Today’s guest picture is another which Mary Jo took while being driven through the Rockies. These mountains make our little hills look quite insignificant.
After yesterday’s brief sunny interlude, we reverted to autumnal gloom today, and there was no motivation to put a nose outside the back door all morning.
We did open the back door for long enough to allow Margaret to come out of the rain and in for coffee. By the time that she left, the rain had stopped, but there was a very stiff breeze blowing. I stayed inside and made another tarte tatin. This was the third one that I have made recently, and practice is paying off as far as the pastry and caramelised sugar go, but I still haven’t been able to get quite the right firm and crisp apples. I will keep looking.
I turned out the tarte after lunch, and then finding myself at a loose end, I went for a walk in the wind. Between the wind and the gloom, taking pictures wasn’t really a productive occupation but I couldn’t help snapping away as I came down the Becks road towards the Auld Stane Brig . . .
. . . and the little lichen garden on the fence post at the far end of the bridge was looking remarkably fresh.
As I crossed the bridge, I was swithering about whether to come back along Gaskell’s Walk in the shelter of the trees, or take the track up the lower slopes of Warbla and come home via the Kernigal. This notice made the decision for me . . .
. . . and I headed off up the hill. There were no views to reward me for the climb, only a leafless tree and a flock of low flying corvids.
I walked through the Kernigal wood and took the track down to Skippers Bridge, looking around a bit in the wood and when I came out of the trees.
Whichever way you looked at it, it was still a very grey day indeed. However, it was warm and the rain stayed away, so as a walk it could have been worse.
I did get a little colour from a yellow fungus at the cottage just past those two trees..
The last two days have made a difference in our autumn colouring . . .
. . . but it was a pity that there was no sun to bring out the highlights. I had to use the photo editor to get any light at all into the pictures today.
When I got to the suspension bridge, I peered over the edge to see if they had finished the new footing for the pier in time for the predicted high river tomorrow. They had . . .
. . . and if the forecast is anything to go by, it will get a good testing over the next two days.
There was new scaffolding up at the church, suggesting that may be going to get the church bell ringing again soon.
I hope that it is firmly fixed.
When I had walked up the main road from Skippers Bridge, the oncoming cars had all had their headlights on, so it was no surprise that I needed to use the flash on my camera to take pictures of the flowers in the garden when I got home, even though it wasn’t particularly late in the day.
It made a good job of a snapdragon . . .
. . . but it was too bright for one of the feverfew, which turned its head away.
The second flush of the pale astrantia is still doing remarkably well . . .
. . . and the little red rose keeps producing new flowers.
In the absence of good gardening weather, Mrs Tootlepedal had been busy stripping wallpaper while I had been out walking.
In the evening, I rang my friend Gavin, a local walks expert, to ask about the path closure sign at Gaskell’s Walk. He told me that the council had closed the walk after an engineer had visited to check on the safety of a bridge over a deep gully.
This is the bridge, taken last month . . .
. . . and here are two pictures that I took when it was installed in 2014.
There has been a good deal more erosion of the banks of the gulley since then, and Mrs Tootlepedal remarked to me the last time that we walked across it, that she thought that the ends of the bridge were looking dangerously near the edges. As so often is the case, she has been proved to be right.
The birds liked the weather as little as we did, and I didn’t see a single visitor at the feeder today, so the flying bird of the day is one of the corvids that I saw on my walk.
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I love the lichen on the fence post. It looks like a green bouquet of divers kinds of flowers.
It has been there for years too.
Have just spent my coffee time reading about Corvids with one eye on the magpie riding round the paddock on Froda the sheep’s back. Never heard the term before. Every day’s a school day😊
What a great expression: “every day’s a school day”!
I like it a lot; it kind of puts a positive spin on my ignorance 😁
We tend to say, “You learn something every day.” I think that I have proved that that often isn’t true in my case. I make the same mistakes a lot. 🙂
I heard that saying a lot on Beechgrove from the wonderful Jim McColl.
I’m glad they caught the teetering bridge in time. That could have been ugly.
I thought your foliage colors looked good for such a gray day.
I like the lichen and moss garden. I’m sure the rain must have perked them right up.
The lichen and moss have sprung back to life after our very dry spell over the late spring and summer months.
I don’t think that Mrs T would have risked walking across it again.
They love that rain.
I enjoyed all these grey day photos, especially the lichen garden on the fence post. I am glad they closed the bridge for now until it can be redone. That looks like a precarious drop off.
A grey day with scattered showers over here, and I took care of a few errands. Tomorrow should be a little drier, if the weather men are right. 🙂
We re going the other way with very heavy rain forecast.
Some good pictures here, especially the Ould Stane Brig and the lichen on the post
Both frequently appear in posts as I pass them frequently.
The beauty of such scenes is that they always look different
That is very true.
I thought so too adding the pictures of the river and the autumn colours and all those shots of the uncertain bridge.
The little red rose is doing extremely well.
Glad the bridge is being checked.
It will have to be replaced, I fear.
I like the miniature lichen garden.
It is a favourite of mine.
The miniature lichen garden looks like something Mrs. T. would do in needlework.
I shall mention that to her. 🙂
The Rocky Mountains sure are grand. However, as a lover of small things, my heart belongs to the lichen garden.
I like big hills but I like little lichens too. 🙂
The lichen garden is excellent.
Love the little lichen garden on the fence post!!
It’s cold enough here so I don’t fancy a trip to the Rockies. That bridge certainly has gone past it’s sell by date, even though it only lasted seven years. I very much admired those steps the ranger had built by the bridge which you commented on in a recent post. I’d love to have some built in our mountainous, jungle like back garden, outdoor carpenters are not to be found hereabouts though. My DIY skills would see them collapse with no assistance from nature in less than seven days let alone years. Cheers.
We have a few people here who can knock up a wooden bridge if required.
That little lichen garden is as good as any designed grand landscape I’ve ever seen.