A little pedal at last

Just to show that the sun doesn’t always shine on my relatives, today’s guest picture from my brother Andrew shows that he had gloomy day in the midlands yesterday while we were enjoying our sunshine.

To even things out, we had a very gloomy day here today, but at least it wasn’t freezing. I was able to cycle round to the shop after breakfast with no danger of icy surfaces.

As my cold had gone, we were happy to entertain our neighbours Margaret and Liz to coffee and a slice of gingerbread. It was good to be back in the social whirl.

I spent some time peering through the gloom to see if there were any birds in the feeder. Although we are getting more visitors since I shifted the feeder, it is further away from the window now and it is a struggle to take a decent picture on a dull day like today.

I did spot goldfinches . . .

. . . chaffinches . . .

. . . and a mixed bag of greenfinch and siskin . . .

. . . but it wasn’t a great morning for bird watching at all.

I spent some useful time publishing the Langholm Initiative monthly newsletter instead.

There was very little wind to disturb the clouds, so after lunch I went out for a gentle cycle ride to see how I would do after my cold. It wasn’t a very promising day, damp and raw, with the temperature at a rather miserable 4°C, but I was well wrapped up and my legs were pleased to be out and about, so I enjoyed myself in a subdued sort of way.

There wasn’t anything in the way of a view today . . .

. . . but at least you could see the hills. I was happy to see how little damage there was to the trees once I got out of the town. However, no sooner had I taken a picture of this fine tree, standing proudly on top of a banking on the road to Cleuchfoot. . .

. . . than I found a casualty of the storm just round the corner.

I had intended to cycle ten miles, but because I was feeling fine, I added a couple of little diversions to my route and pedalled up past the Bloch were I passed a sheep. It was having an interesting afternoon, because it was not only able to watch me passing . . .

. . . but it could turn round . . .

. . . and watch a flock of starlings passing in the opposite direction.

I ended up doing fifteen miles and feeling all the better for getting out on my bike.

When I got home, I made some ginger biscuits. I have one beside me as I write this post.

Correction: I had one beside me as I wrote this post, but it has gone to a good home.

We had a Zoom with my siblings in the evening and that rounded off our day. As tomorrow is the winter solstice, we will be on the upward swing again by the end of the week. We may have our coldest months to come, but at least we will have more light.

I couldn’t get a very satisfactory flying bird of the day today because of the low light. This was my best effort . . .

. . . so I have put in some of Mrs Tootlepedal’s birthday flowers to cheer the post up.