This is not an eventful period of my life. This is nothing to do with the Great Fear, it’s just how the wheel is turning at the moment. But at least the wild strawberries are out, and waiting to be found.
A very fine day was had in the Lake District. Even the sheep seemed to be enjoying it, and this ewe poses readily for the camera as they often do, with High Pike behind. A shame her lamb did not feel like joining in too, but one can’t have everything. (For more pictures from today, see my Wainwrights blog.)
Everything’s growing fast. Do the weeding in the garden and three days later it all comes back, it seems. These plants — I am not botanist enough to identify them — offered a splash of colour to the mostly green landscape but it was only temporary; they are weeds, they had to go. But like everything else, they will no doubt return.
If you can’t see why it’s a good idea to put a plank of wood like this in one’s garden water butt, you’ve clearly never had to get the drowned corpse of an indeterminate creature out of one, as we once did. Anyway, over the last few months, it has been colonised. The slime came first — now, this rather more photogenic red fungus, or that is what I assume it is. Who knows, give it a couple of thousand years and we might have entire civilisations existing in this water butt universe.
Went out on a walk, not that the weather is getting any better — atypically, May 2021 has been a cold and grey month in the UK. These calves, particularly the black one, look as grumpy about this as I feel.
Have I yet done 2021’s duckling/gosling pic? No? Well, here you are then. These balls of fluff can get up to a decent speed in the water, you have to give them that.
“Listen, I’m as pissed off as you it’s still very cold and wet for May. I have to forsake my usual comfortable haunts because the ground is too wet. And you’re not at risk of getting fatally stomped by random humans.”
Well, these are valid points. But it still let me stick my camera in its face.
Not a day that will live long in the annals of photographic history, at least, not for me. But this cat was cute (despite the reflections) and in fact, this is the first cat to appear on the blog since 3rd March 2020 — which is pretty poor form for this self-declared ‘cat person’. Lots of dogs, lots of birds, even a pig or three, but no cats for a while. Let’s rectify this.
I don’t mind dogs on the whole but I’m never going to make myself responsible for one, and there are plenty of people who seem to think I should find their pets as endearing as they do. But these salukis — this is one of a matched pair — were OK, attractive animals I thought. If I’ve got the breed wrong blame the info I got from the owner.
When I put the tag in, and something else came up under ‘Saluki’, it was — where, when? But now I check I see it was the name of a train in Illinois. After nearly ten years doing this, sometimes things get forgotten.
This tree has a noble aspect. I like its seeming formality and the way the guys disport themselves below it in various ways. I like the little cloud fluff that it seems to have caught in the top branches. Pictured in Stockwood Park, Luton — a town which makes a classy debut on the blog (though see also tomorrow).
Being 42 