Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Caroline. It provides a welcome splash of colour on a dull day.
Our day started out gloomy and overcast, and it got steadily worse. I did try to persuade myself from time to time that a wet walk would be a good idea, but the sight of sheets of light rain blowing across the garden like smoke from a bonfire persuaded me that it wasn’t.
I played my recorder, sang some hymns, put quite a lot of the newspaper index into the Archive Group’s database, and mooched about mumbling darkly.
I looked at the birds in the morning . . .
. . . and unsurprisingly found siskins getting overexcited.
The only flowers that I saw had been crocheted by Mrs Tootlepedal.
I made some vegetable soup for lunch, and watched the birds while it was cooking. The seed had gone down a lot already.
We had no bread to go with the soup, so after lunch, I put a loaf to cook in the bread maker. Then I was able to admire Mrs Tootlepedal’s flowers being put to their intended use.
They are hanging there to try to dissuade birds leaving the feeder from flying straight into our window. I will be interested to see if bees try to visit them when and if the weather ever improves.
In the afternoon, I looked at the birds again. I had refilled the feeder.
There was a good deal of what is euphemistically called banter.
And the birds kindly arranged themselves in an artistic ‘V’ shape to round my birdwatching day off.
In a moment when the rain was lighter for a while, I sneaked out into the garden to try to get some pictures other than of birds for this post. There were a couple of new flowers out . . .
. . . but I am worried about the plum blossoms getting pollinated in these dreary conditions . . .
. . . and the magnolia is suffering badly. It has lots of flowers, but they all tend to look like this
We sat down to watch three races from the Aintree meeting. It took our minds off the rain.
I made a mushroom and smoked sausage risotto for our evening meal, and that at least ensured that a dull day ended on a tasty note.
Really, it was a day about which the less said, the better.
A goldfinch is the flying bird of the day.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
We are having more flooding so more ugly weather will possibly head your way. My lower yard has been under water all winter with all the rain. I should begin to build an Ark.
Love the crocheted flowers! Your meals sounded perfect for nasty weather and as always the birds and landscapes had my attention. Enjoy your weekend!
We are in a run of unsettled weather at the moment so it can’t get much worse. 🙂 However, we saw a glimpse of sun this evening which cheered us up a lot.
We did too!
The flowers in the window are a good idea. I’ve seen birds knock themselves unconscious by flying into windows.
That’s too bad about the magnolia. Maybe some sunshine would perk it up.
I was reading recently that they are now seeing more honeybees than they have in several years here, so apparently there is some sort of recovery going on. I hope the same will be true there and in other countries.
The government has just reapproved the use of neonicotinoids which are damaging to bees so the outlook is a bit gloomy.
I love the flowers and think it’s a brilliant idea. Part of me really wants the bees to be a little tricked…just a little😊
I await the sound of bees banging their heads against the glass with keen anticipation.
I like your light rain/bonfire smoke simile, and your bird warning at the window
The warning is splendidly decorative. Time will tell of it is effective too.
It has been raining here today as well. Your weather didn’t put off all the birds at least. They really are a feisty bunch.
They have been coming in good numbers every day lately. The nesting season is encouraging them, I suppose.
The plum blossom makes a fine show.
What an excellent way of warning birds away from your window!
Time will tell how well it works but it should help.
We have been having the same kind of weather in Maine. It gets to you after a while. I will be interested in hearing how Mrs. Tootlepedal’s flowers work at keeping the birds from crashing into the windows. We have the same problem here, and we bought leaf decals for the windows. It has helped.
You can get cut outs of birds of prey to do the job but we wouldn’t want to frighten our small birds away from the feeder.
Love the crocheted flowers they’ll cheer everyone up and sort the crashing into windows …hopefully! Poor old magnolia ..it’s so disheartening when one waits a year for the flowers and then the weather shreds them…I think I’m going to plant some crocheted blooms!
Good scheme.
I love the crocheted flowers too, and your birds have mastered some fabulous choreography!
We have had some miserable weather as well but the moment it disappears we tend to forget… so I hope you are out of the rainy gloom soon.
We haven’t had a real break from grey clouds for months. A week of sunshine would work wonders.
😮
Mrs. Tootlepedal’s crocheted flowers are very beautiful. In the garden, I particularly loved the pink lamium with its silvery-green leaves.
The birds are still very hungry in the dreich weather both there and here. We are also worried about pollination of the plums and cherries here. Our apples have not bloomed yet.
We have no Apple blossom yet, so hopefully things will have dried up a bit by the time they come into flower. I have been going about the plum tree with my little pollinating brush but I am not very hopeful. We did have a lone bee in the garden today.
The rain gets so tiring and I understand that living in green western Washington. Eastern Washington is more desert and unlike where I live. It is such a treat to travel there. I love your birds, the crocheted tiny flower warnings! Thank you as always.
We could do with a week where we could go outside without having to have a coat on.
Sad about the magnolia which gets just the one chance for its flowers to shine!