A Thursday Wander

It was lovely to see my friend in Glasgow's old Southern General Hospital (a new one is being built) yesterday already on the road to recovery after surgery, but the drive there and back, followed by Cubs in the evening – we let them play with water pistols and balloon water bombs and sent them all home soaking wet but contented – has left my energy levels low for today. I've washed and hung out the machine-load of towels that they used. For a while this morning I thought the rain that the Met Office forecast for two days ago had finally arrived, but it was just a sprinkle out of the summer mugginess.

I lost my way (what a surprise! ;-) coming away from the hospital and directions to the motorway were inadequate but I stopped twice to ask and as usual Glasgow people were friendly and helpful.

I went for a wander around the boggy brae. I've been meaning to show a shot of our lane for a while. Apart from the boggy brae, the lane only leads to a not-much-used boggy field that currently is filling up with bracken, rushes and thistles.

Lane shots

The lane from the north end

Lane roses

Moving southwards. Straight on goes to the field; our entrance curving in to the right

Hawthorn blossom in the lane just opposite our entrance

Then I noted garden progress in my slow wanderings. It's almost worth having ME to be able to this with no feeling of "I should be doing something more vigorous." Almost.

20 June garden shots

Yellow aquilegia. It sowed itself.

In its 'context'

Three more buds. Last year there was only one flower; this year four, unless the deer eat them.

Near the companionway steps up from the back terrace (boatbuilders used to live in our house)

Chives, lady's mantle, foxgloves (just beginning to open), ferns

The 'orange' azalea

Orange azalea closer in

And down in the boggy bit, the first few yellow flags (the hedge beyond is shoulder height – half the height it was seven years ago and a quarter of the volume; that was a job and a half!)

Found two more orchids in flower today, and one whose flower stalk is only just becoming visible. So that's four so far. Three of them are Northern Marsh Orchids, I believe. The other, though similar to them, grows a much longer flower spike which is more obviously pyramidal at least in the early stages of its development. I haven't been successful in properly identifying it yet.