Low

Today’s guest picture is the last from Dropscone’s Highland holiday.  He and his daughter Susan visited Loch Ness but resisted the charms of the cruise boat and drove round the loch by car instead.  They didn’t see a monster.

It was another gloomy, damp day here with the clouds hanging low over the  town and frequent spells of miserable drizzle to make things damper and gloomier.

Mrs Tootlepedal found a nearly dry moment to take our visitor Riley for a walk after breakfast, and Riley enjoyed a well earned rest when he got back.

I had a pretty good rest all morning myself and it was only interrupted by the arrival of Sandy for a cup of coffee and a biscuit.  He had had a very good ride on his new electric bike yesterday and was full of praise for the way it had carried him up steep roads and over the hill and far away.  He has written about his trip here.   This might interest anyone thinking about getting an e-bike.

When he left, I went out into the garden to see if it was raining.

It was.

Looking around, I could see that our power lines were busy.  I don’t usually expect to see a robin perching on one.

I do expect to see starlings at present.  They were adopting varying formations today,

A blackbird preferred to remain at a lower level and took the chair.

Sandy went off to the Archive Centre and brought back some sheets of the newspaper index for me to put onto the database.  Spurred by this, I caught up on my backlog, and it looks as though there will be plenty more gloomy weather to come which will encourage me to put in these new sheets soon.

As the afternoon wore on, the drizzle stopped and I found myself with just enough time for a quick three bridges walk before my flute pupil Luke arrived.

I nodded at some flowers as I left the garden…

…and walked down to the suspension bridge from which I looked up river towards the first bridge that I would cross…

 

…and down river to where the poplars are just beginning to change colour.

The best leaf colour of the day was lying in a gutter beside the bridge..

…and there is a bit of worry that the leaves may fall off the trees this year without giving us a good show of autumn tints.

I walked along the river bank and crossed the town bridge.  I was hoping to see some riverside birds, but the only one that I came across was Mr Grumpy, standing on one leg.

I then walked up to the Sawmill Bridge and crossed it.

Looking up the Lodge Walks from under the canopy, the trees look pretty green still…

…but looking at the same trees from outside in the field, they look rather brown.

Across the Castleholm, there was a mild show of colour but the birch trees have lost all their leaves already and give the scene a rather blurred look.

A little burst of sunshine appeared but it lit up Whita Hill and the monument while I remained under a cloud.

When I got to the Jubilee Bridge, the third of my three bridges, something had changed since my last walk.

I realised that I could see more of the bridge than usual and this turned out to be because someone had cut down one of the two big trees that stood beside the bridge.

Why they should have done this is a mystery at present.

I stood on the bridge and looked upstream.

 

And then I walked home and saluted a beautiful astrantia which welcomed me into the garden.

My flute pupil Luke came and we practised some new pieces which was exciting.

Mrs Tootlepedal has been looking at recipes and made a delicious red lentil dal to go with a second helping of the venison stew.  The day ended well.

There are two flying birds of the day today just because I didn’t have much else to do in the morning except look up at distant birds.

First, a rook flying high over the garden…

…and then a starling, trying to find a better power line to perch on.