Just a little bit more

Today’s guest post comes from our son Tony who has been having wonderful weather lately on the shores of the Firth of Forth.

Our day started brightly….

…after another frosty morning but as the day went on, the clouds came over.

Dropscone dropped in for coffee, bringing treacle scones with him.  He is very excited because it is the first day of the official golfing season at Langholm tomorrow and he is the club captain this year.  It looks as though he is going to have a lovely sunny day as he sets the season  going when he drives off the first tee.

Apart from the coffee and scones, I had a very quiet morning with the occasional stroll round the garden.  The cloudy weather made it easier to photograph pale flowers and there were a number about.

Our first pulsatilla flower opened this morning.  It is an amazingly furry flower.

The drumstick primulas are having a race to see which can produce a fully spherical flower head first.

This is my favourite of the white daffodils.

The feeder was doing brisk business.  I had filled it after breakfast and it was half empty by lunchtime when a female redpoll arrived for a snack…

…and I had to fill it again in the late afternoon.

I was very excited to receive a much anticipated parcel at lunchtime, but a great deal less excited when I found that I had been sent the wrong thing. It was my fault entirely.  I needed ‘type 2  to type 2’ and had ordered ‘type 2 to type 1’, a small but crucial error.

It was little consolation when I rang up to ask about exchanging it, to be told that lots of people had made the same mistake.  If that was true and not just said in a kindly spirit to cheer me up, then the seller’s website should be altered to make it less easy to make the mistake.

I took the parcel up to our post office and made it through the door just in time to catch the post before the office closed.  We have an outreach post office from a branch near Carlisle now because our post office closed a few months ago.  It only has limited hours and won’t open again until Wednesday, so I was pleased not to have missed out.

When I got home, I pulled myself together and went off to do twenty miles on my bike. My last ride of 20 miles, two days ago, left me with a very sore foot so I pedalled gently up and down the road a couple of times today, avoiding any steep hills and not cycling into the wind for any length of time and I only went 200 yards further than the last ride.

This seems to have been successful as my foot is not complaining as I write this.

I was limited for views but saw some life in passing.

A traditional spring family scene…

…our resident gull looking downstream…

…a goosander looking for fish…

…and an oyster catcher not looking at anything.

When I got back, the feeder was empty so I filled it and on the principle of, “If you fill it, they will come,”  the goldfinches  came.

They were anxious about infiltrating chaffinches….

…but were soon able to check that they had complete control.

I had a final wander round the garden and saw more pale flowers….

…the very first of the trout lilies had appeared…

…and the pulsatilla, which had opened out from this morning, stuck its tongue out at me as I passed.

Mrs Tootlepedal had spent the afternoon working on the rocking horse,  She bought a little hammer this morning and I can report that she hammered in the morning and she hammered in the afternoon but fortunately she laid down her hammer and cooked a delicious meal of roast chicken in the evening.

We are promised another frosty morning tomorrow so although the weather has been very dry and generally sunny, it has been a bit nervous making for the gardener.

The flying chaffinch of the day, although enjoying the early sunshine, looked a bit nervous too, I thought.

 

 

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Bedding in

Today’s guest picture comes from my brother’s expedition to Wales.  Having left Chester, he headed for Anglesey but found Snowdon in his way….so he walked up it.

I wasn’t very happy with the colour that my pocket camera found in the lithodora’s blue flower or in the mystic Van Eijk pink tulips so I took my Nikon out today and shot them in RAW to stop the camera’s software making decisions that I didn’t agree with.  I think that the results are more true to what the eye sees.

And while I was there, I took the real Van Eijks….

…some very pale grape hyacinths…

…and a stream of standard blue ones.

The main business of the morning though was not footling about with cameras, but putting in the second of the two new veg beds.  Mrs Tootlepedal likes to have things right so this involved not just digging and shifting soil, but using gardener’s string and a spirit level too.

After the bed was levelled and settled, I left her to sort out the soil and mowed the middle lawn.  This involved stamping on a lot of moss but there was enough grass growing there to fill the lawn mower’s collecting box.

