Farewell to our visitors

Today’s guest picture is another of my brother Andrew’s shots from his trip along the Thames yesterday. He has a lot of things to do just now, and he says that his head is spinning a lot faster than the London Eye was going round.

Annie cooked some cheese and marmite pinwheels yesterday, and they mysteriously disappeared so rapidly that more had to be made today to provide snacks for the journey back to London. I thought that I might try my hand at them as they are very tasty, so I went down to the co-op and bought some more ready rolled puff pastry and cheese, and made a couple of batches myself when I got home. The second batch was necessary because the first wasn’t quite to up the standard that I had hoped. The end result was quite good though

I am going to experiment with different fillings; raisins and brown sugar come to mind.

After the cooking and the taste testing was completed, I had time for a look at the birds. It had been another sub zero morning when we woke up but it was sunny and the temperature had climbed up to three degrees by coffee time. I liked the different perching styles adopted by these two goldfinches.

The feeder was quite busy . . .

. . . and although the sunshine was welcome, my bird timing was adrift and for every flying bird in the sunshine, I caught three in the shade

I had a quick walk round the garden and got whistled at by a starling in the holly tree . . .

. . . and was pleased to find that the morning frost had not discouraged our little bunch of snow drops.

Annie packed everything up, and then we packed Annie and Evie and their luggage in to the car, and drove them down to Carlisle Station. The train was on time and not too busy, and we waved them goodbye as they rolled out of the station and on their way to London.

On our way back out of Carlisle, we had a fun time driving in circles round an industrial estate until we found the spot where the shoe repairer’s new premises are. We both put a pair of boots in for re-heeling, but mine may be beyond repair. He sucked his teeth but promised to try.

There was just time for a quick walk when we got home. The earlier sunshine had disappeared so I settled for a familiar low level walk, more for exercise than photography. There were some things to see on the way along the Becks track though.

I hadn’t expected to see fresh fungus

A crab apple, rotting in the grass under the tree

Tree stump fungus in brown . . .

. . . and green

Although it was cold and cloudy, it was a clear day, and I could look over the town, hidden in the valley, to the monument where we shivered in the sun with Evie and Annie two days ago.

I came back to Langholm by way of first Gaskell’s Walk and then Easton’s Walk. There were a several things to enjoy on the way.

I always like to see lichen on a tree trunk . . .

. . . and these two horses sharing their views on life appealed to me.

It is a continuing source of wonder that while so many trees in the wood along the river were brought down by Storm Arwen, more trees survived, some of them looking quite vulnerable to my eyes.

Going along the river, I recorded script lichen, a very red branch of a fallen tree, the all too common sight of a trunk cut to clear a path, and another little landslip.

In the park, the contrast between the large girth and rough bark of a conifer contrasted with the smooth and slender poplars beside the river.

It was very raw out, and I was pleased to get back to the warmth and comfort of our kitchen.

Our customary Friday night visitors, Mike and Alison are currently in New Zealand, so we had a quiet night in by ourselves.

The flying bird of the day is one of the few where the sun and I were in harmony this morning.