Sunny afternoon

Today’s guest picture shows a very fine bridge over the River Ouse near which my brother Andrew had a cup of coffee recently.

We were blessed with another day of unrelenting sunshine but, in the morning at least, it came with a bearable temperature and very light winds so when I went out on my bike after coffee, it was a perfect day for pedalling.

I had cleaned and oiled my chain before I started so it was happy and I had chosen a fairly flat and unchallenging route so I was happy but sadly, the only dissenting members at the party were my legs which for some unknown reason were on a go slow.  There is no arguing with legs when they are in this sort of mood so I calmed my expectations down and pedalled gently about the countryside for thirty miles humming cheerfully to myself.

There was a lot to see.

Before and after my ride, I had strolls round the garden.

Flowers grown from seed flourishing in light or shade

The butterflies were back

After  a shower, some lunch and a bit of gardening, I went off for a walk with Sandy.  By this time it had got very warm so it was lucky that we had chosen a short walk by the river as if we had gone any further, we might have melted.

We parked at Hollows Tower….

…and walked down through the fields to the Esk, stopping on the way to record anything that caught our eyes.

Sandy has an unfair advantage. He can crouch down…and then get up again.

I was looking at seeds and fruits…

The first blackberry of the year up here.

..and wild flowers.

The river was looking very peaceful…

..and in the distance we could see a heron perched on a caul.

The caul provides water for a mill stream that powers the Archimedes screw which has appeared on the blog before.

On the far bank of the river we could see strata of rock. perhaps 300 millions years old, making me think of just how recently human beings have arrived on the scene.

We walked down the river to look at the sluice gate for the mill stream…

…and have a closer look at the caul.

The sluice is on the left of the river as we look.

We did think of going on down to look at the bridge at Hollows but by this time we were nearly roasted so we pottered back to the car and drove home.

I had a last look round the garden when I got in.

Mrs Tootlepedal had dug up one of our main crop Hungarian potatoes and the crop looked to be slug free which is always a relief.

The onions are drying in the greenhouse.

A blackbird caught the evening sun…

..and above our heads, a butterfly got some late warmth on the roof tiles of the house.

During the day, I mowed the front lawn and having looked at the front and middle lawns, I think that this might be the one day of the year when they look quite good.

The lawn seasons starts in about February when the lawn master walks around sucking his teeth and saying, “Oooh, the moss is very bad this year, there’s no hope.”  Preliminary work, scarifying, fertilising and if necessary a little weed killing starts in April or May and then a programme of regular mowing is put into practice while the lawn master walks around saying, “Oooh, it’s not looking very good.”

Then one day in August, it looks like this.

And the lawn master is happy.

And then of course it is all downhill again.  Worm casts, rain, cold, moss, moss and more moss and then the lawn master walks round saying, “Oooh this looks bad”….and the whole thing starts again for another year.  But today makes it all worthwhile.

The flower of the day is a poppy at its its poppymost.