A Dreich Dundee Day

Cowering trees swayed before the breath of the Big Bad Wolf raging overhead huffing and puffing in his attempts to blow down little pigs’ houses; pattering trotters tripped across the roof; bejewelled yet disconsolate blooms bent their weeping heads; precipitate rivulets raced down the window panes, as we awoke to a pleasantly cooler bedroom breeze succeeding last night’s heavy humidity.

Jackie braved an early supermarket shop in this weather, which did not desist throughout the day, so

apart from those photographs produced during a brief period while I was unloading the shopping and soaking my shower-proof coat anyway,

the rest of these rain-spattered images were gained through panes of glass. As usual, individual titles may be gleaned by clicking on any image to access either of the galleries.

Elizabeth joined us for tonight’s dinner which consisted of Jackie’s succulent cottage pie; crunchy carrots and cauliflower; tender cabbage, and meaty gravy, with which the Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and my sister and I drank Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2020.

96 comments

  1. Those glass spattered window panes make it look as though the garden is weeping –
    no doubt missing the attention today from the Head and Under Gardener!
    Let’s hope for a return of this week’s wonderful day time sun – with the addition of night time only rain – soon.

  2. Fortunately the Big Bad Wolf did not ruin the garden, shatter the window panes, or blow down the house, so we’re able to enjoy your beautiful photos. This set is truly lovely.

  3. There’s just something about raindrops on roses, well flowers anyway, and it sounds as though you may have needed warm woolly mittens!

  4. ‘Dreich’ was a new word for me: very interesting. I saw that it won a contest for the most iconic Scottish word in 2019: the second time it had come in first. A BBC article included this paragraph:

    “A word that is commonly used to describe the Scottish weather has been named the “most iconic” Scots word.
    ‘Dreich’ – meaning dull or gloomy – topped a poll to mark Book Week Scotland, led by the Scottish Book Trust. It beat off contenders including “glaikit”, “scunnered” and “shoogle”. The charity said the first recorded use of the word ‘dreich’ was in 1420, when it originally meant ‘enduring,’ or ‘slow, tedious.'”

  5. That was a wonderfully lyrical introduction, Derrick. Your photos are always lovely – and your garden’s looking great, even in the rain. We were in the soft south recently and, fortunately, enjoyed the usual splendid weather! 🙂

  6. For a minute I thought I had wandered into Tootlepedal’s blog by accident. I’m told we had a rainy day but as I work in a room with no windows all I can say with certainty is that it was wet when I left work.

  7. That is a marvellous opening of the post reminding me of nothing less than the Romantic Poets. The garden seems so happy! The raindrops on frosted panes convey the prevailing mood flawlessly.

  8. Everything looks beautiful there, even in rain, Derrick and Jackie. We’ve gone back to dry here, though the real heat has not arrived, yet.

          1. Yes. Resting on my bench after weeding half the garden and my flower beds this morning. Waiting on Wrangler to wake up so I can start packing clothes for vacation.

  9. Rain on the water feature…rain meeting water…so beautiful!
    Also, OHMY…the raindrops on the honeysuckle stem are lovely! 🙂
    When the rain meets the window panes it creates art!
    Your opening paragraph was a joy to read, Derrick! Got me all smiley! 🙂
    (((HUGS)))
    PS…. ““Rain is not just drops of water. It’s the love of the sky for the earth.”

  10. I can’t decide whch I like best: your gorgeous prose or your magnificent photography. One complements the other so well! Looks like you got a real drenching! Hope it all dries out today! <3

  11. The big bad wolf huffed and puffed this week in California, but brought in only a very few drops of rain — mostly HOT air! It’s hard to compare that with the beauty of your garden in the rain — and even with the beauty of the rain on the windows, as evidenced in the last photo! That particularly is reminiscent of one of my favorite-ever shots, taken from inside the car after a short unexpected squall years ago — almost an abstract shot of a white wall with green plants and a red post. I love this post of your dreich day!

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