Mrs Tootlepedal called me over when I had finished as she had come across something unusual.  It was very green.

I am not at all knowledgeable about caterpillars but some research says that this might be an angle shade caterpillar.  I would be happy if a reader can put me right.

I went in to make some potato and onion soup for lunch and had a look at the birds while it was cooking.

The plum tree is making a very picturesque background for birds waiting to visit the feeder.

After lunch, I inspected the tulips.  It had been a sunny morning, although it hadn’t felt very warm because of a chilly east wind, and the sun had been enough to open a few petals.

I deadheaded the first of the daffodils to go over.  This was the first of many dead heading activities to come.  It is a bit tedious but it keeps the garden looking neat and it encourages the daffodils to come again.

I checked out the veg beds.  They are both the same size although the camera angle makes one look a lot shorter. Mrs Tootlepedal likes the slightly wider paths between the beds that the new layout had created.  The wire netting covering is to protect the soil from cats.

I will have to sieve more compost as there has been quite a lot used lately.

I had time to spot a dunnock lurking in the shadows below the feeder…

…before I got my bike out and went for a pedal.

It was a lovely day as far as the sun went….

…but the wind was hard work when I was pedalling back into it so I was pleased to stop and admire a couple of oyster catchers on a wall at Bigholms.

When I looked across the wall, I could see the windfarm on the horizon and I reckoned that this must have been an ideal day for ‘green’ energy with the combination of bright sun and a stiff breeze.

Now they need to get busy on working out the best way to store it so we can have some to hand when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.

I had enough personal energy left to cycle through the town when I got back to it and go a couple of miles out along the road north.  I was very surprised by the colour of the soil in this field beside the Ewes Water.

You can see the edge of the field in the bottom of the picture that I took looking up the valley.

I managed to add a couple of miles to yesterday’s trip and got home after 16 miles.  If the weather permits, I will try to add two miles to my journey every time that I go out for the next few days until I have got back some of the fitness that I lost in an almost cycle free March.

I am taking things steadily as my foot is still tender but the gel insoles for my shoes have been very successful and I would like to thank those who advised me to get them.  I haven’t tried a walk of any length since I got them, but the ordinary walking round the house and garden is very satisfactory and limp free.

The slow cooked lamb stew made its third and final mealtime appearance tonight, this time in the form of a light curry with rice.

The dry cool weather with sunny periods seems set to last for a good few days so I hope to be able to continue to get out and about (as long as my foot continues to be co-operative).

The flying bird of the day is a chaffinch.

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Unstressed

Today’s guest picture was sent to me by my brother.  He took while he was waiting for a few stragglers to catch up at the end of a recent group walk.  As they had been going for nine miles, I am not surprised that there was a bit of straggling.

It will be a bit of a rushed post as I was in Carlisle for a concert with out Carlisle choir and I got back quite late.

It was a generally sunny and pleasant day with the pleasure slightly moderated by a brisk and chilly wind again.

The was enough sun to persuade the tulips to open and to illuminate an advantageously priced bargain from a garden centre.

While I was having coffee and treacle scones with Dropscone, Steve delivered two new vegetable garden bed frames.  Mrs Tootlepedal was not well today as she is suffering from a persistent cold so the beds have not been put in place yet.

Whereas it was early chaffinches yesterday, it was siskins first today…

…and the chaffinches didn’t get much of a look in.

When the siskins left, the chaffinches piled in.

A goldfinch found a quiet moment to think deeply about food.

And later on, some greenfinches turned up.

And a single redpoll dropped in.

I sieved a bit of compost and  made some soup for lunch and then went for a short walk to stretch my legs.

I did a three bridges to keep on the flat today.

The lady’s smock on the banks of the river has come out.

The two sets of oyster catchers were in their usual positions.  They are creatures of habit.

There was a pair of goosanders there too but they slipped away as soon as they noticed me and I could only catch the female.

Some non standard ducks were lying about.

I went round the new path at the bottom of the Castleholm and saw spiky things, both new and old.

The noble fir at the corner was showing very bright new growth and some fresh fir cones.

Signs of life on the deciduous trees were to be seen.

