Today’s guest picture shows an art installation by Christo in Hyde Park in London. My sister Mary saw it and tells me that it is made up of 7,506 barrels. I can see that it is really big but whether it is good art, I cannot tell.
Our new spell of fine weather continued today with a fresh feel brought on by the brisk wind. It was dry and sunny though and Mrs Tootlepedal got through a power of work in the garden.
Our neighbours Ken and Liz dropped in to say hello to Mrs Tootlepedal in the garden. They were very impressed by the number of bees on the astrantias.
I was too.
I had to leave the gardener working as I went off to see the doctor. The result was a clean bill of health, though I have to keep taking the iron tablets, and permission to go back to the church choir and try some singing. I am going to take care to try and avoid straining my voice by improving my technique if I can.
As I crossed the suspension bridge on my way to the Health Centre, a passer by pointed out something strange under the town bridge.
I had a closer look when I got back from seeing the doctor. It was a substantial tree, snapped off near the base.
The recent strong wind must have done for it and the rain that followed must have floated it down the river. I don’t know how long it has been pressed against the bridge.
Back in the garden, Mrs Tootlepedal and Liz had looked at the cotoneaster and been even more impressed by the number of bees on it. I went to check it out.
They were right to be impressed. There were bees all over it.
I thought that the roses were looking well today and I took pictures of some of them.
Among all these riches, our single Melancholy Thistle….
…did look a bit lonely.
As I like furry plants, I was happy to see that our Stachys or lamb’s ear has started to flower.
After lunch, I decided to face the brisk wind and go for a pedal. It was hard work going uphill and into the wind at the start of the ride and I was happy to stop for a breather and a picture after 5 miles.
The countryside is very lush at the moment and the grass is growing at a good rate.
As are the docks at the top of Callister.
I stopped again at 10 miles and saw plenty of vetch beside the road…
…but the most noticeable thing was another snapped off tree. This one was sticking through the hedge but luckily had fallen away from the road.
It is always a hard time for trees when strong winds arrive when they are in full leaf.
After the first 14 miles, the wind was less of a nuisance and I was just getting up some speed when I had to stop because of a number of these.
I like to see orchids and hope to see many more but these were the only ones that I saw today.
A friendly wind blew me home and made up for the struggle on the outward part of the trip and I managed just over 30 miles and this brought me up to my target for the month. As there are several days of the month still to go, I am hoping to make a dent in my mileage backlog which is too large for comfort.
I stuck to my good resolution and instead of going for a walk or doing some mowing when I got home, I went in and put another week of the newspaper index into the Archive Group database. I was inputting data for 1897 and noticed a report of a car being seen in the town. Modern times are creeping up.
In the evening, Mike and Alison came round and Alison and I had a good time playing sonatas while Mrs Tootlepedal and Mike caught up on the news and sipped beer.
The flower of the day is another bee on the cotoneaster.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Glad you have a clean bill of health. I think some of the bees on your cotoneaster might be hoverflies.
That is quite possible. I wasn’t paying enough attention.
I saw a huge tree in our river just last weekend. We’ve had big winds here too, and they have blown down large numbers of trees and cut power to thousands.
You’re very lucky to have orchids grow alongside the roads.
Rosa complicata looks fairly simple.
I thought that about the rosa complicata too but someone told me why it has that name.
We got off very lightly in the last storm but the wet weather over the past two years must make things a bit unsteady.
The roses are lovely. So glad you got a clean bill of health. Yay! Also, interesting to note when the first car made its appearance. Not that the townspeople in the late 1800s would know this, but cars would change everything.
We are getting to stage that seeing a car in the High Street now will soon be a novelty. 🙂
Sigh.
G;ad to read that you can go back to singing, hope it goes well. Loved the roses and single orchid, I like orchids too so it was nice to see the picture if not the real thing.
Your bees do look very happy. Christo does seem to have gone rather mundane.
I have never been a great fan of his work.
Loved it when he wrapped the Reichstag but nothing else has caught my imagination.
It all looks rather expensive for what is mainly looks like just an idea to me. I am a grouch though.
Glad that you got a satisfactory report from the doctor. I hope you will be able to return to some singing. Lovely roses.
Good news about your clean bill of health, and if I’m not mistaken, the choirs usually go on hiatus for the summer months, so your voice should be back to normal by the time summer ends and the singing begins again.
I loved the roses, but the bee on the cotoneaster is magnificent!
The church choir is still on the go so I shall ease in gently there.
how lovely to have a rose called Goldfinch in your garden
And a nice rose too.
I admire the imaginative way you come up with variations on your themes… the flying birds (my memory is slipping, so I can’t remember some of the adaptations you slipped in when the birds didn’t cooperate, but I DO remember admiring them)… now we include bees buzzing on the flower of the day. It’s fun to see what you’ll come up with next.
Desperation is the mother of invention.
I am so pleased you got the all-clear from your doctor. Voice training is a good idea, especially as the male sections of choirs have to work so hard to be heard over the legions of ladies!
It might not be a good idea if I was heard too clearly.
You are too modest, I am sure!
Love that bee. So glad you got a good report from the doctor.