Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Mary. She walked along this avenue of blossom in Regents Park on her way to play tennis on Saturday.
It was nearly 8°C by breakfast time here today, but our joy was not unconfined as it was also grey and windy with the occasional hint of rain.
Mrs Tootlepedal, looking out of an upstairs window, was surprised to find a couple of unusual visitors on the lawn. I picked up a camera and recorded their progress from lawn to pond. I am sorry to say that they may have snapped up our tadpoles while they were there.
Then I spent a wasted hour of my life trying to get some breakdown cover for our car, switching between phone and internet and being directed by one back to the other and then back again. I got the cover in the end, but I should have applied for some mental breakdown cover at the same time in case I had to talk to them again.
We had coffee with Margaret, and our friend Nancy, who had brought more archive work for me to do, joined us. She has had covid and lost her taste for coffee altogether, so she was most relieved when it returned, as she loves a good cup of coffee. It was good to have a fresh voice round the kitchen table.
After coffee, I filled the feeder and watched the birds for a while. After a slow start, they came in numbers.
I made some lentil soup for lunch. It would have been lightly flavoured with turmeric, if I hadn’t dropped the jar onto the floor where it smashed into many pieces. Still, it didn’t taste too bad with a good pinch of Italian herb seasoning added instead.
After lunch, I looked at the weather, and decided to go for a walk. Mrs Tootlepedal also looked at the weather, and prudently decided not to come with me. It was warm but I dressed for possible rain.
I went ’round Potholm’ and started along the river where I saw a perky wagtail and Mr Grumpy looking anything but perky.
There was a moment of sunshine here and there as I walked up to the North Lodge, but it didn’t last. I enjoyed a selection of trees on this section of my walk.
I took another set of pictures as I walked along the Langfauld and down to Potholm. It felt quite springlike
There had been no rain so far, but when I looked towards Warbla from Potholm Bridge, the view had disappeared and things looked ominous. Luckily it didn’t start to rain and by the the time that I had gone half a mile further, the skies had cleared and things looked fine . . .
. . . and I was able to look about and appreciate things beside the road.
There were not a lot of wild flowers to be seen, but there were definite signs of spring. One mother took a dim view of my intrusive camera and gave me a hard stare.
When I got to the end of the Potholm road and joined the road back to Langholm, I had three potential ways to go home to choose from. The path down to the Duchess Bridge was out as it is still blocked by fallen trees, the direct route back down the road was discarded as being too boring, so the third choice, the track up on to Meikleholm Hill through the woods, was the route that I selected today. It is a little further, a lot steeper and quite a bit more interesting than the road.
The wood to the left of the track was absolutely battered by storm Arwen, and foresters have been taking felled trees out. It is a real mess.
A benefit of taking the hillier route was the view back along the valley that I had just been walking in . . .
. ., . and a view of Langholm that is probably my favourite.
I was very pleased to have got round the walk without getting rained on, and although the wind was strong, it was not strong enough to spoil my enjoyment.
There was tea and the last of the panettone when I got in, and then Mrs Tootlepedal kindly cut my hair so that I could look neat and tidy for the evening Zoom with my brother and sisters.
She also cooked a very tasty dish of mince and potatoes for our evening meal. In spite of the rather gloomy and windy weather, the combination of extra sociability at coffee time, a good walk, a haircut, and a good meal meant that this was a day confidently entered on the credit side of the great ledger of life. (I conveniently forgot about communicating with my insurance company which might have ruined another day.)
The flying bird of the day is a goldfinch preparing for landing.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Sorry about the tadpoles…the while nature thing can be a bit ruthless. I liked the trees in stockinged feet; the glaring one: not so much
I don’t think that the tadpoles were doing too well after the cold mornings anyway.
I’m rather worried now about the two ducks I saw in our frog bog the other day! Must take a closer look.
At least you had some tadpoles. I’m hearing of too many people, including me, who haven’t even had any spawn this year.
That is bad news. We only had a small fraction of our usual amount.
A very good day if the insurance company hassle didn’t tip things in the wrong direction. Your sister sure had a pretty walk, and so did you.
The spring blossom in Regents Park is always worth a visit.
The softness of the new growth on the larches was nice to see.
Hopefully a few tadpoles were able to hide from the mallards. I haven’t seen any here yet but I’ve heard many frogs.
I’ve had to deal with various insurance companies several times since I retired so I can guess how you must feel.
This particular company used only to deal on the phone and their customer service was excellent. It was a pity to find that it is making personal contact more difficult.
Your flying bird of the day is a fantastic photograph.
There are a lot of flying birds around the feeder at the moment which makes catching one in action a lot easier than it was during the winter.
Hello TP.
Aways a delight to read. I must bite the bullet and sign up rather than dip in occasionally, since most of my smattering of bloggers have now ceased trading, but your energy, wit and eye are an inspiration to all who might feel burdened by the other news of the day, and want a feel for how life in a rural community rolls on, or pootles on, regardless. Thank you very much and best wishes
Julian
You will find that one post is very like another as we are still proceeding very cautiously when it comes to going out and about. We can definitely be described as being in a bit of a rut. Thank you for your good wishes which are much appreciated.
Thanks TP. I shall still enjoy reading and viewing, and I think you’re being sensible by being cautious – I’m convinced we’ve both has the latest mild CV, in spite of my (laet) negative test. Of so almost certainly picked up by Fiona who attended quite a large indoor ‘launch’ gathering recently. But who knows. I think an awful lot of us would acknowledge the rut syndromw given the evnts of the last 2 years, and looking forward to the lights at the end of the tunnel, which certainly seem to likely to be an oncoming train rather than anything more benign!
Best wishes as always,
Julian
The future certainly does not look bright at the moment Julian.
Splendid photographs of the ducks on your pond, pity about the tadpoles though.
The ducks look very happy in your pond. Glad you managed a walk without rain.
The havoc wrought in the forest is really bad… Here too many trees have been laid down by the storm. The consequences are still clearly visible everywhere.
That was one of the worst affected woods round our town.
Still groggy but I liked the lambs
Thank you for taking the time to comment. Take care.
Feisty birds in those photos. Guess it’s the chilly temperatures. Loved seeing the wee lambs. Such a gorgeous countryside!
The birds are stocking up for the breeding season so I don’t grudge them a good feed.
We get a lot of ducks at our lake. They all have great personalities.
A beautiful selection of photos from a gloomy day. I agree, that is a nice view of Langholm, and I especially like the view looking back, too. The tree keeping an eye on you was a nice catch as is the goldfinch with landing gear down and wings in braking mode.
I hope the visiting ducks did not take too many of your tadpoles. Had they hatched yet? Some might have escaped.
The tadpoles were still huddled together so I fear for them. We might still get another frog visit and more tadpoles but it is rather late in the year now. We have had fresh frogspawn in April before.
It certainly was a good day for you and filled with activity and interest. Love all your comments re the trees! Great photos of all those lambs…they all rush away when I try to get near! London life isn’t so bad when you can have that beautiful walk through Regents Park.
And my other London sister went to two concerts in two days. Life in the capital is not bad at all.