Today’s guest picture comes from the Birmingham flower show that Mrs Tootlepedal and our daughter attended on Saturday. It doesn’t show any flowers though. Annie took this fine picture of the travelator which conveyed them into the NEC and, I think you will agree, it is just as fine to look at as a bunch of lupins.
I put out some peanuts after breakfast and they soon attracted the attention of the jackdaws.
I noticed a slightly different pigeon under the feeder and Mrs Tootlepedal suggested it might be a racing pigeon having a break. A look at the rings on its foot confirmed this hypothesis.
If it doesn’t move on soon, I will have to contact a pigeon fancier to see if it can be caught and returned to its owner.
I had a look at our bunch of peonies when I went out into the garden later on. They are flourishing and have hidden depths.
I tried to take an interest in some of our roses too but quantities of tiny insects had beaten me to it.
Other flowers, a few feet away, were insect free.
During the morning, I did some routine dead heading, mowed the grass round the greenhouse and the middle lawn and went up to the town to pay a bill. I might have gone cycling because it was a warm and dry day but a brisk wind, gusting up to 20 mph persuaded me that waiting for it to die down in the evening might be a good plan.
I can’t stop looking a a very nice Sweet William that Mrs Tootlepedal has planted. The colour combination is irresistible to my shutter finger.
When we were at Sue’s yesterday, she provided us with some delicious rolls at lunchtime. She said that she had made them using her breadmaker to make the dough. As we have the same model, I thought that I would give this a try and during the morning, I put the breadmaker to work.
I took some time out to look at the flying sparrows outside the kitchen window.
The dough looked very promising when it came out of the machine after lunch so I divided it up into twelve balls and went out for a walk while it was rising.
Before I left, I checked out the sweet peas and the runner beans, both of which have survived the sparrows.
My walk took me along the bank of the Esk. It wasn’t a bad day for midsummer.
The orange barriers and sacking on the far bank show where the flood wall is being repaired. It is hard to remember on such a lovely day that in January the river was within an inch or two of the top of the wall.
On the near bank in the usual spot, I saw two oyster catchers. A second look showed me that this wasn’t Mr and Mrs but parent and child.
I walked over the Town Brig and looked up the Ewes Water…
This too made a contrast from the scenes six months ago.
Back then walking over the bridge in shirtsleeves in the sun seemed like an impossible dream.
Today, there were flying oyster catchers and gulls enjoying the sunshine.
I continued round the pheasant hatchery and enjoyed being in the dappled shade as the sun was quite hot by this time of the day.
My route took me back over the Duchess Bridge…
…and round the school playing field, where a nettle caught my eye.
…and I got back home in perfect time to put the oven on and cook the rolls.
I won’t say that they were as good as Sue’s but they came out jolly well…
…and will constitute a severe temptation to anyone trying to keep their weight down.
Mike Tinker dropped in for a cup of tea. He brought with him a large and delicious piece of Welsh cheese which he had kindly brought back from his recent holiday in Wales as a gift for us so I gave him a couple of the rolls to take home with him.
I continued to think about going for a cycle ride but the brisk and vigorous wind continued to blow so thinking about it was as far as cycling got for today.
The garden looked very nice in the evening sunshine and I took a few more pictures to make up for not pedalling.
If I am to avoid strong winds in the coming days, I will have to get up early according to the weather forecast. That will be a challenge.
The flying bird of the day is a Kilngreen gull in cruising mode.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
I loved the two scenes of the Ewes Water, what a contrast. The rolls looked delicious, I could almost smell them.
Quite a difference in the winter and summer views of the Ewes Water. The rolls do look good.
News of the well-provisioned Tootlepedal bird feeders has apparently traveled far and wide. Your pigeon guest may have decided that the good life there is far preferable to racing. And who could blame the little fellow? Good luck capturing the bird and finding the owners. I found this link to the Royal Pigeon Racing Association. They have a stray reporting page.
http://www.rpra.org/stray-reporting/
Thank you for the link. We have a friend who is a pigeon man and dealt with our last permanent visitor. Often the birds will move on when they have had a rest and a feed. I haven’t seen it today so I am hoping that it has gone home.
I have trouble from those tiresome pollen beetles too. Not only do they sit all over the brightest of flowers but they also like my washing and I seem to bring hundreds of the creatures indoors with me. Beautiful views from your walk and the rolls look delicious!
I don’t think they infest our washing so we must be thankful for that.
Insects are very choosy it seems. Those Sweet William are lovely.
They are. She has several other colours out but those are my favourites.
The sweet Williams look much like a colony of maiden pinks I saw the other day.
I hope you won’t see that much water in the river again right away. That looks scary.
The peonies and roses are beautiful.
We also hope that the floods pass us by next winter.
Splendid travelator.
Loved the Sweet William, and the fine record of your sunny walk.
Would have liked to have tasted a roll.
The rolls look very tasty, but I loved the close-ups of the peonies even more!
It was a fine day for a walk, much better than earlier this spring, and the photos showing the difference are dramatic.
We have to keep pinching ourselves to check that the weather really is a fine as it looks
The pink rose may be an insect magnet, but the way the petals are unfurling is very beautiful. Quite the contrast between floor and post-flood photos.
(And by the way – the rolls look very tasty!)
They were delicious and I have been banned from making them again for a few weeks.
Incredible bird photos. Thank You.