Today’s guest picture comes from Dropscone. He has been acting in an official capacity at an international junior golf tournament on the east coast. He got some fine weather for his duties.
I had a rather dull time today on Archive Group business, making three trips up to the High Street to see people. On one of the trips I actually saw the person whom I was hoping to see. The other two trips were less useful.
Then I waited in for a phone call which didn’t come. To fill in some of the waiting time, I put a week of the newspaper index into the Archive Group database, so it was an ill wind as they say.
On one of my trips up to the town, I leaned over a fence and took a picture of a fine crop of big daisies beside the Wauchope Water.
In between times, I wandered somewhat moodily round the garden.
There were things that brightened my day up . . .
. . . and more delicate things too, like this climbing hydrangea . . .
. . . and a spirea.
There was quite a bit of activity at the bird feeder, and when I looked there was usually a bird arriving.
In the afternoon, Mrs Tootlepedal told me that if I went out and looked at the yellow rattle in the mini meadow, I might well find a bee. She was right . .
. . . and while I was outside, I found some other bees too. This might be a buff tailed bumble bee on the chives.
The comfrey was popular too.
The weather had got much brighter by this time, so I had a look around while I was in the garden. I love an astrantia. It has a whole garden in one flower.
After a pause, the lamium has started to show flowers again
The eryngium has put on a spurt, and the flower buds are beginning to stand out from the foliage.
As knowledgeable readers will have realised, I have been calling a lovely rose, which has appeared in previous posts, by completely the wrong name.
It is not the Wren at all. It is Lilian Austin. The Wren which lives on the other side of the path will come out soon.
When I had another look at the chives, a different bee had appeared.
I took a picture of a white polemonium . . .
. . .walked under the profuse clematis at the back door . . .
. . .and went in to deal with a domestic crisis.
We were down to the last pot of marmalade. Action was needed. I was the man with a plan and a pan. I had a tin of fruit. I had the sugar. I put them together in the pan, and shortly afterwards seven jars of marmalade magically appeared.
I re-use jam jars and spend a lot of time on elegant presentation as you can see. It’s the taste that counts.
In the early evening, a friend came down to look at our compost methods, as she is just starting with some new bins. I sieved a little compost just to show the finished product.
After our evening meal, Mrs Tootlepedal was up for an electric bike outing, so we went for a 14 mile loop past Barnglieshead and Tomshielburn. A cow checked on our progress.
It was a perfect evening for a pedal.
And we got back in time to watch Springwatch on the TV.
The flying bird of the day is a gull gliding over the garden.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
I thought the Wren had changed since last year but I also though you knew a lot more about it than I. It doesn’t matter to me. It’s a beautiful thing and I don’t grow roses.
Nice flowers on the climbing hydrangea too.
Now I’m itchy for raspberry jam. Luckily I just happen to have some.
You can never have too many jars of raspberry jam in my experience.
I’ve gotten by with just one for a while but you seem to go through them faster than I do.
I have a sweet tooth.
A bit of alliteration, eh? “Gull Gliding over the Garden”.
I enjoy you bee pictures. It has been years since I’ve tried capturing bee photos, and you do often and well.
Here where I live, marmalade only refers to fruit preserves made with citrus, especially oranges, which is what I just had on my toast before reading your post. But I think where you live, it might include other fruits perhaps, like berries.
Hmm… I always notice my mistakes after I post my message and re-read it after posting. I intended to say “I enjoy your bee pictures.”
Thank you.
No, marmalade applies to citrus here too. Anything else would be jam. I hope to make blackcurrant and raspberry jam later in the year from fruits in the garden.
For once that was unconscious alliteration.
Those flowers would brighten up any day. Fabulous bee pictures!
The bees knees!
So many nice flowers and delicious marmelade…. you did a great job 🙂
Thank you.
I like the bee on the chives and think the view of Mrs T cycling is magnificent! Well done on making so much marmalade!
When the fruit comes ready sliced in a tin, it takes a lot of the work out of marmalade making. It isn’t quite as good as freshly sliced oranges but it isn’t bad.
I wondered about your mention of fruit in the tin 🙂
Some excellent close-ups; it was good to see the bees; the perfect evening for a pedal shot is lovely
I hope that we get many more calm and sunny evenings to enjoy the new bikes.
Well done producing a good supply of marmalade.
Glad you were able to enjoy an evening pedal.
Those daisies were a wonderful sight.
That last macro shot of the bee on the chives is great, Tom! The marmalade looks delicious and the Lilian Austin rose is a beauty!
The marmalade should taste all right. The last lot, made in November, has disappeared steadily.
The shot of Mrs. T. cycling up the winding road is lovely – beautiful countryside.
To be fair, I picked the best view on our ride but there were others nearly as good.
At least we knew it was a rose..a rose by any other name would smell as sweet! Great photos of the bees and all the flowers especially love the astrantia. The marmalade looks tasty- wonder if you keep a sandwich in your bag when you go on a cycle! Perfect photo of your evening pedal.
I often take a sandwich with me and sometimes it is marmalade.