Today’s guest picture shows a path to the inevitable sunset in East Wemyss. Both the path and the picture were taken by our son Tony a day or two ago.
Today’s post starts with an apology. If any one has come here in the hope of seeing delightful border landscapes, spring flowers or cheerful pictures of wildlife, then they have come to the wrong place on this occasion. All we saw today was rain again.
It was so persistently wet that I gave up hope of a walk or a bicycle ride in the morning and went for a ride to nowhere in the garage for an hour after breakfast.
My old road bike, which has a cracked frame, sits its back wheel on a magnetically controlled roller which provides more than enough resistance to get me quite tired after an hour.
The white bag on the right contains the last few home grown potatoes from last year.
Fortunately I don’t have any of those nifty digital devices which would let me simulate a climb up Mont Ventoux, or have a trainer shouting at me to try harder, so I spend a happy hour with my noise cancelling headphones on, oblivious to the outside world and enjoying a selection of jazz record requests on the radio.
I looked at the birds when I finished . . .
. . . and found a few hardy chaffinches at the feeder.
It was not windy in the town today so I did think of getting my umbrella out and going for three bridges walk after lunch, but it was so depressing . . .
. . . that I only got as far as the rivers . . .
. . . before turning back.
I saw an oystercatcher but it flew off and left me with a crow . . .
. . . and some washed up trees as subjects for today’s photographs.
The day was saved though when I went to Carlisle to sing with the Carlisle Community Choir. Our conductor was in sparkling form and we had an enjoyable and productive time with plenty of good singing and lots of laughter to raise our spirits. There is nothing like a bit of music to make you feel good.
It had almost stopped raining as I drove home. This would have been encouraging if I hadn’t looked at the forecast for the next few days when I got back. It did not offer a great deal of cheer . . .
. . . especially as the only dry day on Thursday will come with 25 mph winds (and 40 mph gusts). On the plus side, it will not be cold and the rain seems to be fairly light judging by the precipitation totals in the table.
It looks as though the bike to nowhere might get a bit more use.
A very poor flying bird of the day matches the very poor weather.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
My cycling is limited to an exercise bike at the moment, which I have pointed so I can watch my bird feeders, whilst listening to upbeat music on my old stereo gear.
The exercise bike has quite a small footprint and just changing the seat height is all that’s required for another family member to use it. What I like about riding indoors is that I can be precise/consistent about my efforts in training
I like the idea of being able to watch the birds while you pedal. What I don’t like about indoor cycling is that there is no downhill.
So glad the choir was such good fun. There’s nothing like a good sing for lifting the spirits.
Hope that forecast for Thursday is correct, and extends to 400 miles south of you. Your middle sister is coming here for the day, and we have an outdoor agenda – with an indoor back-up.
Will there be oatmeal biscuits waiting for her?
Not made yet I’m afraid, but I do have other treats in store for her (well, they will be in store when I’ve made them on Wednesday).
You are right, there is nothing like music to bring good cheer to a rainy day.
On another note, I experienced a problem with the WordPress reader yesterday when trying to reply. When I hit the “reply” button and start typing in the box, WP will try to redirect me somewhere when I hit the “k” key when typing. I think some kind of malware has been injected into WP code. I can get around it by typing my reply into a text editor, then cutting and pasting it into the reply box. That works, so far. The redirect also seems to reset the post “Like” button.
That is very odd. Does it only happen in WP?
It only happens in the WP Reader. Apparently I am not the only one having a problem.
Here is the problem ticket I opened, and their response:
https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/wordpress-reader-34
I hope that they sort the problem out. I have problems commenting on Quercus’ posts in the reader.
I looked at your forecast earlier today: my condolences. May I suggest that you bake biscuits and eat them as you cycle on the bike to nowhere? Perhaps some of the calories will cancel out.
You have to do a lot of cycling to get rid of even one biscuit. Not eating biscuits is the only answer but it is not one that I take seriously.
I’d be happy with a shot of a crow. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a good one.
The river looks high.
Thursday does look like the best of the bunch but if your long range forecasts are anything like ours it could all change. Maybe for the better.
Thursday is now looking very bad from the point of view of strong winds but we will keep our fingers crossed that it isn’t as bad as they say it might be. The river was not as high as I expected after two days of rain and it has gone back down after a quiet day today.
Phew! Glad you were able to sing.
You made the most of a gloomy day. Music can be very uplifting.
Same weather predictions here 😦
We are certainly in for an unhelpful couple of weeks
It would seem so. We are getting two named storms on two consecutive days which is a bit much.
Very glad a cheerful sing brightened up your day.
yesterday was impressively gloomy. Well done for all you achieved
That’s okay, I love crows too. And as much as we hate the gloom, we probably need some now and then as a contrast to the glorious sunshine. Singing fixes everything … and I am going to test that out Wednesday night’s rehearsal when our downpour is predicted.
I hope that you get your practice.
Having difficulty writing a post. WP keeps jumping to different posts! Pleased you had a good sing!
WP sounds as though it is having problems at the moment. Mine worked OK so I hope that you can get yours sorted soon. See Lavinia’s comment for more information. I would try writing in a word processor and pasting the text in.
Thank you for Lavinia’s idea.
The good news… we had a heavy drizzle in the morning and then a squall came through leaving a bit over a half inch of water. I’m hoping that isn’t the whole sum of it, but every little bit helps (I suppose)! 😏
Oh! and I made oatmeal biscuits to celebrate… also for Valentine’s Day. 💞❣️
Rain and biscuits . . .who could ask for anything more?
We are having weather like that now. I am not as dedicated to exercise so I just use it for reading.