Flowers in the rain

Today’s guest picture is another from our son Tony’s highland holiday. He and Marianne and the dogs went to Mellon Udrigle, which I though must be a misprint but which turns out to be a rendering of the Gaelic name Meallan Ùdraigil. It looks like a beautiful spot.

We had a far from beautiful day here today. If yesterday was a day of sunshine and showers, we only had half that weather today, and unfortunately it was the showers half. There was no sign of any sun at all.

I scooted round the garden in a dry moment after breakfast to take as many pictures of roses as I could.

Special Grandma

Wren

Lilian Austin

William Lobb

Patio rose

Queen of Denmark

This is not a rose

Rambler

Luckily both Sandy and Margaret came round to join us for coffee, and that brightened a dull morning up. It rained while we drank and chatted, but it dried up when they left, and I cycled round to the butchers and came home with a shopping bag full of promise.

I had filled the feeder when Sandy left, and birds arrived almost immediately. It was mainly sparrows again, but greenfinches, siskins and goldfinches turned up too, as did a blackbird looking for food for a youngster. Sharp eyed readers may spot more regrettable sparrow stamping going on.

After an early lunch, I retired for a short snooze, and refreshed by that, got ready to go for a walk. It was gently raining, so I dressed suitably and set out to go round Potholm. I haven’t done enough walking in the last two months so my walking legs need a bit more practice.

I went in a clockwise direction and started out along the road to Bentpath. I had my waterproof camera with me, so the persistent rain didn’t stop me taking pictures.

Passing cars must have wondered what I was looking at in the verges, but I can tell you that I looked at grasses . . .

. . . and wild flowers.

And that was all in the first mile of my walk.

I calmed down a bit after that, but I kept my eyes open as I went along the Milnholm road towards Potholm Bridge.

It was just as well that there was plenty of visual entertainment alongside the roadside, as the views on a grey day weren’t up to much at all.

It was pleasant enough, even in the light rain, as I walked along to Potholm because the wind was at my back. Coming back along the Langfauld track was a bit less fun, but I found more enjoyment along the way all the same. The weather did not improve.

I finished my journey by going round the Pheasant Hatchery and the Castleholm as the rain let up at last . . .

. . . then crossing the Sawmill Brig, and ending up by walking along the Esk to where it meets the Wauchope.

At some point towards the end of my walk, my eye was caught by an unfamiliar shade of purple.

It turned out to be deadly nightshade. I can’t remember exactly where I saw it, so I will have to retrace my steps and see if I can find it again.

My final picture from the walk was the proliferating potentilla against the wall of our house beside the dam.

With excellent timing, I arrived home to find that there were 20km still to go in today’s stage of the Tour de France. It was an exciting finale.

As we are about to run out of marmalade, I thought that a new batch would be in order, and thanks to having purchased a tin of ready prepared fruit, I was able to produce a batch in twenty minutes.

It may not have quite the class of the marmalade that we used to make from Seville oranges, laboriously squeezed, finely sliced, boiled and reboiled for what seemed like hours, but it goes down pretty well all the same.

Then it was time for a Zoom with our granddaughter Matilda. She is attending a holiday club over this week, and today they took her and the other children to North Berwick where they climbed the steep slopes of North Berwick Law. It was rather gloomy there too, and when they finally made it to the top, the summit was covered in clouds and there was no view. Matilda was unimpressed, but they visited the beach and a playpark so the outing was not a complete write off.

The flying bird of the day is another sparrow.