Today’s guest picture comes from our son Tony who remarked that he hadn’t seen a cloud in the sky all day. But that is East Wemyss for you.
It was a day of coming and going today; coming to Langholm and going from London. I walked down with Annie to deliver Evie to her nursery and then, after a last look at Annie’s garden . . .
. . . I walked down with Mrs Tootlepedal to the tube station to catch an underground train to Euston Station. I was a bit nervous about this, but the train was not very full, everyone was wearing masks, and social distancing was being observed. We got to Euston without any worries.
We had arranged to meet my sister Mary at the station for a goodbye coffee before we caught our train back to Scotland, and we managed to arrive pretty well at the same time. We had coffee and toast at a station eatery, and once again everyone was behaving extremely sensibly so we had our meeting in pleasant conditions. I may add that the toast which came with the coffee was as perfect as a slice of toast could possibly be. It would almost be worth visiting London again just to have another slice.
It was very good to chat to my sister, and she parted company with us as our train was called. We joined the train in good time, and then the curse of Mrs Tootlepedal struck again.
Regular readers will know that on her last train journey a day or two ago, she had trouble with trains at Maidenhead not going in where they should. She had to leave and rejoin trains until she finally found one going in the right direction. Our train today turned out not to be going anywhere at all! All the passengers had to get out and embark on another train in scenes very reminiscent of M. Hulot’s Holiday.
As a public service, we are going to publish a note when Mrs Tootlepedal attempts to catch another train so that people can be warned of the trouble ahead.
Apart from that, the train trip was excellent, and we passed the time by watching the final mountain stage of the Tour de France on Mrs Tootlepedal’s tablet. We had plenty of time in hand at Carlisle before catching the bus, so our arrival there a bit late was not a problem. We had time for a coffee and a cake at a cafe near the station while we waited. All the same, we were very happy when we finally got back to Langholm, even though we had to trail our cases over the town bridge as the suspension bridge is still not open.
The view from the bridge as we crossed it, suggested that it hadn’t rained much in our absence.
However, the view from the front gate reassured us that the garden had not suffered too much as a result.
We had a walk round before we settled in, and I took a few pictures. My first call was to see if the raspberries had ripened while we were away.
I checked on the roses.
Special Grandma gets a slot of its own.
Mrs Tootlepedal was pleased with the progress of the snapdragons.
In the front bed, dahlias and calendulas are looking promising.
And the evening sun picked out the clematis beside the front door.
A bee grazed the eryngium.
All was good.
We went back out into the garden later on and by coincidence met Mike Tinker and some of his family who were passing by. He and his wife Alison have been keeping an eye on the garden while we have been away and have done a great job in caring for our tomatoes.
It was a really enjoyable visit to London but we are still pretty pleased to be back on our own patch and there is plenty of work waiting for us in the garden for tomorrow.
No flying bird or flower of the day today, but a reader has asked for a picture of our compost bins so here it is. They are built on a modular system which makes it easy to adjust their size to current needs.
Footnote: The header picture is the view from the train as we went through the Lune valley. When we get there, we feel that we are nearly home.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
The gardens look in fine form, nicely cared for by Mike and Alison in your absence.
That blue hydrangea is quite beautiful. My mother loved those, too, and always wanted a blue one. She had a large white one by the back door when I was very small. I seem to remember something about soil pH affecting the color, but it has been a long time since I thought about planting one of those.
I think that you are right about the soil pH but we don’t grow them so I don’t really know anything abut them.
I know what you mean about being nervius in ‘new’ situations where people are around. I’ve been to our local not-for-profit cinema this evening, my first evening outing since February 2020, and I was not really relaxed to begin with, despite wearing two masks (a surgical one and a higher grade one – FFP2 since you ask), being socially distanced, and feeling an unexpected cool breeze, welcome ventilation. But the film, ‘Nomadland’ was excellent, and I soon forgot my surroundings.
What a wonderful sight/site at your gate!
I am glad that you enjoyed the film after you had plucked up the courage to go to it.
What a joy it must have been to enter by that front gate.
Despite the view from the bridge it doesn’t look like any of the flowers (or fruit) has suffered at all.
There’s nothing quite like a good slice of toast with a cup of coffee. That was my breakfast many mornings when I was a lot younger than I am now.
Welcome home.
It was a relief to find that the garden had done well in our absence. There had been enough rain for the flowers even if it had not raised the river level
Lovely to visit family, but coming home is such a good feeling.
Agreed on both points.
Your garden is astounding!
Mrs T puts a lot of work into it.
Glad that you’re safely back home. Your flowers are lovely.
Thank you. We were pleased to be back.
First of al I must say that I like the header picture because of the beautiful landscape and the blue sky… as here in Belgium we had severe rain (for several days). In the south (The Ardennen) there where floods and even houses that collapsed ! There are several deads too. Same in Germany, near the Belgian border.
I hope you enjoyed your stay with your family in Londen. Trains in G.B. seem to be confusing and not always going somewhere… ha ha ha…. After all you got home well and your garden looks fine. The raspberries look delicious.
Enjoy the comming weekend 😉
I have been reading about the terrible floods in Belgium and Germany.
I have been stuck on a train to Brussels too.
Apart from the trains I am glad you had a good time in London and found your garden in good shape when you got home. Your London relations, of whom there are many, were very pleased to see you both at Evie’s party.
Those raspberries look just right. Garden loking beautiful.
Very much enjoyed seeing you for coffee and toast at the station.
The garden is definitely thriving. I’m pleased that your trip went so well
It was lovely to see our granddaughter and our daughter too. We have not seen them nearly often enough.
Your flowers were quite welcoming on your return! Beautiful!!
We were pleased to find them in good form.
nice pics!
Oh i envy you your compost bins. I finally bought an enclosure but it keeps getting knocked down. The garden is amazing – a riot of summer color.
The bins work very well. The garden is doing very well considering how little rain we have had.
The garden gave you a grand welcome home- it all looks beautiful. I had to look up M. Hulot’s Holiday…looks good!
If you get the chance to see the film, take it. It is very funny.
That’s awesome. Thank you!