No grey today!

Earlier in the week you saw pictures of my walk in Balmedie Country Park.

What I did not show you then was the bank of wildflowers blooming beside the brand new road junction - the Balmedie turn-off from the recently upgraded A90.

Gail insisted on finding a place to stop and tried to get me to "pose nicely" amid the poppies.

In all honesty I wasn't too keen. What you can't see on these photos is the proximity of a busy road with lots of heavy lorries thundering past. Also, the bank is rather steep, thus not a comfortable posing perch.

But I'll admit I too was impressed by the colourful display covering this recently disturbed ground. I do suspect that someone might have given 'nature' a helping hand here with a generous sprinkling of wildflower seeds.

Anyway, what a welcome sight it was, in our part of the world where the colour palette tends to grey even at mid-summer....

Happy Nature Friday folks! And once again a huge thank you to our wonderful friends, the LLB Gang, for hosting the blog hop.

Attempting the impossible

Fellow pups does this ever happen to you?

There you are, out on a walk, happily romping around with your park pals in a carefree manner, when you are called to attention by your camera wielding human (in this case Gail)?

"Oh Bertie, do come over here. I have spotted a great photo opportunity. Look, there are a couple of poppies still out in this wild flower patch. If you stand just here, I think I can get you, the poppies, and that tree in golden leaf in the background which will be a good indicator of the season and thus the remarkableness of the poppy being still in bloom on this Friday morning in late October…"

Have you ever heard such twaddle?

I mean it's obvious right away that Gail is trying to cram too many things into one picture and that her camera will not be able to cope with me in the foreground, a feeble display of nearly expired poppies behind me and a tree somewhere in the distance.

Can you blame me for having no patience with the whole charade?

The natural selection approach to gardening

There is a reason why this blog features pictures of our back garden only rarely.

Gail claims that it is not that she is lazy, oh no, not at all. Rather that, when she has free time and the weather is nice, she prefers to take me out for a nice long walk in the country. And that when the weather is, as is so often the case in these parts, not nice, then who wants to be out in the garden anyway?

Heaven knows I try to encourage her by helping with the digging, but all to no avail. 

Well anyway, this week, by some amazing fluke, the 'survival of the fittest' approach to horticulture resulted in several different flowers, some even quite vibrant, being in bloom at the same time. AND WE HAD TWO CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF BRIGHT WARM SUNSHINE.

And at my insistence, this unique event was recorded on camera. Please do spare a moment to savour this tour of our garden; new plant species will have had time to evolve by the next chance I get to show you round...