And the coming of spring and summer was heralded by the arrival of the posts and rails ready to be put up for the race track. (Flat racing obviously.)

I walked up to the Duchess Bridge and down the path on the far bank of the river.  I was only able to do this because someone with a big saw had come along and sawed off a tree which had fallen across the path in the recent storm.

There were wild flowers to see on my way.

And a large bumble bee was enjoying the blossom on Mike’s cherry tree as I went past.

I left Mrs Tootlepedal recuperating at home and went to Carlisle in the early evening for a benefit concert in a church for a local ‘hospice at home’ charity.  The full choir was singing three songs and the rest of the concert was made up of turns by groups of choir members and their friends and solos from our conductor and accompanist.  It was a mixed programme with a capella singing, a violinist playing the mediation from Thais (very beautifully), a ukulele group and other cheerful singing groups.  Our accompanist played a Bach fugue on the church organ and our conductor sang a Jerome Kern song which brought the house down.

The choir sang their songs well and all in all, it was a good evening with the size of the audience the only mild disappointment.

The flying bird of the day is a goldfinch.

Footnote:  During the day, my doctor rang up to say that my recent x-ray showed that I do not have a stress fracture in my foot.  However, the x-ray did show that I had serious arthritis in my big toe joint and other arthritic joints elsewhere on the foot so it was no wonder that it has been a bit sore.  The fact that there is no bone damage is good though, as it means that I can go back to cycling (if the weather permits) without fear of making things worse.  Grinning and bearing it is the prescription, allied to the hope that the arthritis may go away as it often does (and using spongy insoles for my shoes).

Finger crossed.  I would cross my toes too but I can’t.  🙂

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Strictly for the birds

Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Susan who was very surprised to see that a ‘bug hotel’ has been erected on the Euston Road in the heart of London.

I had a quiet day today, as after some pretty sympathetic weather, it went back to being very chilly today with a marked frost when we got up in the morning.  The temperature rose quite quickly but it didn’t get up very far and a chilly wind meant that it was definitely a coat and gloves sort of day.

I did get out in the garden for long enough to try the mirror on a fritillary but the light was so poor that I needed to use a flash.

…and it took me a go or two to get everything to work reasonably well but the end result was quite promising, if not perfect.

It was unfortunate that two electricity wires over the garden got into the picture.  I didn’t notice them when I was taking the picture.

I went back in and found things to do inside, including watching the bids, who were very busy.  Siskins were in lively form, shouting at chaffinches…

…and blowing goldfinches away.

Considering that siskins weigh about 12 grams at most, they pack a lot of bang for their bucks as the saying goes.

The chaffinches wisely waited until the siskins had gone for a comfort break and then ganged up mob handed on a goldfinch.

A goldfinch took a dim view of a later approach from a chaffinch.

I made some bacon and lentil soup for lunch and we ate it with some sour dough bread which I had bought on my shopping trip yesterday.

After lunch, I did something useful.  Mrs Tootlepedal has had her eye on an old and rather shabby, moss and lichen covered variegated elder which stands in the front garden.  In spite of the fact that she raised it from a cutting, she felt that it has had its day and it is now time for it to go.

She had cut quite a lot of its roots already so we cut off its branches and I added my weight to pushing, shoving and rocking the trunk until it finally gave up the struggle and surrendered.

In no time at all, the branches had been shredded, the hole more or less refilled….

…and the trunk turned into a disappointingly small pile of logs for the fire.

I had been concerned that the elder had provided a perching place and some protection for birds visiting our feeder and that they would miss it when it was gone.  Mrs Tootlepedal took this on board and constructed a fake tree for me which we put up on the other side of the hedge.  It is an old fence post with a some willow branches nailed onto it and I had my doubts as to whether it would convince the sort of intelligent bird that we get in our garden.

While we were working on the tree, we were visited by Nipper who brought his friend Marjorie into to the garden to see what was going on. Bearing his name in mind, I am glad that Marjorie had a firm grip on his lead.

