Today’s guest picture comes from my brother Andrew and shows two views of the town of Boston in Lincolnshire.
It was another hot day here today, with our local weather station recording 29°C, and our friends Mike and Alison Tinker saying that their garden thermometer got up to 30°.
We took the day at a steady pace.
Mrs Tootlepedal had a social day as we entertained Dropscone to coffee (he brought the excellent scones which we ate with freshy minted raspberry jam), and then were joined by Margaret. After coffee, Mrs Tootlepedal went off to a lunch with her ex-work colleagues, and then spent the afternoon at a meeting of stitchers.
If all goes well, we are expecting a visit from her granddaughter Matilda and her parents in August as they are going to take their summer holiday here in Langholm. Mrs Tootlepedal thought that Matilda might find a tent on the lawn fun, so we looked out our old tent. We haven’t used it for about twenty years, so it was with some trepidation that we pulled it out of its bag and opened it. Greatly to our surprise, it looked to be in good condition, and even more greatly to our surprise, we managed to put it up.
It was too hot to sit inside it today, but we have left it up overnight to give it a good airing.
While Mrs Tootlepedal was socialising, I was wandering about the garden doing some hand watering and dead heading.
Although we don’t have all Our dahlias in one glorious bed like Maureen, we do have quite a lot sprinkled over the garden and I was spoilt for choice when I looked at them today.
Mrs Tootlepedal overwintered a few of them but most have been grown fresh from seed this year.
There is quite a selection of other flowers to enjoy at the moment.
Nasturtiums are to be found creeping about all over the place.
And of course, there are roses.
Before I went in for lunch, I had a look at the tent from the outside looking in . . .
. . . and from the inside looking out.
I felt quite young and adventurous as I sat in the tent and remembered camping outings from my youth, but I felt a little less young and adventurous as I struggled to get up and get out again.
Still, I managed it.
After lunch, I had a quick look at the birds and found the usual suspects on the feeder and below it.
A little later on, I heard swifts swooping over the garden so I went out to see if I could capture them in flight . . .
. . . and then got my camera to look up under our roof to see if their cries had provoked interest from the nest.
It would be good if one of us can see the young bird(s) leaving the nest but it will be a matter of chance. Were still not sure if there is more than one bird in the nest.
After a certain amount of time looking at the thermometer and wondering about the heat, I pulled myself together and went out for a gentle 20 mile cycle ride round the Solwaybank windfarm.
As I should have known, it was perfectly pleasant on my fully air conditioned bicycle.
As soon as you stop your bike however, the air conditioning stops too and you soon heat up, so I didn’t look for a lot of photo opportunities as I went round.
A fine collection of loosestrife gave me an excuse for a breather as I went up a hill . . .
. . . and I was stunned to see a big number of orchids in the verge a little bit later on.
This should have been a photographic treat but I was a bit late and a combination of the very dry weather and the bright sunshine made it impossible to get a decent individual flower picture at all.
The dry weather is also turning the country prematurely brown.
A change in the weather is coming and the view to the south had turned hazy today, so that the hills of England could hardly be seen in the distance.
However, the change is going to be gradual, and although it will not be quite so hot over the weekend, we will have to wait until next week to see any rain here.
In the meantime, I got home today without getting cooked, and thoroughly enjoyed my outing.
A look round the garden when I got back showed that we may expect to be eating runner beans soon.
We had a quiet evening in, recovering from two days of unusual heat.
I did manage to spot one standard feeder flying bird today.
Footnote: I was checking on the forecast while I was writing this post and I saw that there was full moon tonight, so I went for a look. I couldn’t see it anywhere until it unexpectedly popped up very low in the sky behind some trees on the horizon. It stayed very low and gave me different views to my usual moon shots.
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Fabulous moon shots!
They were a happy accident.
The third, moon and tree, was especially nice.
I’m glad and relieved that you managed to get out of the tent.
Not as much as I was.
Those are nice shots of the nasturtiums. I’ve been struggling with red lately.
Great shots of the moon through the trees too. That’s one I’ve never been able to get.
I’d bet that Matilda is going to love that tent.
I have had one or two goes at the nasturtiums over the last few days without any success so I was pleased to find the right light in the end.
You have packed in an interesting variety of things for us to look at and think about today. I feel sure Matilda is going to enjoy the tent. I think your flying bird of the day is an outstanding photograph.
We are keeping our fingers crossed that Matilda and suitable weather coincide.
Wonderful moon pictures, very artistic.
I’m sure Matilda I’d going to enjoy that tent.
The moon pictures are especially good – and the roof shot still intriguing
Nothing beats a tent on the lawn…or a blanket over the dining table at a pinch 😁 those moon shots are wonderful.
We just hope that we get good weather for the tent.
It was fun seeing the tent on the lawn! I especially enjoyed that final moon shot. Great one!
I was pleased to have looked out at just the right time. It had disappeared not long afterwards.
Your runner beans are further along than ours. I enjoyed all these beautiful photos, and I am sure Matilda will love that tent. Thank you for the view of the swift nest, and that extraordinary nasturtium photo.
The runner beans still have some way to go but luckily the broad beans are proving very productive so we are still full of beans.
Great photos of the swifts they are so difficult to photo. The tent is a brilliant idea and will be such fun for everyone to enjoy especially the littlest member of the family! Love the creative photos of the moon and all those beautiful dahlias.
I didn’t have to much with regard to the moon. It was there for a while and quickly sank again.
I have never been camping in my life. Something I’m sure I would enjoy, but never been inside of a tent. Ever since I started reading about cycle tourers wild camping, it has got more of an attraction. Your lawn looks the perfect setting. So Once I’ve got the Pioneer electrified the next thing on the agenda will have to be a two man tent. It will have to be one of those that you throw on the ground and it erects itself. Otherwise I’d be up all night trying, I’m useless with instruction sheets. Lol, cheers.
We were talking about one of those ‘throwing’ tents while we were putting up ours. They sound very good. You will need a comfortable mattress too. There are some very high tech solutions to that.
I have never heard of a throwing tent. Will Google, sounds like a great invention.
They are quite common in the UK.