Today’s guest picture comes from our daughter Annie. She got dizzy just looking up at this crane.
It rained in the night and it was still raining when we got up. As a result, it was quite easy for me to have a quiet morning in. What was not so satisfactory was that I chose to put a week or two of the newspaper index into the Archive Group database and sitting at the computer did not do my back much good at all.
From time to time, I got up and looked out of the window. It was not a cheerful sight.
The morning passed slowly and a goldfinch and a sparrow…
…shared their thoughts on the political situation in the country today.
There were too many flying birds for comfort….
…but a blue tit waited for a chance and sneaked up on to the feeder.
I had a cheese and tomato toastie for my lunch, courtesy of the wonderful George Foreman grill, a boon to lovers of the toasted sandwich, and afterwards I took another look at the birds.
A greenfinch was taking a relaxed view of life.
The weather improved a bit and I took a walk round the garden in a light drizzle….
…and enjoyed a little autumn colour on our climbing hydrangea.
I went back in and looked out again.
The birds on the feeder were looking the wrong way. “It’s behind you!”, I felt like shouting.
A dunnock posed…
…and I saw the oddest flying bird of the month. It is in the top left hand corner of the picture below.
I had got so bored by now and my back was so tedious that I went for a walk. Luckily the rain had got bored too and given up so at least I had a dry outing.
I opted for an undemanding flat three bridges and tottered round mumbling crossly to myself. I had really thought yesterday that my back was improving and it was annoying to find that it wasn’t. (The walk did some good though and as I write this in the evening, things have got better again.)
I saw some birds at the water’s edge, both swimming and standing.
As I crossed the Sawmill Brig, I noticed some fine lichen on the parapet.
There was autumn colour to be seen in the trees as I walked up the Lodge Walks….
…but there were a lot of leaves on the ground too, and at one moment, a burst of wind caused the trees to rain leaves on my head.
I walked past the Lodge and looked back as I walked back down towards the Jubilee bridge.
The river was grey and sullen when I looked down at the water but it was more inviting when I looked at the bigger picture.
I was almost home when some loud chattering made me look up to the top of the practice tower at the fire station.
There was a crowd there with no thought of social distancing..
I had made a batch of ginger biscuits earlier in the day (I said that I was bored) and I had a couple of them with a cup of tea when I got home.
Between the ginger biscuits, a cheerful zoom with Mrs Tootlepedal and my siblings, and some excellent mince and tatties for tea, I felt much better by the end of the day than I had in the middle.
The flying bird of the day is a sparrow.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
The lodge walks always look inviting,with a promise of what might be round the next corner.
You appear to have snapped the first wingless and legless sparrow in the world 😊
I don’t want to be picky but I think the spherical bird is a siskin. It does look amazing though, I agree.
I think your lichen might be a concentric boulder lichen (Porpidia crustulata.) It’s not an easy one to find here.
That’s a nice shot of the foliage at the river.
I find that sitting for any length of time bothers my back when it’s acting up too. I’m glad the walk helped.
I didn’t know that George Foreman was selling his grill there. I think he must have made more with the grill than he did boxing.
It was given to us a gift many years ago and I regarded it with suspicion but it has turned out to be very good and long lasting too.
I had to enlarge the picture for a closer look at that extremely odd flying bird. What a shot!
I wish that it had been closer to the camera.
The odd flying bird was a unique one. I had to look twice. A nice selection of photos, and thank you for the view of the Lodge Walks.
Your morning looked very much like ours today. The rain is most welcome now, and it s leaving enough space between showers to get some things done outside. We have a possible first frost coming Wednesday night, so I have a bit of preparation to do tomorrow.
The advance forecasts in the newspapers are for very cold weather coming our way. I just hope they are as accurate as advance forecasts in newspapers generally are. 🙂
The autumnal scenery is developing beautifully.
Glad your back and you had cheered up my the day’s end. Great header picture and, as always, I enjoyed the picture with the river in it.
Enjoyed the birds having a political discussion.
Great pictures of the autumn leaves – on the trees and the ground.
That’s a big starling bubble!
I hope to see more when the murmuring starts.
I really like the lane picture. So feeling for your back
Although I don’t necessarily like what it presages, I do enjoy walking through “raining” leaves.
I like kicking leaves a lot.
Keep kicking the leaves -may help to sort your back out! The Lodge Walks is guaranteed to give pleasure throughout the year but is especially beautiful in autumn. The flowers with the raindrops are lovely and the zombie flying bird photo is great!
My back was better this morning so I will take your advice.
rained all day here too. I got soaked while out working. Glad your back is feeling better by day’s end and that bird looks more like a speeding bullet.
It did look like a dangerous object, I agree.
Rather than back pain, I get neck twinges from sitting at the computer. Hope you’ll be feeling much better soon!
Sitting at a computer is not good for you any way that you look at it.
That flying bird is very strange.