While Mrs Tootlepedal had been out collecting the willow branches for the fake tree, I had washed our car so it had been an energetic time and I sat down for a rest on our new bench to recover for a moment.  Mrs Tootlepedal thinks that we may have two blackbird pairs nesting in the garden so it was not a surprise to see one.

When we had finished and everything was tidied up, we went in to have a cup of tea and we waited with interest to see if a bird would try out the new tree.

It took about three minutes.

Quite a few birds tried it out and among them was a redpoll who waited there for a while before popping down to scavenge some seed.

Luke came round in the early evening and we had a less than satisfactory play.  I was tired and he had had a busy day and the playing was substandard all round.  There is always another week though so we are not downhearted.

After Luke left, I went out on a short oyster catcher hunt just to keep my sore foot working.  I was hoping to see the big flock again but there were only the regular two pairs about, one below the Town Bridge, and one just above it.

I am going to get an x-ray on my foot tomorrow and I hope that whether this finds something interesting or not, the very fact of having some certainty about my foot’s condition will lead to improvements.

In the meantime, as the temperature is set to be just above freezing every morning this week, I am going to look out my winter clothing again.

As the inane chatter around Brexit continues, I am strongly reminded of the old fellow who was leaning against a gate in the heart of the countryside when he was asked by a passing motorist about the best way to get to Birmingham.  “Ah well,” he said after some reflection, “if I was going to Birmingham, I wouldn’t start from here.”  Many a true word is spoken in jest.

The flying bird of the day is a siskin…

…probably going home to his friends and saying, “Have you seen that fake tree at Wauchope Cottage?  What a joke!”

 

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Across the moss

Today’s picture is another from Venetia’s African odyssey in the course of which she seems to have seen just about everything you could expect to see if things went really well on such a visit.

After the excitement of yesterday’s outing, I had a quiet day today.  The weather was quiet too, with a tiny spot of sun and a single drop of rain, but it was mostly grey and unemotional.

Although Mrs Tootlepedal is still a bit under the weather,  she managed to go out and sort out posters in the Welcome to Langholm office for forthcoming Buccleuch Centre events.  I had a look at the birds.

It was a hard stare and shouting day.

I was suffering a bit from yesterday’s walk so I measured out visits to the garden in small doses but made the most of my time while I was out.

I started with a check on the developing magnolia…

…and then set about shifting some more compost from Bin B into Bin C.  In spite of having a good cover on Bin B, the amount of rain we have had has made the compost wet and heavy so I am moving a modest amount at a time but I have got down to needing one more go after today’s effort.  Perhaps because of the moisture, the compost is full of worms this year which is a good thing.

I also sieved some of the compost in Bin D but as it is wet too, the sieving is more tedious than it should be so there is quite a lot of that left to do.

I took a picture of a newly flourishing bergenia…

…and went back in looked out at the birds again.

They were still shouting.

I had some nourishing soup for my lunch and watched the birds whizzing round the feeder…

…and I was delighted to see a stranger among the chaffinches, siskins and goldfinches.  A redpoll had come to call.

I paid another visit to the garden to gather the material for a panel of primroses and primula…

…and while I was out, I got the mower out and put the blades up high enough for me to be able to walk across the front lawn pretending that I was mowing it.

Basically I was just squashing moss, although a few blades of grass here and there stuck up enough to end up in the grass box.  It is the first step in a process that I hope will end up with the lawn looking quite respectable for one or two weeks in the middle of summer before the moss starts its inexorable return.  It is a pointless but amusing exercise.

I retired to my computer and added a new parish magazine from 1968, which Sandy had scanned and formatted, to our Archive Group website.

I was thinking of a very short walk or slow cycle ride but there was a hint of drizzle so I went back to my computer and put the accompaniment for the last movement of one of the pieces which I am playing with Luke into the kind programme that plays the keyboard and the cello part for us.

I got bored of sitting around in the end and in spite of the poor light, I went off on the slow bike to see if there were any birds down by the river.  Because the light was poor, there were birds on all sides.

I saw a pair of oyster catchers showing that one leg or two is all the same to them.

I saw Mr Grumpy standing on the rock where the big gull usually stands.

I saw a pair of goosanders both standing  out of the water for long enough for me to get a shot of them…

…though the female had lost her head.

