Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Susan who is having a short break in Chichester with my sister Mary. They couldn’t help noticing the cathedral.
The weather here was variable once again. I got up early intending to go cycling before breakfast but it was raining. I fortified myself with porridge and a banana and went off after breakfast. It was still raining
It rained for pretty well every one of the twenty miles down to Canonbie and back home. I didn’t take any pictures.
It stopped raining more or less as soon as I got back, and I walked round the garden admiring the dahlias, many with insects enjoying the flowers too.
Then I walked to the shop with Matilda. We passed a very fine St John’s Wort on our way.
On our way back we noticed that there is a little more water in the river now.
Mrs Tootlepedal was in the garden when we got back, and she and Matilda cut some flowers for the visitors’ bedrooms, while I did a bit of dead heading and enjoyed the good spread of French marigolds round the old chimney pot.
After lunch, we all went for a walk to the top of Warbla. The forecast was dubious about the wisdom of walking, so we took umbrellas and rain jackets. Naturally enough, the weather remained dry for the whole of our walk.
We passed a large family of ducks swimming down the Wauchope as we went into the park. You can see some of them in today’s header picture. There were eleven in all.
Mrs Tootlepedal, Matilda and I forged ahead in our quest for the summit, though we did stop and look at things as we went. We saw quite a lot before we even got to the open hill. The blue flower is devils-bit scabious I think. The yellow flower is a better picture of the Impatiens noli-tangere.
We were happy to stop and admire the views as we went up the track. It was a rather grey day, so the views weren’t stunning, but we thought that they were worth a look. (I recommend a click to enlarge the pictures in the gallery.)
It was pretty windy at the top of the hill so after a quick look down over England where there was some distant sunshine. . .
. . . and another over Langholm where there wasn’t . . .
. . . we turned back down the hill and headed for home. We hadn’t gone far before we met Alistair and Clare coming up the hill at a more sedate pace and Matilda walked down the track with her father complaining about cruel grandparents who made her walk up steep hills.
He was very sympathetic.
Everyone was restored to full health and happiness by a good supply of drop scones made my Mrs Tootlepedal when we got home.
I took a moment to watch the birds before our evening meal. There were siskins, siskins and greenfinches and siskins and sparrows.
It was mostly peaceful but there was one incident of a small siskin kicking a much bigger sparrow ff its perch.
Everyone was pleasantly tired after the walk and we had a quiet evening in.
The flying bird of the day is a siskin . . .
. . . and the flower of the day is a lovely dahlia which would be a knockout if only it had all of its petals.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Sorry about the rain on your cycle ride though good to see much more water in the river. Great views as you climbed up Warbla.
Nothing like a good hike to tire everyone out!
Yesterday I uploaded photos from the past several months onto my computer so I could review and edit them. They included pictures from a day I spent in an extensive, professionally managed garden. Looking through those pictures, I was reminded again that it is not easy to just walk through a beautiful garden and get good pictures; it takes patience and skill.
So… I offer my admiration for Mr. Tootlepedal for bringing us lovely flower pictures every day. Thank you.
You are very kind. Photographing gardens as a whole is a tricky business which is why I most often stick to single flowers.
The marigolds around the chimney pot look very attractive.
They have done very well this year.
I like them, too.
I guess Alistair identified with Matilda – no doubt thinking about his cruel parents in days gone by
On the contrary, Alistair leapt across bogs, ploughed through rough country, and ran uphill and down dale with never a complaint as we went orienteering all across the country.
🙂
Nice story and panoramas but I liked the cathedral too 🙂
The cathedral is very fine, I agree.
Another beautiful assortment of photos, especially the views of the countryside. I would love to stand on those hills and look off into the distance. The Impatiens noli-tangere brings back many pleasant memories of childhood, even though it was the orange variety that grew at the edge of the swamp. As children, we had fun “popping” the seed cases, and watching the pod explode and seed go everywhere.
More extreme heat here coming up. 92 here today and 101 tomorrow. I check the weather report, the farmers’ market across the valley will see 106 degrees tomorrow. Shoppers will need to come early. My favorite patch of cladonia is withered and doing nothing in this weather.
Although we haven’t had your heat, we had a hot and dry spell which was enough to set our cladonia back too. Perhaps our cooler, wetter spell will encourage it again.
The hills always look wonderful even when you can’t see them…if you see what I mean!! I like the last dahlia as it’s even more striking by not being complete! All the ‘perfect’ dahlias are beautiful but have attitude!!
We have quite a few of these defective dahlias this year.
What beautiful scenery! Here across the pond we’d call the yellow flower a Jewelweed / Touch-Me-Not.
Your jewelweed, I. capensis is not the same plant as our I. noli-tangere though they may both be called jewelweed.