Saluting our organist

Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Susan.  She was having a cup of coffee beside the Paddington Canal basin when she was  greeted by an appropriate bear.

The main business of the morning was the Common Riding church service where a presentation was made to our choirmaster and organist Henry, this year’s cornet.  We had a more than adequate replacement in the choir loft and we sang a selection a popular hymns with great gusto, and threw in a three verse introit and an anthem too.

As the congregation was much larger than usual, it would be fair to say that we made a joyful noise today.

The service started later and took longer than usual, so it took up most of the morning but the late start gave me time to wander about the garden before going to church.

It was a cloudy day and the light gave me a chance to get a good look at our St John’s Wort which is thriving uninvited in a patch in the vegetable garden

Its cheerful berries are almost as good as its bright flowers.

The Queen of Denmark is lasting very well and adds a touch of class to the garden.

Under the groaning plum tree, the first flowers of alstroemeria are poking their heads out.

…and the purple clematis nearby enjoyed a brief burst of sunshine.

The poppy of the day is one of those that look as though they have been made of crushed tissue paper…

…and the white flower behind it is a sort of achillea.

I have tried and failed to get a good picture of our white astilbe but the camera finds the pink one a little more sympathetic.

When we came back from church, the skies were very gloomy but Mrs Tootlepedal got busy tidying up the garden, clearing away many of the flowers that are over.  I made myself useful when I could and made a pot of coffee to keep the gardener going.

The forecast was very gloomy with heavy rain promised in the afternoon, so we didn’t make any plans.  Once again an interesting stage of the Tour de France gave us something to watch while the day got gloomier outside.  In the end though, the rain which poured down on the Open Golf in Northern Ireland, must have passed just to the north of us and it remained dry enough outside for me to have gone cycling.   As my feet were feeling the effects of yesterday’s short walk a bit, I was quite happy to put them up, and I didn’t grieve at the lost opportunity too much (or indeed, at all).

I was half thinking of an evening ride but an occasional light drizzle and the need for a visit to the shop put paid to that and day turned out to be a day of rest, very suitable to a Sunday.

The light was so poor that the most interesting thing I saw when I was looking out of the window at the birds was this phlox, growing in the bed in front of the window.

There were a few birds about…

…but not many.

We are getting regular updates from London and we are very pleased to be told that our new granddaughter Evelyn, is progressing well and all is well with her parents too.

Today’s short post will make up for the excessive length of yesterday’s offering and as tomorrow’s weather seems to have a lot of rain in it, perhaps things will be quiet again.

The nearest that I could get to a flying bird of the day was this collared dove which had been flying shortly before I took its picture.