The garden may be small, but not easy!

 I did a sketch of my mother’s day posy yesterday evening.

Today I have spent a reasonable amount of time in the garden, I did take another photo of the raised bed that I finished off yesterday.

The side of the garden had a lot of snowdrops, so I left starting to clear it until they had stopped flowering, then was going to dig them up to replant later. I don’t think the edge under the bushes has been cleared for a long time. On the face of it this garden will be child’s play.

But on a closer look the ground elder, which was a nightmare in Hornsea has run riot here. It is up to the back under the bushes and the runners go under the grass. This is what it looks like, this was the amount of root I had from that small area, and it is not clear., and you  can see it is up behind where I dug.

On a brighter note Pandora likes being out in the garden while I am working.

I did continue for a bit,but I am have it to prune back the bushes to get to the bed. I have started making an edge, it is a start, but still a lot of root on there!

That was enough for today. I did o course go for my haircut half way through, a nice cut so think all will be well.

Darren arrived this afternoon and we have had pizza from the van for tea. I brought a sprig of holly in to draw, trickier than you think!

Comic relief this evening. I have ordered a t shirt but haven’t got it yet!

No hiking today

 This morning I did a few chores and then had a walk into Dunkeld. I had a drink at the cafe with the unusual wallpaper and took a closer one of the strange creature.

I bought some blood oranges and looked in a couple of shops and walked through St Niniana garden. On the way back I took a photo of the hill behind the river as you can see the mast I walked up to yesterday.

I was fascinated by the leaves on the tarmac pavements as they had sort of become part of it.

I worked in the garden for about an hour and a half, I had to empty the containers that I had filled with roots, but needed to shake the Earth out as the bins aren’t collected if they are too heavy!

I did empty those and then mended the raised bed where I had taken the herbs out and dug it all over. Did take a photo but bodged it!

Pandora had plenty of time outside today as I had the door open when I was working out there, and then had the back door open when I was preparing tea. I had it all ready for when Tina returned from her days training in Dundee.

So a slightly less energetic day than yesterday. Hair cut with a new hairdresser tomorrow, Carol had been cutting it for eight years!

Unplanned walk to the top of the world!

 This morning I left hope before nine with the intention of walking to The Loch of the Lowes, Tina and I had walked part of the way a few days ago, I took the first steep road very slowly, not realising how many more I would go up before I was done. A lot of photos today, I will put occasional comments where necessary.

I asked a lady directions as there were not a lot of signs, she said yo go up and I would reach a gate and it would level off.

The sign was at an angle and there was a trodden path by the side of the gate so I thought that was the way. The fact that I kept climbing should have given me a clue!  

                                                          

I got all the way up to that mast and then could get no further. So had to make my way down, I must have walked a mile or more to get there!

That is the view from the only bench I had passed, so I had a rest.

That was the roots of a large fallen tree, I took another photo from the other side.

When I got back to the gate I realised I should have hone along the narrow path next to it. It was flatter but  was littered with stones and very uneven.

Then there was a fallen tree to negotiate!

I went through this muddy bit, nearly lost my shoe and had water filled socks, but carried on.

But this one was a step too far, so had to turn back.

I had messaged Tina in case she was worried, when she messaged back I was getting near The Field which I had photographed the sign for on the way up.she was in Dunkeld so said she would stay there and we could have lunch. My ankle had started to really hurt by then, but met her at the cafe. We had a very nice lunch and then walked home. By then I had done just over 20,000 steps! You won’t be surprised to hear that I haven’t done a lot since except some washing, including my shoes!

Just chores!

 I haven been out today except to post letters this morning and to take a Beatrix Potter mug over to the art centre for them to add to the exhibition display.

I have done some washing and other general chores, nothing of any interest. Although I did wash some of the white stones that I had to put on the bonsai pots so that I could put some extra ones in with a plant I have been growing in water for a couple of years. I have had it for about eight years I think and it never did very well. I have been trying hydroponics for a couple of years and it is now in better shape that it has been in years.

Hopefully I will hve something a bit more interesting to say tomorrow.

Walking and sketching

 I decided to walk to the Hermitage again today, this time I knew roughly where I was going and the pavements weren’t icy, so I got there a bit quicker! Took some photos on the way it was a chilly but bright morning.

I sat down for a few minutes on a bench in the car before walking up to Ossians hall. Took this photo, thankfully didn’t have to go up those steps!

I only took a few photos of the falls, then I went to a bench where I did a sketch, looking back t the hall and the bridge.

I was truly exhausted when I got home, really need to get fitter! Had a very quiet afternoon, sat with Pandora for a while and wrote a couple of letters. Still feeling quite tired so won’t be doing much this evening either!

Mothering Sunday

 Today I had a chat with Anya earlier than usual which was nice, then I went to the service, Tina’s first Mothering Sunday here. It was a family service so we had shakers or tambourines to use when singing the hymns. There were refreshments afterwards and everyone stays to have a chat.

Tina and I got ready to go out then and get some lunch, we hadn’t booked anywhere but took a chance. She had read about a farm that had a restaurant not far away but the queue for food there was ridiculously long, so we bought nice things from the deli counter to take home. I did take some pics on the way, the first one was trying to catch the wire bird in the trees!

Then we set off to find an ice cream parlour we had seen signs for but ended up in another farm with a restaurant and they had room, so we had dinner out after all. I had the vegetable wellington and it was a lovely meal.

They had highland cows there so we went to have a look. There was a baby in the background lying down and the mum was washing the other adult, it was very cute.

There was a walk you could take so we will probably go there again.

We have had a quiet time since we got back and had some of the goodies for tea. I am now back in my own room, complete with cat and relaxing. It has been a very nice day.