For a long bank holiday, due to the Jubilee, mum and dad have been very busy with one thing and another. So we were really glad to see our going out bag being prepared and our leads taken down off the hook earlier today.
Today we were going to go for a short walk through the woods at the edge of Kingstown, north of Carlisle.
The recent change to cooler temperatures has caused us both to become a bit restless. So a good walk with lots of sniffs was needed to shake off our grumbles and in turn get a good stretch.
Our coats seem to be really suffering with the lack of heat. Only last week we were starting to thin into our summer fluff. Seven days later and a drop of more than 10deg C we are starting to grow new undercoats.
Mum is tired of cleaning and combing Charlie as his body works out how to keep cool one week and then warm the next.
Even the plants in the house are confused. A red flowering christmas cactus, that sits on a windowsill in the hallway, has come into flower. This usually only happens a lot later in the year close to December.
A walk to the woods
Heading deep into the woods we became surrounded by birds singing at the tops of their voices. It seemed as every tree top branch had some sort of songbird perched on it.
Blue tits, Chaffinches, Blackbirds and the occasional robin filled the air with a chorus of song.
Streams and muddy swamps criss-cross the woodland floor and where the sun breaks through a number of iris and bog loving plants could be found.
Standing tall above the reeds and grasses we spotted quite a few greenish yellow flag iris. They seemed to be taking advantage of a hole in the leaf canopy and were bathed in sunlight.
Nearby in a wide open grass covered area we came upon around 100 purple flowers called orchids. Scattered all over the large plot the dark coloured flowers really stood out against the dark green grass.
Our circular walk almost complete, we took a few moments to enjoy the view of a meadow from a memorial bench.
According to the plaque fixed to the back of the seat it had been installed to remember Marjorie Grundy 1924-2009 and Ian Carruthers 1928-2002.
We have no idea who these people were, but thanks to their friends wanting to remember, we were able to relax, listen to the birds and enjoy a lovely vista before returning home for some lunch and possibly an afternoon nap.
Until next time
Buster and Charlie