No guest picture of the day today but a picture of the road where I was staying as a guest of my sister Susan overnight before our journey back to Langholm.
It was a warm morning in Kentish Town in North London but somehow, although it was sunny and however quiet and tree lined the road was as I went to buy a pint of milk for our breakfast, it didn’t quite have the allure and sparkle of Marseille.
Susan lives in a quiet corner of the busy city and I like this elegant way of stopping cars driving past a primary school near her house.
Mrs Tootlepedal was staying with my sister Mary a few hundred yards away and we met up after breakfast and after a restful pause we caught the bus down to Euston and the train up to Carlisle.
We met a friend on the train and when we found that we had some time to spare before we could catch the bus to complete the last leg of our journey, we went into a Mexican restaurant with him and had a cup of coffee along with some with French fries with a sour cream dip, as one does in Carlisle, before finally getting home.
The garden looked surprisingly well.
The dahlias were surviving, although a lot of dead heading is needed.
And the usual suspects were also doing not too badly.
There were a number of blackbirds about…
…looking quite well fed. This may explain where almost all of the rowan berries have gone during our absence.
The lawns needed mowing but I left that that for tomorrow and after we had unpacked, we had a meal of baked potatoes followed by baked apples, both from the garden. If you can’t be sitting out in the evening sunshine beside the old port in Marseille eating fish, sitting in and eating food from your own garden is a good substitute.
For each of the next few days, I am going to fill out one of the brief reports which I posted from my phone while we were away, adding photos that I took with my Lumix. Those who would like to see more details of our French holiday can start with the first day post by clicking on this link: Marseille:Day One.
The flower of the day is one of Mrs Tootlepedal’s favourite dahlias.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Welcome back home and your garden still looks good to me.
It looks a bit more ragged than when we left but there is still quite a lot of life in it.
The idea of even trying to compare Kentish Town (which is where I met your second sister 44 years ago, when I also lived there) with Marseille is, is, … I can’t find a word for it!
My nerines are nowhere near flowering yet, in this south western balmy climate. Very odd.
Both Kentish Town and Marseille have their charms in my view.
I haven’t seen a single Mountain ash (Rowan) fruit picked from any of 3 trees I’ve seen. In fact they’re falling to the ground. Our blackbirds must be fussier than yours.
I’m sure it’s great to be back!
Or our berries taste nicer than yours.
It is nice you found your garden in such a good shape, minus the Rowan berries.
The blackbirds continue to be busy among the berries.
Lovely fuchsia and I very much enjoyed the link to our first day. That view looking back and down over the old port was to die for.
Glad you found the garden so colourful on your return. Very much enjoyed following you and your Lumix around on our first day in Marseilles.
Marseilles looks amazing and home seems to have behaved well (blackbirds aside) in your absence and nothing beats homegrown dinners 😊
Langholm is much as it was when we left. It is always a relief to come home and find that it is still the same place. This may explain why I don’t travel a lot.
Welcome home.
Thank you.
My garden should look so good as yours, Tom! Here it has been in the 90s and we have had no rain to speak of. Everything is toast.
Welcome home!
We are rarely short of rain here and lovely though Marseille was, it is also very nice to come back to a ‘green and pleasant land’.
Welcome back. The flowers made a lovely welcome too.
Your garden always looks so wonderful to me. We have been short on rain too, and the temperatures still spike up rather quickly. Love your well-fed Blackbird and the dahlia. Welcome home.
There are benefits to living in a cool, wet place (which we do not always appreciate).
Welcome home and the garden look beautiful!
No real rain here yet, just a little drizzle. We hit the mid 80s today after a cool period. The weather seem to be up and down during this transition time into autumn.
It is hard to think that there are people who would like more rain!
I am always glad to get home even though it means returning to the old routines. You have such a beautiful bright garden!
It’s surviving for the moment.
Our garden is looking extremely tired despite our ministrations.