Another bright day that really deserved to be appreciated from outside the window.
A bright day, but a cold start. When I was making the breakfast it was 2.1ºc. That’s kind of cool, too cool for my liking. However the heating had kicked in and the house was warm. Thank goodness for the Hive.
We decided on a walk in Colzium estate in Kilsyth. My reason for wanting to go there was to see the colours of the Acers, but I was a bit disappointed by how few of the trees were showing off their colourful leaves that usually brighten this month. However, all was not lost because one tree at the top of the main avenue was a burst of colour. I grabber a couple of photos, one of which was vastly over exposed, but back home one touch of the computer keyboard and it became PoD. The washed out colours came back as did the detail in the leaves. Technology can be amazing when it works.
We walked on round the Big House and up the drive to the Tak Ma Doon road, then down through the trees to the main path that follows the Colzium burn up to the wee narrow bridge at the top. On the way I got another interesting shot of one of the many waterfalls the burn splashes down on its way to the more gentle stream through Kilsyth itself. I got one good shot of the waterfall and three that the camera thought were more interesting, Shots of branches and leaves. The first shot, the one I took, not the camera is available to peruse on Flickr.
We crossed the bridge and walked down the other side of the burn to the road at the bottom. There’s a cafe on the other side of the burn and we went there for a coffee each and a cake to share. There were two big family groups who had nabbed all the seats, but we weren’t bothered. We walked further down and found a whole line of unused seat on the rise above the bandstand. A perfect place to look out over the estate and enjoy the coffee and the cake and a chance for a selfie!
When we were walking back to the car we met a bloke who asked if I’d taken any good shots. Then he told me he’d spotted a kingfisher beside the Colzium Burn where it runs through a park in the town. He admitted that he hadn’t brought his camera, but I will make sure I take mine the next time I’m in Lidl!
Back home, lunch was tea and toast for Scamp and Brie, Apple and Honey on brown bread. Our own apple too! Lovely and probably much better for us than the usual Sunday fry-up.
Scamp was desperate to cut the back grass, so I kindly let her, then John next door knocked on the door and asked if he could borrow our strimmer. His had broken down halfway through strimming his front grass. I didn’t mind, because I’d volunteered to strim our back grass and that would put off the inevitable.
Unfortunately, John brought the strimmer back and I gave in and strimmed the edges at the back garden. Then I cleaned both the mower and the strimmer and gave them a liberal spray with WD40 and put them away for the winter. It’s unlikely we’ll get another chance to cut the grass this year.
Dinner tonight was Sea Bream with Potatoes, Peas and Sweet Corn. Perfectly cooked by Scamp, of course.
Spoke to Jamie later and discussed plans for next week. All seems to be in order down south and the pair are still keen to get some serious walking done. We’ll just watch!
PoD was indeed the first shot of the day, the beautiful colours of the Acers. The prompt for today was “Dagger”. I drew a Dirk, a Thrusting dagger, Wikipedia calls it. It’s Scots name is Sgian Dubh, meaning Black Knife. This sketch is loosely based on my own Sgian Dubh which I only wear with highland dress at weddings.
No plans for tomorrow, although clearing a bedroom will be on the cards I fear!
