Today’s guest picture comes from my Welsh correspondent Kieron and shows a Welsh tree from Wales.
The wind was slightly kinder today but it was still very cold out in the garden, unless the sun was shining….which it did intermittently.
When it shone, I tried to be ready with my little camera. Among the familiar faces of grape hyacinth, pulmonaria and cardamine, a dianthus, a dandelion and a daisy caught my eye.
All the while, our resident blackbird kept its eye on what was going on.
The tulips didn’t manage to come out as early as last year and it looks as though we might have to wait until April for them.
The magnolia might just make it in March if we get a kinder day tomorrow.
In spite of the chilly temperature, we spent quite a lot of time in the garden. Mrs Tootlepedal worked on her vegetable beds and tidied up the flower beds, and I sawed logs as the tidy up of the log shed continued. Then, under supervision, I gave shrubs a haircut and pruned the plum tree.
I went very cautiously about this business because I had no ambition to repeat the plank trick. In fact, in my sawing, I dealt with the offending plank and I think that I can safely say that I have cut it down to size. My nose recovered remarkably well from the bashing and Mrs Tootlepedal’s neat work with tape meant that the cuts were well healed today.
In the afternoon, we were serenaded by a dunnock in the walnut tree. It spent a lot of time singing loudly though it wasn’t clear if this was to attract a mate or frighten off the competition.
We had some suitably separated conversation with Mike and Alison whose permitted exercise took them past our front gate. I will have to give up the meadow pipit battle and settle for them being song thrushes as too many people have told me that I am wrong now.
The weather got a bit warmer in the afternoon and I was able to sit on the new bench and enjoy the daffodils…
…and the cowslips.
It was my intention to make some ginger biscuits and then go for a bike ride in the calm of the evening, but circumstances intervened.
I enjoyed this flock of dancing daffodils and went in to cook.
And once inside, somehow or other I made a mess of the ginger biscuit weighing and measuring process and the mixture wasn’t right. I had to add a bit of this and that at a late stage and hope for the best. But the best wasn’t forthcoming and the resulting biscuits were not up to standard at all.
Perhaps because of the bang on my head and perhaps because of the general situation at the moment, I got rather gloomy about life, biscuits, bicycling and everything else too, so I decided it might be better just to go for a short walk and not risk losing concentration while pedalling.
The weather looked a bit ominous as I set out…
…and a few light spots of rain made me press on past a gull on a rock…
…and a tiny wagtail in the rain.
The sky cleared again as I got to the Castleholm…
…and I enjoyed looking at it through the trees.
Pussy willows greeted me as I crossed the Jubilee Bridge
…and I liked the combination of sunlight, blue sky and clouds at the monument.
Our neighbour’s flowering currant is in full swing and made a cheerful end to my walk.
In the garden, I saw the new and the old before I went in, the first of the Erythronium and the last of the Winter Jasmine.
The non flying bird of the day is a chaffinch on the feeder. (Mike and Alison say that they have plenty of birds coming to their feeder.)
Tootlepedal's Blog 
I had also intended to cycle today,but it was so chilly that I spent 2 hours deep cleaning my old faithful car instead,which was long overdue.
Tomorrow’s another day and slightly warmer for a bike ride.
Your resident blackbird is very clean,he must be looking for a mate.
What’s happened to the robin.
I don’t know. I haven’t seen it for quite a time. I am going for a pedal tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
I managed to get my bike cleaned, lubed and aired up for the first (short) ride of the year. It might be the only one for a while though, as we’re told to expect up to 25 cm of snow over the next few days. This is what we call the “Winter Fair Storm” because winter’s last hurrah usually falls during that event. As the fair is cancelled this year for the first time since WWII, I was hoping the storm would also be cancelled. No such luck, apparently.
Cut the board down to size, did you? 😢
The snow must be a bit annoying at this time of year. We are threatened with some too but just a sprinkling.
I like the view from the bench.
Your willows are at the same stage as ours but most of your others are ahead by a bit.
Too bad about the biscuits. I hope all of the beautiful things you saw on your walk lessened the pain.
The biscuits were eatable so they were not a dead loss.
Those patches of blue sky and patches of sunlight are most welcome in those photos. Another rainy day here.
We are past peak daffodil now, with just the ones I planted in December still blooming, and my only surviving tulip blooms near the garage wall, because I planted it in gravel. The rodents have not been able to dig it out and eat it there.
At least we don’t have rodents eating our tulips though slugs like them.
Your neighbor’s flowering currant is beautiful. I would never have thought to use it as a hedge.
It works well over the top of a fence.
Lovely sky, clouds and trees pictures. Sorry about the biscuits
I echo my sister’s comment, especially the cloud pictures.
Cheers, Tootlepedal. I’m pleased about the nose and can identify with “under supervision”.
Strictly under supervision.
Glad to read you cut that plank down to size. Beautiful, beautiful pictures.
I showed it who was boss.
😉
The dancing daffodils look very pretty altogether and the neighbour’s flowering currant is quite lovely too and further ahead of our bush here. Hope the frost stays away so the magnolia can blossom fully without damage…gardening can be quite stressful. Going for a walk is the best option.
Gardening is thoroughly dangerous! The magnolia is showing signs of frost burning on the petals as it opens.
Those photos through the trees…showstoppers!
It made going out for the walk worthwhile.
Beautiful garden, as always and I like that flowering currant a lot. Mine tend to peter out before they get that big and healthy. I’m reading backwards so there is an ominous plank in my future.
I’m working backwards. This is good because I can now have a laugh without feeling guilty. knowing that a bit of tape and a set of bad biscuits are the only lasting results. 🙂