Best Day Ever: Heath, Martini

I wrote yesterday that everyone's been complaining about the chilly, rainy weather. Well, never mind! Yesterday we had the most PERFECT day of the year so far. The temperatures were in the mid-60s F (or about 19º C), the sun was shining, the birds were singing, winged unicorns were galloping through the sky and all of humankind put away our grumpy tendencies. Or so it seemed. (Maybe I just put away my grumpy tendencies.)

I did get the lawn mowed for the first time this year (above) and did some minor trimming and neatening. Then Olga and I settled down on the grass and I read "American Dirt" until around lunchtime. Dave and I had a package of bacon in the fridge that we needed to eat, so we made bacon sandwiches -- and although I wouldn't normally opt for a bacon sandwich, they were darn good.

Afterwards, I took Olga for a walk. I just couldn't face going to the cemetery again, and the sunshine was inviting us to do something bolder, so we set off for Hampstead Heath. I wanted to see if the coltsfoot was blooming on Sandy Heath.

As you can see, Olga -- despite being 75 or 80 in dog years -- was up for the challenge! Here's a video of our Heath activities, distilled to an essential five minutes. Have you ever seen a happier dog? She's a little stiff toward the end but she did well, and once we got home and she had a paracetamol with her dinner she was right as rain. Sorry about the loud airplane in the bit where she's rolling in the dry leaves -- I lowered the volume on that segment of video so you wouldn't get slammed with it.

We did indeed find the coltsfoot, but the flowers were past their prime. (We're about a month past when I've seen it in previous years.) It was still great to revisit an area we hadn't been to in ages. I briefly sat on the crack pipe bench to give the dog a rest. (No crack pipe this time.)

We also lounged on the grass in Golder's Hill Park, which you can see at the end of the video above. And we detoured past the Lulu trees -- so called because someone has carved "Lulu" into the trunk of one of them. The huge beeches (I think?) are leafing out colorfully.

Now there's a selfie I could never have taken with my big camera!

We made our way back home very slowly, as is an old dog's prerogative. There was lots of leisurely sniffing. After we finally arrived and Olga had a bath, we settled ourselves back onto the new-mown lawn:

As you can see, I had an evening refreshment. (I know, I know -- I shouldn't set a drink on my computer. But I was careful!) I pulled up my iTunes and played an array of old '60s music as the sun slowly diminished. As I recall, "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow" by Strawberry Alarm Clock was playing at the moment I took that photo.

What a fantastic day!