Cherry blossom special

When I suggested we devote this week's Nature Friday post to the beautiful cherry blossom which is softening the granite grey of our Aberdeen streets right now, Gail had the bright idea that I should wear something pink to coordinate with the trees.

I'll be honest with you, I had a nightmare flashback as I remembered the pink frock I once was forced agreed to wear in remembrance of Whitley, my Westie friend from Texas. But Gail assured me she had in mind something much more, er, macho, namely a bow tie hand knitted from some scraps of wool she'd recently found when cleaning out yet another long neglected cupboard.

I think we can all agree that this creation was not Gail's finest hour on the knitting front* - too big and floppy for a bow tie and too short for a scarf.

But thankfully the cherry blossom came up to scratch, which is all that matters for a Nature Friday post, as I'm sure our blog hop hosts Arty, Jakey and Rosy will agree.

*Apologies for the mixed wartime metaphor. We're been hearing too much about the 75th anniversary of VE Day this week!

More tramps in the Gramps

It was a lovely bright day, with the air fresh and clean, the trees bursting into leaf and all the birds a-twitter. So instead of completing the usual morning circumnavigation of Duthie Park, Gail announced, half-way round, and with the carefree spirit of the newly retired, that perhaps we might continue on south across the river and go up to Kincorth Nature Reserve, locally known as the 'Gramps'.

You'll remember we've been up to the 'Gramps' before. However this time Gail decided, undeterred by her scratchy experience in Durris Forest last week, that we should investigate some of the less well marked paths and this took us into an area of gorse covered heathland in the southwestern corner of the nature reserve. 

Fortunately the path was wide enough that the protective properties of my wiry coat were not called into action despite the profusion of prickly gorse bushes, and after a while we found a farm track leading into a housing estate. 

Gail seemed underwhelmed by the prospect of a walk through the maze of rather dreary local authority housing, but I had spotted something interesting and encouraged her to continue onwards.

Look, we have Clerk Maxwell Crescent,

Boyd Orr Avenue,

and Dugald Baird Square.

Of course you will already have worked out that these streets are all named after eminent scientists and medical professionals with a connection to Aberdeen. What better place for a Boffin to explore!

We eventually found our way round to the periphery of the 'Gramps',

and finally back into Duthie Park, completing our morning circuit about two hours later than planned.

Look, here's the route. (We are thrilled to learn that at least one local friend has been appreciating these little maps and might even be using them as the basis for lockdown explorations of their own!)

"A Proper Dog"

So there I was, trotting along a path in the woods the other day, when a lady coming the other way spotted me and exclaimed emphatically, and with apparent delight:

"Oh look! A proper dog!"

Later that evening, as I was pondering on what, exactly, she meant, the poetic muse struck...

The Proper Dog

A "proper dog" is what she said.

Implying I'm a normal chap,

And not some fancy, over-bred

Type, only fit for ladies' laps?

Was she admiring of my form,

My profile square yet neat?

In looks, do I perhaps conform

To Earth's canine elite?

Did she mean proper as in prim?

No surely, that can't be!

My wayward furcut's scarcely trim,

My manner's far too free.

Or was her emphasis on dog,

As in a proper, intact male?

Not so. I never saw her look

At this particular detail...

Maybe, like Gail, she as a child

Possessed a terrier on wheels,

And ever after, all the while

Held dogs like me as the ideal.

We'll never know, she passed on by,

Without conversing any more.

I like to think that in her eyes,

I just was perfect to the core!

A brush with nature (wiry coat needed)

I'm pleased to report that a revised interpretation of our government's social distancing guidelines says you can drive somewhere to exercise so long as your exercise time is much longer than your car journey.

So this week Gail had the bright idea of taking me to explore a bit of Durris Forest about half an hour's drive from our house. She chose a route we'd not done before, in a little frequented part of the forest.

It was all going so well...

...until we veered off the main track and tried to follow a footpath marked on the map but less clear at ground level...

Did you know that wire-haired fox terriers were bred to have coarse, wiry coats to protect them from getting scratched by the undergrowth when pursuing foxes to earth?

I think Gail was feeling a little envious of my furs by the time we regained the proper track!

Happy Nature Friday friends! And thanks once again to our dear friends Arty, Jakey and Rosy for hosting this our favourite blog hop.