Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Mary. She has combined some good autumn colour with a grebe.
My plan for the day was to leap out of bed early and go for a cycle ride and then go to see the physio for a check up. I managed half the plan. The physio was very helpful and has discharged me with admonitions to keep doing the exercises but not to do do them too much. I shall pay attention.
The high spot of the cycle free morning (I did not leap out of bed) was the arrival of a huge parcel which when opened, revealed its very modest contents.
I know this sort of thing makes sense to someone but it doesn’t make sense to me.
As it turned out to be a cold and windy morning with quite a lot of miserable drizzle about, I was quite pleased with the lack of leaping out of bed and enjoyed a gentle stroll round the garden to see what flowers are surviving…
…and to pick up a few more of the excellent walnut crop.
Most of our colour will come from shrubs until the the spring bulbs arrive.
I watched the birds as well and recorded a crow in the plum tree, a rare visitor to our garden, though we do see quite a few rooks.
A chaffinch is a more regular sight.
Under the feeder, a robin…
…and a dunnock kept a wary eye out for cats.
While up above, a blue tit snatched a seed before flying off.
There were plenty of birds about and a goldfinch seeing a fellow being assaulted by a greenfinch headed for safety.
A female chaffinch made a neat landing.
After carefully checking on the trains, we drove across to Lockerbie and caught a reasonably punctual train to Edinburgh
Matilda’s parents went off to a parents meeting at her school and we had a very entertaining time with Matilda. There was creative dance, shooting Grandpa with a bow and arrow, and games of Carcassone and Pelmanism.
Al and Clare returned with good reports of Matilda and we enjoyed another excellent meal before setting off home.
The train home was late and as we are setting off at the crack of dawn tomorrow to catch another train, this time to Glasgow, our fingers are firmly crossed.
This also explains this brief post.
The flying bird of the day is a goldfinch in a queue
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Wonderful pictures – I have become quite smitten with your Robins. : )
They are favourites on Christmas cards.
Today’s robin puts on a little more of the cute.
I look forward to seeing your spring bulbs. They come earlier than ours and help break through the winter doldrums.
Matilda is lucky to have a grandpa she can shoot with a bow and arrow.
I am lucky to have a granddaughter to shoot me.
A fine variety of birds.
I enjoyed the title of today’s post. Im glad Matilda’s bow and arrow caused no lasting damage and hope Doctor gave you an indication of how much is too much. Its not always easy to work out until too late.
It was a physiotherapist not a doctor and I always pay very good attention to them as they know what they are talking about as they have seen so many cases.
Good luck with the Glasgow trip.
It went well.
Good.
I’m with Jodie about the robins. So different from our robins, which are elegant but not as cute and perky as yours. Bon voyage!
Thank you. We had a good time with the trains for once.
I was a bit concerned with the bow and arrow report, but since you’ve written this post, it appears my concern was unwarranted!
There was a handy rubber suction cup on the arrow. 🙂
Quite handy indeed!!
Nasturtiums are such hardy souls. One year we had a bright yellow-flowered volunteer come up by the garage and hang on well after first frost in its protected location.
The FBOTD reminds me of an airport, with planes in a queue for takeoff.
I am glad to hear you are still with us after being shot with a bow and arrow. 🙂
It was touch and go. She is a deadly shot.
Just checking up on you, Mr T, as I read on the BBC about lots of rain and flooding. Probably far south of you. I am sooooo looking forward to a nice cup of tea and catching up on your blog this weekend.
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My brother in Derby has a lot more water than he wants but we were fine and sunny all day.
Hope your pretty dunnock is becoming more aware of where the cat may be hiding! Sounds like an enjoyable afternoon with Matilda. On WordPress there are always two other blogs advertised below your post and today it was your post from June 14 2014 and a photo of Matilda …you leapt out of bed on that day!
I’ll have to look at that as I don’t normally see the bottom of the blog.
Like the angle of the flying bird, an interesting shot.
Waking up has been particularly hard to do lately, but it seems that there are signs of life returning after all. Sister Mary’s image is beautiful.
I am glad that you are getting better