More slow progress

Today’s guest picture shows a spectacular water meadow on my brother’s recent walk from his house in Derby.

We had a slightly less gloomy day today both medically and meteorologically.  I felt quite positive, though still pretty wheezy and I noticed an improvement on Mrs Tootlepedal, though she thinks she is never going to get better!

I had an errand to run for Mrs Tootlepedal in the morning and a couple of bills to pay in the town as well so I made two excursions to the High Street and, very daringly, I went on the slow bike to discharge the business.

Although it was still chilly, the clouds were a lot higher and the wind was very light so it seemed like a pleasant day.

Certainly there was much better light for watching the birds when I got home.

Our little gang of robins are still skipping about and posing for the camera.

And plenty of birds kept me busy refilling the feeder a couple of time during the day.

The better weather seemed to have calmed things down and there was no violence to be seen today.

There was no trouble in finding flying birds either.

In the absence of a lot of goldfinches and siskins, the chaffinches had a quiet day and I thought that the tableau below had the sober look of a Victorian gentlemen’s club.

The clouds got even thinner as the morning went on and there was even occasional glimpses of brightness so I took Mrs Tootlepedal up a light lunch and then got the slow bike out to see if my legs were up to a short excursion up the Wauchope road.

To say that I took things easily would be correct.  Indeed, I proceeded with such care up one short hill that my bike computer actually thought that I had stopped and went into pause mode.  I did stop and few yards further on and went down to look at the river.

You could almost say that the sun was shining but there was no blue sky, just moments when the clouds were so thin that the sun could shine right through them.

It made for kindly cycling though so I got back on and went as far as Mrs Tootlepedal’s old manure mine where I had another walk to break up the cycling.

It’s a grand spot for a walk, with interesting trees….

….a gate….

…a delightful riverside path through a little wood….

…with both moss….

…and lichen to add interest…

…and then another gate to bring you out of the wood and back into the field.

Although it was well above freezing, there was still an icy patch or two in well sheltered spots….

…and these were surviving even though the puddles that had caused them had long since drained away from underneath them.

I have received a letter from the association of Langholm lichens complaining about my statement yesterday that the only colour on the go at the moment is being provided by mosses.  They felt that I was underselling the wonders of lichen so I was happy to stop a bit further up the road where there is a vibrant lichen display on a wall.

I got up to Wauchope Schoolhouse and then resisted the temptation, which was quite strong, to add a few more miles and turned and headed home.  I was very happy to find that I could do seven miles of gentle pedalling without any bad consequences and even had a little tootle on my flute to celebrate.

I added to the glory of the day by doing a load of washing and giving the car a rather superficial wash.  If all this seems to indicate a miracle cure, I would have to point out that everything was done at a snail’s pace with plenty of serious resting in between.  I have some way to go yet.

The New Hampshire Gardener asked whether the lichen on the plum tree which appeared a couple of posts ago might be a tree lungwort so I used the better light today to take another picture of it….

…and my book suggests that it might be Lobaria scrobiculata, the textured lungwort rather than Lobaria pulmonaria, the tree lungwort but since I know nothing, any lungwort wizard out there is welcome to put me right.

After a relatively lively day, I settled down to a very quiet evening in and Mrs Tootlepedal and I enjoyed a light meal of scrambled eggs on toast for our tea.

I am looking forward to a little more progress for us both tomorrow.

The flying bird of the day caught what brightness there was.