Down by the riverside

The dogs and I walked through the woods and along by the river on the Lennoxlove Estate today. Lennoxlove is the home of the Duke of Hamilton and is an ancient and interesting building. It's worth reading about here http://www.lennoxlove.com

During our walk through the woods the sound of babbling water from the river as it rushed along was lovely, but there were two treats in particular which were a happy surprise. Mixed in with fading snowdrops, drifts of white butterbur, Petasites albus. Unlike the pink coloured butterbur, white butterbur is not native to the UK but a garden escapee, and especially found in eastern Scotland. I have never seen it before.

I also saw two dippers flying up and down a short stretch of the river, stopping every few minutes to dip and dive under the fast moving water. Lovely to see!

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In a vase on Monday - colour

The intense colours in my vase this week come from nasturtiums, sweetpeas and a single glorious zinnia! Their beauty and love of life speak for themselves and need no further words from me! Enjoy!

Colonsay postcards - on arrival

The first thing I do, once we have unpacked our car, which has been groaning with all the stuff we need for a week's stay in the holiday cottage, is head for the outer gardens of Colonsay House. It is a place of wonder for me! I particularly love the leaves of the giant rhododendrons. There are many different varieties, all planted in the early 1930s. The outer gardens are generally overgrown, having had little tending over the decades. That makes them even more magical! The old woodmill falls apart a little more every year, but that's fine by me because I love corrugated iron and especially if it's rusted! And of course the bees. Colonsay's beekeeper, Andrew Abrahams, has one of his apiaries on the edge of the pine wood. So lovely - the hum of busy bees and the heady smell of the pines. We are here - finally! Delayed by four months by the wretched virus, but now I am on holiday! Hooray!

Found items IAVOM

I am on holiday on the Inner Hebridean island of Colonsay. It is my happy place. Thoughts of Colonsay rattle around in my head each and every day I am not here! I haven't got a vase to share this week but some lovely things I have found over the past few days, which are just as beautiful as a vase of flowers! I hope you agree! Here are some leaves of giant rhododendrons, growing in the outer gardens of Colonsay House. Some skeleton leaves of magnolia. The dried stem of a kelp seaweed. A couple of conkers (can never resist those!), and a branch heavily populated by a number of lichens. The air on Colonsay is so clean that lichens flourish here!

the running wave

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