Today’s guest picture comes from Mike Tinker who is on holiday in Wales. He tells me , “I came across this interesting ancient monument while walking here in New Radnor -it is strangely called Four Stones.” I think that I have worked out how it got its title.
We had a really pleasant day today – warm and dry, not too windy and with some occasional sunny spells. I should have been out on my bike all day as I am still short of miles for June but a combination of mild asthma and sore feet kept me off the bike in the morning.
This gave me the chance to go bee hunting again.
We are getting a good variety of bees which is pleasing.
There are plenty of bright flowers for the bees to visit.
And lots of detail for the bees to admire when they make their visits.
I was very pleased to see some flowers on the potatoes…
…and I am looking forward to some new potatoes from the garden in the not too distant future.
After a look at the tropaeolum….
…which I see has had to be tied down to stop it flying off, I got the hover mower out and gave the greenhouse grass and the drying green a haircut. Mrs Tootlepedal has been busy with the strimmer so although these areas are in the working part of the garden, they look very neat.
I was just thinking about going for a cycle ride after lunch when a knock on the back door heralded the arrival of Dropscone at a very non standard time. He had purchased four brioche rolls at such an advantageous price (10p for all four) when passing through Hawick just before the supermarket closed for the night that he felt he had to share them with me. This was very kind of him and we enjoyed two each over a cup of tea.
After he left, I finally got kitted up and went off on the fairly speedy bike. I pottered round the 20 mile trip down to Canonbie and back with plenty of stops for photos. They haven’t got round to mowing the verges immediately out of the town so I was able to enjoy a colourful mixture of buttercups and clover….
…with an attendant bee…
..before pedalling on wondering how they could bring themselves to cut verges when they look like this.
There was a different sort of growth beside the road at the top of the hill on the Kerr road.
These tubes all contain broad leaved saplings as the landowners can’t get permission to plant conifers unless they provide a fringe of native trees round the new plantations. On the other side of this little summit are rows of identical conifers.
I am looking for views taken in Canonbie Parish to enter into the Canonbie Flower Show in August so I tested out a few possibilities as I went from Langholm Parish into Canonbie and then back out again.
The natives were interested in what I was doing.
In between taking those two views, my route took me down the main Canonbie by-pass. This is quite a busy road with fast traffic and and I don’t usually stop for picture opportunities while I am on it but some bright colour caught my eye today and I applied the brakes.
For a short section of the road, the verge was full of orchids. They must bloom there every year but I have never noticed them before. I couldn’t miss them today.
I stopped for my three favourite trees in full summer rig out….
…before cycling through the village and back up the Esk to Langholm.
The verges on the old road hadn’t been cut and I stopped twice for things that got my attention.
I was going to take a picture of a yellow rose in the garden when I had a walk round after I got home but on closer inspection, I decided that it might not be quite what the readers would want to see…
…so I didn’t take it.
After tea, another excellent fish pie from Mrs Tootlepedal, I went off to sing with the small choir that is practising to sing three songs in a concert in the town in July. There were nine sopranos and trebles, four altos and three tenors. I modestly took my place as the one and only bass but I certainly didn’t oompah up and down the square.
We had a most enjoyable practice and I have got a month to try and get a bit of tone quality into my unused low notes.
No flying birds or bees today.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
It seems the upsides of a warm day outweighed the downsides. Beautiful flowers in the garden and along the road.
The upsides were the winners by far.
As a singer you are certainly versatile. As a photographer you are the best. I loved the potato flower and those orchids in particular.,
Versatile but equally bad in all departments except reading the music.
I like that shot of the potato flowers too. The vegetable garden often holds some real beauties.
I’m glad you’re seeing plenty of bees and glad they’re holding still for you. I haven’t gotten a good shot of one yet.
The orchids are amazing, both for their beauty and the fact that they grow on the roadside and survive being mowed down. It seems that they start mowing earlier every year here. I’ve seen 3 tractors already and it’s only mid June. It loos like you have the same problem.
The roadside orchids were on a wide verge where the mowing didn’t reach all the way across.
How about baling the silage for the Canonbie show.
Good to hear about the native trees vs conifers.
It is a token but welcome all the same.
I agree with Mary; baling the silage has my vote!
The colours were good, I agree.
Wonderful photos! Believe it or not, your neck of the woods looks a little like central Maine, where i live.
I can quite believe it and will look at Google maps to check it out.
We have more trees, I think. But we do have some rolling hills and fields here, too.
There certainly seemed to be a lot of trees when I looked on the map.
Maine is pretty forested. However, the pictures in your post did remind me of Maine. Later pictures, of the beautiful rolling countryside, not so much 😉
Good to see so many bee photos! When the spearmint starts looming, ours should be covered in bees, in a good year. If we have few visitors on the spearmint, then I will definitely be concerned.
The shot of the three trees and the open road is always a welcome sight. 🙂
Our privet is the thing most likely to be really buzzing with bees but it too is not out yet.
Lavinia, a friend in Oregon once got mulch from a mint farm. It smelled so good!
Mint makes good mulch (and smells great), but I am told unless it is organically farmed, it contains a lot of unwanted chemical residue.
Oh dear! I hadn’t thought of that. It’s the same thing here with cranberry mulch not being organic (except for one farm, Starvation Alley).
Goodness, you have practically crawled inside the flowers with those bees. What an incredible close-up lens you must have. Beautiful color in there.
You just need the bees to stand still. I am never satisfied with my close ups and am trying to hone my skills.
That is an interesting rule about planting conifers. Wowzer re the orchids and bees!!
When I see flowers beyond the mowing line I always wonder how many more flowers there would have been. Our local farmer is very good and doesn’t mow until after the flowers have seeded. However, some of our home owners, (especially the newer ones) like to mow the common land verges near their homes to ‘keep them tidy’!
I can understand their wish for tidiness as they might well think that people would object to a wild verge.
The two views that you shot to possibly enter in the Canonbie photo show caught my eye, very well composed! I’d tell you again how nice it is to see all the beautiful flowers, from either the garden or along the road, but you’re probably tired of hearing that.
I am never tired of kind comments.