(no subject)

I did a lot of writing yesterday.  An awful lot of writing.  This is good news.  I haven't quite sorted out all the relevant issues in this draft of my WIP, but I've made progress.  Phew.

I thought I deserved a reward after that.  This morning, J and I went out to one of the local nurseries to buy some potting compost.  They had none in stock, so they offered us a bagful of their own home-made equivalent of John Innes No. Whatever it is for young plants and seedlings.  My begonias, which are used to getting heaved into peat-free, probably won't know what's hit them.  This compost is nice.  It looks nice.  It feels nice.  It even smells nice.

After that, we went to Lochwinnoch.  We'd planned a walk, but got rumbled in the car park of the Castle Semple centre by a couple of veteran stalwarts from the local chaingang who laughed and asked us where our bikes were.  Oh dear...  Sometimes there is no escape...

Our walk ended in failure.  We were planning a stroll along the lochside, but we'd only walked a couple of hundred yards before we found this:-

 

After the heavy rain of the last couple of days, Castle Semple Loch has expanded somewhat..  Seeing our route curtailed,  we turned around and took a detour via Auld Simon.  What is 'Auld Simon'? I hear you ask.  You'll just have to wait and see, won't you...

In the meantime, I'll introduce you to my old friend the whooper swan.  I've mentioned this poor fellow before, but the last few times I've seen it around, I haven't had my camera to hand.  This time, I came prepared.  It's become something of a moocher the last couple of years, which is quite understandable, considering that one of its wings has been mutilated as a result of injury.  It now hangs out with a crowd of mute swans, and seems to be getting along quite famously.  Though I can't help wondering what the mute swans think of this weird interloper - it's quite a noisy thing.  Today it was hooting quietly to itself as it cruised around the lochside.

 

It's a miracle it's made it so far - I was sure the bad weather would be the end of it.  It can't be much fun being a flightless swan when the loch's frozen up and the local foxes are starving.  But thankfully, it's still alive and kicking, though it'll never see the Arctic again, poor thing:-

 

Maybe it's quite glad it doesn't have to bother with this long distance migration business any more...

(no subject)

I did a lot of writing yesterday.  An awful lot of writing.  This is good news.  I haven't quite sorted out all the relevant issues in this draft of my WIP, but I've made progress.  Phew.

I thought I deserved a reward after that.  This morning, J and I went out to one of the local nurseries to buy some potting compost.  They had none in stock, so they offered us a bagful of their own home-made equivalent of John Innes No. Whatever it is for young plants and seedlings.  My begonias, which are used to getting heaved into peat-free, probably won't know what's hit them.  This compost is nice.  It looks nice.  It feels nice.  It even smells nice.

After that, we went to Lochwinnoch.  We'd planned a walk, but got rumbled in the car park of the Castle Semple centre by a couple of veteran stalwarts from the local chaingang who laughed and asked us where our bikes were.  Oh dear...  Sometimes there is no escape...

Our walk ended in failure.  We were planning a stroll along the lochside, but we'd only walked a couple of hundred yards before we found this:-

 

After the heavy rain of the last couple of days, Castle Semple Loch has expanded somewhat..  Seeing our route curtailed,  we turned around and took a detour via Auld Simon.  What is 'Auld Simon'? I hear you ask.  You'll just have to wait and see, won't you...

In the meantime, I'll introduce you to my old friend the whooper swan.  I've mentioned this poor fellow before, but the last few times I've seen it around, I haven't had my camera to hand.  This time, I came prepared.  It's become something of a moocher the last couple of years, which is quite understandable, considering that one of its wings has been mutilated as a result of injury.  It now hangs out with a crowd of mute swans, and seems to be getting along quite famously.  Though I can't help wondering what the mute swans think of this weird interloper - it's quite a noisy thing.  Today it was hooting quietly to itself as it cruised around the lochside.

 

It's a miracle it's made it so far - I was sure the bad weather would be the end of it.  It can't be much fun being a flightless swan when the loch's frozen up and the local foxes are starving.  But thankfully, it's still alive and kicking, though it'll never see the Arctic again, poor thing:-

 

Maybe it's quite glad it doesn't have to bother with this long distance migration business any more...