Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Caroline. She is fortunate in having a nearby patisserie with a very relaxing garden to sit in, where she can enjoy her morning refreshment .
We woke up to a cool but sunny morning here, and after I had filled the bird feeder and watched goldfinches going and coming . . .
. . . we cycled off to the church to sing in the choir. There were six of us in the choir today, and our organist Henry, encouraged by this, has decided that we will sing an introit next week. I am practising the bass part.
It warmed up a bit as the day went on, and if you could get out of the wind, it was quite pleasant. I looked at tulips throughout the day, and they were encouraged by the weather too and opened up a little.
Some flowers have been terminally discouraged though, but others are thriving.
Mrs Tootlepedal was busy in the greenhouse after coffee, and I spent most of the morning thinking about things that I could usefully do, and then not doing them. Of course, I found time to watch the birds.
I thought that I should concentrate not just on action shots today . . .
. . . but on some of those who were standing (or dangling) and waiting.
While I was wandering around the garden I saw the first small tortoiseshell butterfly of the year, but it got away before I could fetch a camera.
A bumble bee was more obliging.
I saw celandine against the back fence, and Mrs Tootlepedal encountered fungus in a vegetable garden bed.
It was getting increasingly breezy, but the forecast suggested that we might escape any passing showers, so after lunch, I plucked up my courage and went out for a pedal on my road bike.
It turned out to be very breezy, and I had a real battle to persuade myself that I was having fun while pedalling up the Wauchope road at 8mph into some very heavy gusts. However, I was happy to be out on my bike on a sunny day . . .
. . . so I engaged a very low gear and tried not to look at the speedometer on my bike computer.
After three miles, I turned left and headed down to Canonbie. The route over the hill and down to Canonbie and then back to Langholm along the Esk, is basically a V shape pointing south. If you are lucky, and the wind is from the west, you can find that the wind is be no worse than across and sometimes even behind you in both directions*. This was the case today, and apart from a torrid half mile or so when a kink in my route set me straight into the wind, the rest of my journey was relatively comfortable.
After the very strenuous first three miles, I wasn’t averse to stopping and taking pictures if a car came the other way on the single track road over the hill . . .
. . . or indeed, if there wasn’t any excuse at all apart from some striking marsh marigolds and a tempest on the surface of the seasonal pond at Tarcoon.
Once I turned to head back up to Langholm, I was detained by bluebells on one side of Canonbie village and a monkey puzzle tree on the other. I could almost persuade myself that the trees are turning green at the Hollows bridge where I stopped for a snack.
On my final stop, I was intending to add to my collection of larch flower pictures but I got distracted by neighbouring young trees. Spring is definitely springing.
I got home in a much perkier state than I had expected, and enjoyed a cup of tea and some gingerbread with Mrs Tootlepe. She had been busy in the garden while I was out.
She then did a bit of strimming in the vegetable garden, and wisely retired to do her cycling indoors on her bike to nowhere, while I mowed the middle lawn and sieved some compost.
Mrs Tootlepedal made fish pie for our evening meal, and we had some spinach with it which had overwintered in the vegetable garden. Mrs Tootlepedal thinks that this is the first time that spinach has actually survived the winter in our garden. It tasted very fresh and good.
The flying bird of the day is a goldfinch.
*If the wind direction thing sounds implausible, draw a fairly narrow V, and then draw a straight line horizontally across the middle of it. You will see that both the legs of the V lean away from the wind direction.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
The tulips are looking lovely. Fish pie and fresh spinach sounds lovely.
We were very pleased with the spinach.
The bluebells are beautiful and so were the spring greens along the river.
The vegetable garden fungus probably means that board is rotting away.
I’m glad you had a nice sunny spring day. I hope they’l continue.
The fungus was connected to the board which like me is a bit past its best.
The whole wind direction thing made utter sense once I saw your diagram. Glad the church choir is getting a few more voices.
We badly need a tenor.
Great photo of the Bumble bee, and so hard to catch a moving Bumble bee. I liked the four photos of the birds standing rather than moving, it is a rare moment to catch one being still, never mind four!
It was a reflection of the queue to get a seat at the feeder.
I’ll bet that fish pie was tasty. Your plants are waking up nicely
It was good. We had another go at it tonight.
The tulips seem to be coming along well.
Good to see the bluebells.
Spring is indeed springing! In Maine, we are grateful that the snow is gone. Spring is not quite springing here yet.
We are beginning to believe in spring here now.
Sunshine works wonders at last. I like the siskin hanging upside down and your goldfinches are splendid. I wish you good singing.
Thank you. I will practise hard.
Nice siskin. I believed you about the wind direction without the picture. You are a reliable man. The diagram, on the other hand, was no help at all. I clearly rely on words and imagination rather than geometry.
Poor diagrammatic skills on my part then.
Not at all. The diagram is fine. It’s my ability to interpret it which is at fault.
That is a nice view from Wauchope road. The marsh marigold caught my eye, too. I haven’t seen any since we lived back east, and most of them I remember from childhood as we lived on the edge of a swamp and there were many.
There are quite a few round here although we don’t live near a swamp . . . . yet. That may change if it goes on raining.
It is heartening to see your spring pictures as we move into autumn.
I an trying not to get ahead of myself and think of summer yet, let alone autumn. 🙂
I was sieving my lovely compost today and thought of you! You always seem to be vigilantly tending to your compost, as a good gardener should. I, on the other hand, am much more haphazard. Now that I have a wonderful new compost set-up, I’m determined to follow your good example.
I try to keep the rotation going but I would like to have bigger stores so that I could get the compost hotter and help kill the weeds.
Tulips, bluebells and a bee…as you say Spring is really here. Lovely poses by the birds. Thank you for the wind direction ‘v’ I’m sure someone will understand it!
As long as the wind blows in exactly the right direction as it did on this occasion, I am happy regardless of the geometry.
I was thinking of you while I re-sifted some compost that I’d only sifted a few days ago. And it worked! I did get some good stuff out of it.
Good.