Good holiday weather

Once again, the guest picture of the day is a gallery from Matilda, our guest photographer. She was hunting bees today as well as capturing the morning sun on the Calibrachoa

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I had a walk round the garden with Matilda after breakfast where we saw two blackbirds basking in the sunshine . . .

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. . . and I took a couple of pictures of my own . . .

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. . . including the nasturtiums and clematis at the front door. They make a good contrast, the clematis with lots of flowers but few leaves, and the and the nasturtium with many leaves hiding its flowers.

Then I took a break from grandparenting fun, and went up the hill to have coffee with Sandy. He is off to visit his son for a few days, so it was good to catch up with him before he left. He introduced me to the Royal Game of Ur, a ancient version of Ludo. It is obviously just a game of pure luck, as he managed to beat me easily when we played.

When I got home, I walked to the park with Mrs Tootlepedal and Matilda on their bicycles. I sat quietly on a bench as the ladies whizzed around. I caught a picture of Matilda in motion . . .

. . . but Mrs Tootlepedal was too speedy for me and always passed me in a blur.

I took a picture of the river instead.

Did I mention that it was another perfect day for pedalling in the park?

It was such a nice day that when Matilda’s father, who is ‘working from home’ had finished his tasks for the day, we went for a outing to the Tarras water.

It was very peaceful.

We parked our cars on the flat ground beside the river.

Mrs Tootlepedal and I had walked along this road a couple of days ago and seen goats and birds aplenty. Today, when the light was much better, there was not a goat or a bird to be seen. But there were cinnamon buns to be eaten and rugs to be sat on . . .

. . . sparkling water to be enjoyed . . .

. . . stones to be piled up . . .

. . . and Frisbees to be thrown (and occasionally caught).

There were some pretty flowers on the bank on the far side of the stream.

Rather frustratingly, we had seen large dragonflies flitting about from time to time without ever getting a chance to take a photograph them. Then, just as we were getting ready to leave, Clare spotted one settling on a grass at her feet. It took the rest of us some time to spot it, but both Alistair and I got a picture of it in the end . This was my effort . . .

. . . and this was Alistair’s.

It clung to its grass very patiently while we waited for our cameras to get in focus.

Meanwhile, Matilda and Mrs Tootlepedal had found another one on the bank of the river a few yards away!

Happy with this success, we drove home in time for a cup of tea and my second strategy game of the day. This time, Matilda and her parents introduced us to Dominion, an interesting game where the winner is the player who has acquired the most land by the finish. You might have thought that Mrs Tootlepedal, with her knowledge of the recent community land purchase, would be the expert at this, but it turned out that game experience was the most important thing and Matilda won by miles.

Google Lens obligingly told us that it was a golden-ringed dragonfly that we had met on our outing, and a full length portrait stands in for the non existent flying bird of the day today.