Today’s guest picture comes from our daughter’s visit to Devon and shows the picturesque Royal Oak in Winsford, originally a 12th C farmhouse and now a hotel and restaurant.
After a very dry month of May, we are suffering from a very wet June and things are not made better by persistently strong winds. This morning it was merely showery but the very strong wind made cycling deeply unattractive so while Mrs Tootlepedal went off to sing in the church choir, I did some pro relaxing on the sofa.
I roused myself for a quick look round the garden but the wind made even ‘hand held’ flower photography a bit of a trial. Luckily the peonies are well sheltered from the prevailing wind.
One of the little roses is coming out but I will need a lot less wind to do it justice. In the absence of birds at the feeder, this goldfinch is very welcome.
The first campanulas have arrived…..
…but they are finding it very hard to keep upright in the wind and the rain.
The Sweet Williams are much more stocky and sturdy.
And the patch of the little yellow allium moly is well sheltered at the front of a bed.
The main business of the day was the last flourish of our Carlisle Choir before the summer break. A modest choral ‘flash mob’ experience had been planned at the Cumberland Infirmary to celebrate the end of a prayer week there and a group of choir members met to be the mob.
We had a practice in our usual rehearsal place and it went remarkably well considering that there were only two tenors and three basses to offset a good bunch of sops and altos.
However, when we got to the Infirmary, the basis of the flash mob experience, i.e. that a few singers should emerge from a crowd and gradually accumulate more singers as the song develops, was slightly undermined by the fact that there were more of us than members of the public but the those members of the public who were there looked suitably amazed and reasonably entertained when we wandered up and started to sing.
The performance went as well as could be expected and we wandered off at the end and went home. I am glad that this was the last time that I will have to sing parts from memory for a few months at least.
I was hoping to go for a walk when we got home but it started to rain just as we turned into the drive and I settled for a second go of pro relaxing in front of the telly. We kept off the politics for a change and watched some triathlon instead. It was very calming.
Looking at the forecast, the showers and strong winds seem set to continue for another week so I will find it hard to get any enjoyable cycle miles in.
Still, if we are confined to the house and telly watching, we should be royally entertained by the sight of our present incompetent government digging themselves an ever deeper hole to get lost in.
Mrs Tootlepedal made a lemon surprise pudding for our evening meal but as she had told me that she was making it, I wasn’t much surprised when it arrived on the table. It was very good though.
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You had some cracking photographs of flowers in your garden. Sorry about the weather though.
A flash mob where there were more mobbers than lookers-on? At least it went well enough. As for the hole you mentioned it can not be deep enough. We from here on the continent are watching the proceedings on the island with much concern. Was very astonished that Dumfries and Galloway fell to the Tories.
It looked likely to us as there is strong anti nationalist trend among the people who live so close to the broader with England and see a lot of difficulties if our two countries separated. Of course there would be no difficulty if we were both still in the EU! The Tory campaign was totally focussed on opposition to independence and never mentioned having a bit more austerity at all.
That goldfinch rose is beautiful, very delicate colour. We should never be surprised in this country when we are served lemons 😉
How true. 🙂
Love those peonies. Ours are still tightly budded.
The yellow allium shot makes up for the low photo ratio. Telly will indeed keep you entertained/flummoxed during the bad weather.
And cheaper than chemical agents too.
Perfect weather for pro relaxing!
True.
You will be quite glad to have a rest from learning tenor parts.
Great pictures of the garden flowers in spite of the wind.
You have to be careful, pro relaxing in front of the telly can be addicting, which is why I threw my telly in the trash years ago. Still, the flowers were as beautiful as they always are.
I can take the telly or leave it alone as most of what is on drives me crackers.
I’ll take a bite of that surprise pudding even if not surprised, too! Well done with the flowers pics in spite of wind.
It was good.
I’ll bet!
Yes, beautiful photos despite the wind. Hot as heck here across the pond in Maine—over 90 degrees and very humid. Sometimes, we must take a break from politics and revive ourselves with something lighter.
I am contemplating an ice cream after replying to your comment. 🙂
I wonder if our cool wet May will be your June. I hope not because it was terrible. Now we have heat and humidity which still isn’t optimum, but better.
I didn’t think a flash mob was supposed to know ahead of time that it was going to mob.
Beautiful peonies!
It was good your flash mob performance was appreciated by the select audience. A fitting end to the performance season. I loved seeing Rosa Goldfinch again.
As they were waiting in a hospital for one reason or another, they may have had other things on their mind so it was very polite of them to applaud us at all.
The secret to Lemon Surprise Pudding is to make it with oranges or limes.
Very good. Mrs T thought that was funny.
Good to hear. 🙂
The peonies are very beautiful and delicate looking. I hope mine do better next year. Some of the varieties seem to be more cold hardy than others.
Glad to hear the performance went well! I still wish I could sight read music like you. If my memory goes, I am doomed. 🙂
Reading music is a help but it would be better if I could confidently pitch the starting note!
I spend over two hours a day watching our foolish government digging its own hole and have also been watching yours.