Spring Walk

After having that explosion of creativity and activity I took the day off today, simply because the sun was shining. Those kind of days are rare in Scotland and I like to make the most of them. So my studio door was opened wide and I sat on the terras reading. Granted the books were sort of job related about mixed media, and quilting but nevertheless it felt very much like a holiday!

Of course the dogs still needed to be walked even though Troi, the greyhound, was far from keen to venture far in the heat (well relatively speaking, it was warm for Scotland, about 21 degrees Celsius).

The first thing we noticed was the Laburnum tree before we even went out of the gate. Due to the severe winter and the late frosts the show was not half as spectacular as last year but still the golden rain (this is what the tree is called in Dutch i.e. gouden regen) gladdened my heart.

The next treat was the hawthorn blossom of the tree by the old railway bridge. This tree really was decimated during the winter snows and most of the branches are barely attached to the old trunk. I stopped John from clearing them up as I was afraid the birds had already begun nesting and to my amazement the branches actually produced blossom. And in abundance. The smell is glorious and can be smelled even at our gate.

The white looks spendid both on its own and against the bridge. What texture.

The old railway line makes for a very peaceful path and so does the forest. It's extremely rare to meet anyone else and I can enjoy the beautiful scenery including the horses in the field.

On the way home I came across this large clump of lovely little blue flowers and on coming home and consulting The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady concluded they must be Germander Speedwell or Veronica Chamaedris to give them their Latin name. So pretty!