All these were on the short stretch between the suspension and the town bridges.

I crossed the town bridge and stopped at the Kilngreen where a pied wagtail posed for a moment…

…while two mallards tried to sneak off unnoticed behind my back,

I was talking to a fellow cyclist when a dipper flew past but it was too quick for me and all that was left was to catch the fine show of daffodils along the bank up to the Sawmill Brig.

I pedalled gently across the bridge, up the Lodge Walks and then back along the riverside path….

…and then I went through the town up to Pool Corner where this fine crop of catkins caught my eye.

I had one final look round the garden when I got home…

…and enjoyed two of the different daffodils that Mrs Tootlepedal has planted over the years.

That pretty well concluded the excitement for the day apart from watching our local heroine Jilly making it through another day of Masterchef.

A chaffinch looking a bit uncomfortable is the flying bird of the day.

Note: I see that Sandy has put a set of pictures from our walk at Watchtree yesterday onto his blog.  Those interested can see them here.

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A happy return

Today’s guest picture comes from Jim and Sandra who are used to their bird feeder being visited by woodpeckers and nuthatches but got quite a surprise when this fellow turned. up.

Owing to the impending return home of Mrs Tootlepedal, I had a busy morning of tidying up, hoovering  and floor sweeping.  The weather was much better outside than it has been but the housework and my sore foot kept me firmly anchored at home.

The birds were also pretty busy and I had to fill the feeders as there was a steady stream of chaffinches…

…followed by a flurry of siskins and goldfinches.

After a cup of coffee, I stretched my legs to the extent of walking round the garden.  The crocuses have not really enjoyed the very variable weather this spring , coming out early and then being battered by rain and wind, but here and there one can be found looking quite cheerful.

And the rosemary is busy  flowering.  It is a tricky plant to photograph so I was pleased to find a still moment with enough (but not too much) light to take a picture of it.

When I got back inside and looked out, a chaffinch and a siskin obligingly posed for me above the feeder…

…while they were waiting for a free perch…

…and a collared dove looked for fallen seed below.

I made some potato soup for lunch and after getting things sorted out for the evening’s camera club meeting, I tested my foot out on a very short three bridges walk.

I was hoping for some waterside bird life and spotted two oyster catchers on the gull’s usual posts.  They were very vocal as I got near and flew off before I could get close.

Just below the sawmill brig, I saw a pair of goosanders and managed to get a fuzzy shot with the zoom well extended before they too…

…scooted off before I could get a good shot.

In the absence of co-operative birds, I had to be content with more static subjects like this script lichen on a tree…

…and these handsome bracket fungi on a fallen tree.  They have withstood frost, snow, rain and wind without looking any the worse for wear.

The hazels were in full flower….

…and the willows at the Jubilee Bridge  are breaking out too.

The wild strawberries which are growing out of a crack in the wall at the end of the Scholars’ Field are doing very well.

Just before I got back to our garden, I had to stop to record the flourishing flowering currant of our neighbours.

I had a final look round and then set off to Carlisle to pick Mrs Tootlepedal up from the London train.  I was very surprised and pleased in equal measure to find that the station can now boast some very smart new seats for those waiting for trains to arrive.  They are padded and very comfortable.  I hope that they get treated with the respect that they deserve.

I didn’t have long to enjoy the comfortable seating as Mrs Tootlepedal’s train arrived bang on time and we were soon heading home.

When we got back, she pointed out this new daffodil whihc has just come out.  It is called Rip van Winkle.  I hope that we can get some nicer weather for it to show off its charms more fully.

After tea, I went off to the camera club meeting.  There was a good attendance with the welcome addition of a new member and as usual, we got an interesting selection of images to enjoy, with nine members contributing.  One good idea which was demonstrated was the use of a mirror to enable the photographer to take pictures of snowdrop flowers without having to lie on the ground.  I shall definitely try that next year.

It was decided that we should make an effort to have a summer club outing this year and we shall have to think of where to go.  We have a promising suggestion already and I hope that it actually comes off.

A female chaffinch makes for a neat flying bird of the day.

