I looked in my files for a guest photo today and found this fine sunset in Worcester, SA, sent to me just before Christmas by Langholm exile Tom.
It was another day here with neither a visible sunrise nor much of a sunset as it was grey all day. It was warm for the time of year though, and occasionally drizzly. It didn’t matter much to me as I had picked up a niggling groin strain on my walk yesterday and thought it best to have a day of rest today.
As I am also feeling rather tired, I didn’t do much that was useful, but I caught up on some necessary business on the computer and helped Mrs Tootlepedal record the results of her tree hugging exercise on the Woodland Trust website. It is a detailed business with a 10 figure grid reference, measurements, photos from all sides and a description of the condition of the tree included. She has recorded three trees.
Mostly I lounged about feeling rather sorry for myself, occasionally glancing out of the window to see if there were any birds about.
There were some.
I hadn’t scattered any seed on the lawn today so a blackbird had to scavenge in the feeder tray for his snack.
A look at the walnut tree showed me that a rook had claimed the top spot.
On the feeder, one sparrow looked imperious . . .
. . . while another made an inelegant one legged grab for security . . .
. . . and two chaffinches headed for the same perch.
. . . .and a moment later, another chaffinch kept very level headed as it came in to land.
Mrs Tootlepedal had been out for coffee with her ex work colleagues in the morning, and after lunch she went out again to her afternoon stitching group, leaving me to potter about not doing much. To get a breath of fresh air, I went out into the garden. In spite of the drizzle, the warmth had nearly brought the snowdrops into flower . . .
. . .and I enjoyed a fresh leaf on the summer honeysuckle . . .
. . . as well as a raindrop bejewelled flower on the winter honeysuckle.
The rhubarb patch glowered gently in a corner.
A pair of jackdaws had been banished to the sidelines . . .
. . . and the collared doves were all over the place.
When Mrs Tootlepedal returned from her stitching group, I made some pinwheels to cheer myself up. Instead of marmite and cheese, I used sultanas and brown sugar as the flavour ingredient this time. Although I am not quite convinced that this is the optimum filling for the pinwheels, they disappeared quickly enough to show that they weren’t totally without merit. I wonder what bananas and raisins would taste like.
I hope to have a bit more get up and go tomorrow. A good night’s sleep would help.
The flying bird of the day is a sparrow.
Footnote: a reader enquired about our composting methods and I took a picture of our little electric shredding machine. It can deal with surprisingly robust twigs and small branches and does a good job of providing brown woody material for the compost bins.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
I really like the raindrops on the snowdrops – very pretty. Hope your get up and go comes back tomorrow. 🙂
It did, at least up to a point.
I am not surprised you are tired. A death in the family is a lot to deal with, and will do that to one. A good night’s sleep will help.
The rain drop covered winter blooms are quite beautiful, and it looks like there is plenty of bird activity going on at the feeders. I always enjoy your guest photos, too.
That little wood chipper of yours looks like a good investment. Is it electric or does it require gasoline?
It is electric which is why it is in the garage. It can be wheeled out if necessary but in general we bring the clippings to it rather than taking it to the clippings.
It’s good to take a day off every now and then. Be kind to yourself, Mr T. Now I’m off to research wood chipper/mulchers….. One of those would come in in pretty handy round here
I can recommend them in that they speed up the composting process a lot and let you get a better balanced pile.
It was nice to see the snowdrops opening, and the new honeysuckle leaves were as pretty as a flower.
It is -3 degrees F. here right now so to see anything growing is a treat, even rhubarb.
If the body needs rest it will have it, no matter what the mind says. I hope it’s better tomorrow.
We are getting alarming reports of possible very cold weather in your area.
The repots were true. We got to a low of -17 F but it could have been worse. I saw -35 F years ago.
-17 is quite bad enough.
Yes, it was.
Beautiful photo of your snowdrops! Mine have just begun blooming with some promise from the hellebores.
No sign of our hellebores yet but they shouldn’t be too long now.
I liked your electric shredding machine, it must be very effective if it can chopped up sticks, and twigs.
Best wishes planning Susan memorial service, and perhaps catching up on some of that elusive sleep.
Thank you. The shredder is tougher than it looks.
The snowdrops are always a wonderful sign of spring. Hope you are doing well.
A day of rest proved helpful.
I echo Lavinia’s comment. Be kind to yourself and take things easy.
I will indeed.
I’m grateful for the shredder picture. I need to rethink my plans
It was in use today. I have four compost bins so each so each batch gets turned three times before it gets finally sieved. Depending on the temperature, the whole process takes a variable number of months.
I like the raindrops on snowdrops picture. Look after that niggle
I will. I just need to find the right exercise to deal with it.
Those snowdrops are so pretty! I really like that electric shredding machine. It would certainly come in handy in our yard by the woods, where we have sticks galore.
We have found it very good value.
P. S. Hope you are feeling better.
A definite improvement, thank you.
Very handsome jackdaws and don’t they know it! Love the rain on the snowdrops. Hope the niggle gets better very soon.
The jackdaws are not averse to posing, I agree.
The rugby result will have made you very happy- it was a brilliant match and hugely enjoyable unlike the other match on before it!!
I am sorry about that other match. I get so stressed watching the rugby that I quite often don’t watch the games these days. I only watched the last five minuets of this one. Next week will be interesting!
Your shredder looks like it takes better care of small branches than ours, which is so narrow we call it “the pencil sharpener”.
Lovely raindrop flowers today.
We can get twigs up to an inch through it without difficulty but it is not heavy duty.