Sunday cycle

I was up and out early this morning for a ride round the local villages, Edmondsham, Cranborne, Wimborne St Giles and Knowlton Church. Another grey morning but mild and dry in late autumn and I got a few photos of the landscapes and what i imagine must be the entrance to Cranborne House which is where I also photgraphed the tree by the entrance which looked full of character.

Maria got on with her homewok when I got back and she seems to be making sound progress, working through Maths and English, the latter based around an extract from 'War of the Worlds'.

Alison did a Sunday dinner for the three of us plus Bridie and Joseph who also picked up Joy on the way here. The post dinner slumber was shaken off with a walk round the goat farm circle where we saw numerous other groups taking the differing paths around the village, their numbers boosted by the second lockdown I imagine. It was good to see so many out and about.

Back home I chopped up some logs and got the leaves raked up off the back lawn noting that there are only a few more left to fall from the cherry tree. I'd filled the bird feeders earlier in the day and we had our nuthatch visiting again, a coal tit too, as well as the dozens of sparrows, the starlings and other regulars, goldfinches chief among them.

I lit the woodburner and watched a bit of football cleaning my hiking boots and trainers, rediscovering the fact the fire benefits from being closed, the burn heating the woodburner rather than the heat being thrown out wastefully through the open doors. It's nice to have that immediate radiance of heat but it is short lived and pretty localised. Shutting the doors seems to heat the heavy iron casing which then radiates the heat more fully and in all directions.