A pedal and a tootle!

Today’s guest picture comes from our friend Bruce who was beside the Tarras Water today. I expect that this golden-ringed dragonfly was having a rest as it was obviously tired.

We had another mostly grey but dry day here today, still a bit cool for the time of the year, but there was nothing to complain about as Mrs Tootlepedal did a lot of gardening and I got a pedal in.

The morning was mostly sociable. First Sandy came for coffee, and then Margaret dropped in as he departed. By the time that I had been to the shop, there was not much of the morning left. As it is always good to have visitors, we were happy.

I didn’t get a camera out until just before lunch, when I took a quick walk round the garden. The first plum is nearly ripe.

We are hoping that the wasps won’t discover the plums until we have had some to eat.

The bees seem happy enough on the dahlias.

I like these rather colourful heleniums . . .

. . . but when it comes to colour, this dahlia is hard to beat . . .

. . . though the little poppies, which never stop flowering, are trying their hardest too.

Crown Princess Margareta is calling up reserves in the battle to be the last rose of summer.

We were looking at the calendula bed at the end of the drive as it needed weeding when we found a stranger.

It turned out to be an unintentional dill plant.

It was a bit windy after lunch, but I went for a pedal anyway. I cycled around the Solwaybank windfarm, but in the opposite direction to my usual route. I thought that this might be the best way of dealing with the wind.

The bull was very surprised to see me going the wrong way.

I had made a good decision as quite a bit of the ride into the wind was sheltered by trees along the road . . .

. . . and when I did get into the open, my mind was distracted from the effort of pedalling by the fine views . . .

. . . and some impressive rose hips . . .

. . . among which this was the prize specimen.

Although climbing to the top of Callister Hill from the west is much the steeper than from the east, my usual direction, the wind gave me a pretty hefty helping hand. After stopping to photograph the bridge over the Kirtle Water at the bottom of the hill . .

. . . I was wafted to the top of the hill by a favouring gale, much like Koko in the Mikado.

I did stop half way up all the same, on the excuse of taking a picture of the view up the valley.

Once I was at the top of the hill, the full beauty of my route planning came to pass, and I covered the last five miles back to Langholm at an average speed of 20 mph. This was cycling at its most satisfying.

We had two family meetings over the internet when I got home, the first with Matilda and her parents on the occasion of her father’s birthday, and the second with my brother and sisters.

What with two coffee guests in the morning and two virtual meetings in the afternoon, we had had a full day but it was not over yet.

As we have all had two doses of the vaccine, three quarters of our recorder group met for the first time for well over a year. Jenny was not available, but Sue and Susan arrived and we spent a most enjoyable hour and a half remembering how to play the recorder. We were all a bit rusty, but after a while, we got the hang of it and played some lovely music quite well, if a bit more slowly than we might have done before the lockdown.

After the playing, a chat with Mrs Tootlepedal over a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit made the occasion feel very special. We aim to meet again soon.

I didn’t have time to catch a flying bird among all the excitement today, so a distant siskin at the feeder is standing in.