Farm Lane

It was misty this morning, so after my wife set off for work, I set off on the bike. I had meant to do my normal ride down to the river and back up to the village, but the opposite way to which I normally go. As I turned off the big lane and headed downhill, I sank into the mist and it got colder - about a degree every twenty yards by the feel of things.

The mist also got thicker as I went down and as I didn't have any lights, I decided that it would be prudent to head back up where visibility was better, so I turned and made my way back up the hill that I had just happily freewheeled down.

I took one of the turn-offs into a lane that led to a farm and was taking pictures across the fields from a gateway, when the dogs from the farm came trotting up the lane to check me out. There were three of them and after a minute or two of barking and tail wagging, two of them came over and introduced themselves and had a stroke and a pet. The third stayed about ten yards away, not barking, but eyeing me suspiciously. After a couple of minutes, they were satisfied and turned and trotted back down the lane.

When they reached the farm again, they stopped, turned, sat down and watched me, making sure I wasn't going to come any closer to their territory, and that is my blip for the day.

The rest of the day was a bit of editing work, phoning my sister to tell her about the mini stroke and the accident (I'd been putting it off, as I knew she'd nag me about getting a mobile phone - which she did), and replacing some of the stones around the edge of the pond.

I managed to get the stones mortared into place, but a few blobs of the mortar fell into the pond. I hope it doesn't spoil the pond, as when I first put it in, I seem to remember reading that if mortaring stones into place, make sure none of the mortar fell in. I shall be checking anxiously for the next few days.

While I was fiddling with the stones, I saw an intrepid little tadpole which had made it all the way round to the opposite side of the pond from where the frogspawn was laid - the first of many, I'm sure.

Hope you're all having a good week and getting a share of this nice weather.