Around the houses

Not a bad day today, quite sunny, quite still and quite dry! I had to get the next Photo Club competition stuff sorted this morning, but after lunch I took off for a wander round the local area. First I walked out to 'The Hydro', the ruins of the old Hydropathic Hospital which sit on a large privately owned wooded area of the town, with good views over the town, harbour and islands. I came back through the garden of a lady who lives in a big house just along from the ruins - she doesn't mind my going through her garden, so I knocked on the door and had a brief chat. I wanted to see the old ruined tower in her garden, maybe a water tower though there seems to be no recorded history. That's my extra today.

Coming out I walked up the drive immediately adjacent into the garden of the friends I went to see on Monday. There was no sign of them so I had a wander round and took some pictures of McCaig's Tower from a different angle.

Carrying on along Duncraggan Road a met a cat in a friend's garden. She, the cat that is, didn't seem to want to be too friendly, but ran ahead of me and hid under a car. A little further along she ran ahead of me again and jumped up on a garden wall where she let me stroke her. A young couple came out and the girl, who said her name was Ellie, told me that the cat was hers, by the name of Daphne, and that she had another called Dolly! As I was leaving she called after me to say that Dolly had turned up and she stood by the wall holding both animals. I had to ask her if I could take their picture, to which she happily agreed, so this is my Blip today.

As I was approaching home the young man caught up with me. He told me that he knew the folk we bought our house from and lived with his parents just around the corner from us. Turned out that I'd met his Mum who is a local doctor. We got talking about gardens and I had to take him 50 yards up the road to tell him about some of the plants I'm growing. I was surprised to hear him say, for a young guy, that knowing more about them was interesting, as when he walked by he just thought of them as bushes! He also said that he thought all ferns were bracken!!

So all in all, a very pleasant and interesting afternoon!

Quote of the Day:

“The most fruitful and natural exercise for our minds is, in my opinion, conversation.” ― Michel de Montaigne.