I should add that all is well with the world in spite of bad news in every continent and continuing sore feet because any day is greatly improved by the addition of a Mrs Tootlepedal.

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The lady varnishes

Today’s guest picture is another from Tony.  He has been looking up lately and as well as holes in clouds, he has seen the moon.

We had another fine sunny day here today and because the wind had dropped, it felt really warm and we were able to discard several layers of winter clothing.

We started the day with a visit to church to sing with the choir.  Because our local amateur operatic society was having a full day of rehearsals for their forthcoming show, we were a bit short of numbers but we gave it our best anyway.

When we got back to the house, we had a stroll round the garden.  I checked on the frogs and saw an odd sight…

…with two frogs looking as though they had been shot and mounted on a wooden board.  A second look showed me that they were in fact floating on top of a reflection of the bridge above them and if you look carefully, you can see the rest of their bodies under the water.

The rest of the pond was full of frogs.

The garden is full of crocuses…

…and other interesting things like a naturally dried sunflower head, a ladybird and the developing euphorbia.

I was just going about photographing things when I was hailed by neighbour Irving who was leaning over the garden fence.  He has been very poorly recently with a bad back and was keen to share some experiences with me as I have suffered from a bad back too in my time.

He felt that after being ill, he was probably not at his best photographically and told me not to put his picture in the blog.  You can see that he is perhaps looking a little part worn still so I won’t use his picture.

During the day when she was between choirs, Mrs Tootlepedal completed the varnishing of the rocking horse.

The dappling of a rocking horse is a very stylised business and she has settled for a fairly restrained version which I think is just the thing.

We are waiting now for the arrival of the saddle, bridle, main and tail from the rocking horse shop and then the final stage of the work can begin.

We had a busy day at the feeder today with a good number of siskins flying in and out…

…alongside the usual chaffinches and goldfinches…

…and a visiting starling showed off its iridescent colours.

I had time for a short three bridges walk and spotted quite a few oyster catchers beside the river..

The sense of a spring day was heightened by the sight of the first blossoms on the trees which line the Esk between the suspension and the town bridges.

At the Kilngreen, the crocuses are starting to come out along the banking and although they are not quite as showy as the Edinburgh display which I saw on Thursday…

…they are not to be sniffed at.

I haven’t seen Mr Grumpy for some time, so it was good to see him back on guard beside the Ewes Water.

I walked over the Sawmill Brig and walked up almost as far as the Lodge…

…before crossing the Castleholm and taking the riverside path back towards the Jubilee bridge.  I was wondering if the spell of good weather might have tempted some hazel flowers to come out.

It had.

The catkins were open and if you look carefully, you can just see a little red female flower at the top of the picture.

This tree had several flowers out…

…but I didn’t see any more as I walked along the path.  They have arrived early this year.  It has sometimes been almost a month later before I have seen them.

I called in on our friends Mike and Alison on our way home as Mike has been poorly with a chest infection.  I had seen him briefly on our way to church when he was on his way to buy a newspaper and looking far from well but he was much more cheerful by lunchtime and reported that he is on the mend.

When  I got home, I found the pond full to bursting with frogs.

I had time for a quick lunch and while I was  eating my soup, Mrs Tootlepedal noticed that a redpoll had arrived.  I put down my soup spoon and picked  up a camera and recorded this welcome arrival.

After lunch, we went off to Carlisle for a very hard working final practice before the Carlisle Community Choir goes to Manchester next week to compete in the Manchester Amateur Choir Competition.

Mrs Tootlepedal is not taking part this year so I will be going down by myself, except of course for the other eighty choir members who will be coming too.

I am hoping for good weather so I can wander about during the day taking pictures.

I had made a venison stew in the slow cooker in the morning and in spite of saying recently that we had used all the veg from our garden, I was happy to find that we still have some home grown turnips in store in our garage so one of them went in.  Thanks to the good summer, things have lasted well in storage this season.

The flying bird of the day was a lucky shot taken at the Kilngreen as I clicked my camera at random as a duck flew by down the river.  I must have moved it inadvertently at almost duck flying speed.

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