Morning walk

Blogging has been in short supply recently, after my OH was carted into hospital rather dramatically with a kidney stone. He is now out (of hospital; the stone is still where it was alas), but he is not exactly firing on all cylinders. Anyway, he has now managed to get up, so I am trying to re-connect with the world. Illness is an odd thing for the non-ill: as well as the constant nagging worry (not like this at all when one is ill oneself) and the sheer bloodiness of watching your nearest and dearest being terribly unwell, is the odd sort of half-world it casts you into. Everything is carrying on around you remarkably normally but you, as you sit in Tescos waiting for the promised but not yet faxed through prescription to appear, petrified in case things are getting worse at home, are not.

The natural world continues, as does my ineptitude at harvesting anything. I attempted to make elderflower syrup, but think I now have to accept that the browned mess on the side has gone too far for me to do anything about it. Elderflowers look better on the tree, anyway.







Dog hunts by scent, so very rarely sees bunnies. There were several out as we walked down this ride. I saw them all. She saw none (having her head buried in the wheat Sniffing Something). She's now got to the point where the bunnies were and is terribly excited about it. Uselessly so. Bunnies now firmly in burrow.

I love the way bryony winds around.




Deadly Nightshade is something I cannot look at without instantly thinking "Poison!" My mother drummed into us which plants to avoid, and this was top of the list, along with laburnum.




Comments

Unknown said…
Ooh, a Dead Nettle. Did you suck the nectar from the flowers ? I still do on the rare occasions when I see a Dead Nettle.

They used to be as common as anything where I grew up, but I hardly ever see them here in Sheffield.
What a beautiful place you live in. Just glorious.

Funny about the dog; my Lab often reveals how poor her eyesight is compared to her nose on walks. One day a crow dropped a Starbucks cup from its perch high in a tree and the cup skittered down through the branches like a squirrel. The dog went nuts. We had to sit under that tree for 5 minutes until she was convinced the cup wasn't a squirrel and would move on.

Sorry about your OH. Mine had to deal with the same issue last summer, while on vacation. Our vacation was in Yellowstone park, and that word will forever have something of a different meaning for us.
Jane Badger said…
Gillian, I have never done this. Next time I go that way, I will.

Moggypie - however did you cope with that? We were at least in reasonable distance of ambulances etc.

Dog has a similar thing to yours about squirrels. Squirrels are The Utterly Worst Enemy as far as she is concerned, and she will charge off, yowling, the moment she sniffs one.
If we'd been in the wilds of Yellowstone when the drama began, it wouldn't have been so great, but fortunately (if that word can ever be applied to kidney stones) it began 2 days before we hit the road; seemed to have abated; flared up anew en route, necessitating a stop at an emergency room; and was kept under control by strong meds from that point on until we got back home to our own doctor and specialists etc.

A pretty miserable thing to have happen no matter where or when it occurs.

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