early hour, she made use of the time to arrange her recent samplers on the kitchen table and take a portrait of them.

Once I had got up (at a more reasonable hour), we had breakfast and then Mrs Tootlepedal set off to drive to Lockerbie to catch a train to Edinburgh to see Matilda.

I went up to the High Street with Sandy to help hang our camera club Moorland Exhibition photographs in the old Post Office.  It is vacant at the moment and this was its first use as an exhibition space.

There were other pieces of art work to look at and we enjoyed these chain saw sculptures by a young fellow who has just started working at this skill..

We arranged our corner as neatly as we could….

…and then Dropscone arrived and gave me a lift home and we had coffee and scones with Sandy.   Our talk turned to medical matters as we had all got recent visits to hospital on our minds but we were remarkably cheery, all things considered.

When the others had gone, I spent a little time looking out of the window.  It had rained very heavily overnight but after some morning drizzle, the day had brightened up quite a bit.

A goldfinch made the most of some sunshine.

And the coconut did a brisk trade all day.

The feeder was generally busy.

There were black and white contrasts to be seen.

I took a walk round the garden.  The sun had encouraged the crocuses…

…even though there was plenty of evidence of the overnight rainfall.

The snowdrops have lasted very well and even the battered hellebore finally lifted its head.

I went round to the corner shop to buy some sardines for my lunch (my oily fish diet isn’t helping my brain power at all, which is disappointing) and then thought about a bike ride.

After our cold dry spell, the overnight rain had come with a big rise in temperature and we nearly hit 10 degrees C by midday.  Unfortunately the warmth had come with an accompanying wind gusting to 30mph but I girded my loins and set out with a mission in mind.

Official reports had said that the road from Langholm to Lockerbie was closed for a week at a point about half way along it.  On her trip to Edinburgh in the morning, Mrs Tootlepedal had therefore turned off on a diversionary route but had not seen any ‘road closed’ signs on her way so I went to see if the road really was closed.

It took me a long time to find out, as pedalling into the brisk wind taxed my legs.  The road was running in water in places because in spite of our dry spell the fields are still very waterlogged and there was no shortage of puddles.

We will need a warm, dry spell with some brisk wind before things begin to dry out.  The cold, windless days that we have been having have done little good.

When I finally got to the advertised closure spot, the road was indeed very closed.  For some obscure reason the road closure sign had been put at the wrong junction directing the diverted traffic down a narrow single track road.  Still, the pause at the road works gave me the chance to notice a very fine crop of birch polypores which I must have passed dozens of times without noticing.

I turned for home with the wind behind me and added a little triangular diversion to my route so that I ended doing 23 miles (at a very modest average speed). This wasn’t pedawdling as I had to try jolly hard even to achieve the speed that I did.  Although a few drops of rain threatened me from time to time, it stayed dry and it  was enjoyable to be out in temperatures that didn’t freeze my extremities.

When I had got back and had had a cup of tea, I was throwing away some old newspapers into the bin when a familiar noise attracted my attention.  Could it be spring?

It was.

The gentle purring of the frogs is always a welcome sound.  We are due for another spell of cold weather so I hope that they survive.

Mrs Tootlepedal’s journey to Edinburgh had not been smooth as her train had been delayed for an hour on its way up but the trip back was fine and she arrived home safe and sound.  I just had time to greet before popping out to attend the official opening of the Moorland Exhibition.   The exhibitions in the Information  Hub and the old Post Office were varied and interesting and I hope that they get the visitors that they deserve while it is on.  There are many associated events – walks, photography classes, talks and so on so it should be interesting.

I looked on Facebook and found that the choir organiser had posted some of the official photos taken at the Manchester competition.  I have copied two here for interest.  The first shows the whole choir after we had finished singing.

I can’t count them all but I think we had about eighty members there on the day. Our musical director is on the right of the picture.

The second picture shows a group of the sopranos with Mrs Tootlepedal giving her best.  She is standing second from the left in the second row.

The flying bird of the day is a dramatic chaffinch coming through sunshine and shadow in the pursuit of seed.