Today’s guest picture was sent by Mary Jo from Manitoba to contrast with her recent snowy scene at home. It shows England in the summer, taken when she visited Salisbury earlier this year.
A very brief post today as we didn’t get back from Edinburgh until nearly eleven o’clock.
I still have the cold so I went for a short walk in the morning.
The larches are still golden.
The hardy cattle are out on the hill, impervious to frost and rain.
The bare trees let me look at the Wauchope Water.
I was very surprised to find this leycesteria beside the path. I have never noticed it before.
I was less surprised to find lichen on the park wall among the moss.
When I got home and checked, I found that our leycesteria was doing very well too.
There was just time for an early lunch when I got back and then we drove off to Tweedbank to catch the slow train to Edinburgh.
When we got there, Mrs Tootlepedal had a bit of shopping for winter clothes to do and while she went inside, I stayed outside and took a look at Sir Walter sitting underneath his monument and some very brave souls who had climbed the many stairs to peer out at the world from the highest turret above his head.
Shopping done, we caught the bus to Matilda’s and found that her father had an even worse cold than mine.
We had hours of fun with Matilda including football in the garden. Not only is she developing some fancy footwork….
…but she shows a pleasing willingness to track back when necessary, an example to some of our highly paid professionals.
Mrs Tootlepedal also passed on some gardening skills.
We went in for Snap and Pelmanism and many good games involving Dr Matilda and her patients.
We left before tea today as we had arranged to meet our other son Tony with his partner Marianne and her children Dylan and Tash for a meal to celebrate Marianne’s recent birthday.
We chatted so pleasantly that we missed the five to eight train home but we were not worried as we knew that the trains go every half hour…..or, as we found out when we got to the station after passing under this elegant archway…
…. every half hour until eight o’clock….and then every hour.
As a result, we spent some time having a cup of hot chocolate in a cafe and arrived home a bit later than planned. Nevertheless, it had been a good family day all round.
I only had time for a single non flying bird of the day today.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
A full day! The larches are beautiful.
I was ready for a sit down when we got home.
Nice to see more larches.
It’s interesting how we can walk the same trail many times and still see something new each time, like the leycesteria.
Matilda looks ready for winter. I have a hard time getting there.
Since we hardly had any summer this year, it has been very easy to get ready for winter.
Even on a day when you spend little time at home, you still are able to fill a post with many good photos. I also enjoyed seeing a few more of the landmarks from Edinburgh.
I wish that I had had time for a walk about as the weather was very good.
Sorry your cold is still with you despite an energetic day visiting your family in Edinburgh.
A very elegant archway. Glad you had such pleasant family get-togethers.
Love those larches. Being Scottish larches (I guess), you likely don’t call them tamaracks the way we do here.
No we don’t but it sounds a good name so I might start using it. 🙂
They are also–less commonly–called hackmatacks.
I would think that you might be making that up if I hadn’t checked to see that it is true. 🙂
Ha.
Lovely views of Wauchope Water just peeping through the trees and beautiful colour on the larches. Matilda is obviously developing many skills : gardening, quick footwork and artistic talent on the walls…the next Banksy?
Well done for spotting the art.
I hope Dr Matilda gave you a clean bill of health, especially after the work-out in the garden.
She was more concerned with her dad feeling poorly than my cough.
Of course! I hope he gets better soon.
Is this a part of Scotland’s plan to dominate world football over the next generation?
Absolutely.
It may well work.
I am sorry to hear you still have the cold, and now Matilda’s father, too. Get better soon.