Butterdean woods - East Lothian

Harvey and I went for a walk in Butterdean woods today. As usual, all he needed was his ball to run after. I needed a good pair of wellies, which are kept in the car for times like these.

This looks perfect for some young people that I know.

We had the woods to ourselves and some of the paths had no mud at all.

Pretty soon we came across a nice old tree with lots of moss growing on it

Harvey decided to try a spot of tree climbing. Sometimes I'm sure he thinks he's a cat!

Harvey didn't get too far off the ground, so we decided to say hello to the Pixies and then went home for a cup of tea and a dog biscuit.

Tumble turns

Still not running due to an Achilles problem. I’ve been doing some swimming and have been out on the bike, which has kept me reasonably sane. Last night I went along to the Tranent swimming club, Masters section. I usually go to this on Mondays because the coaches are helpful. It also means I do breast stoke and back stroke as well as the usual front crawl, this believe it or not is a good thing!. Last night the session was early, due to the summer holidays. I got there at 7 pm and the pool was full of minnows and no masters, so I joined them. The kids are so fit, it makes you get out of breath watching them. The warm up was swimming different strokes around the pool, yes, around the sides and widths. We then practiced tumbles turns (not my best activity.) Then it was how to push off from the wall in breast stroke. The best was still to come – two x 20 sets of tumble turns across the widths. This was followed by swimming underwater for one, then two, then three widths. I was pretty waterlogged when I got out, but those tumble turns will either sort out my technique or kill me!

I have been visiting Butterdean woods with Harvey quite a bit lately. It is a great wood, with lots of native trees in it and some good paths. Here is a sketch in fineliner ink.

I have also sketched my dad recently, here are two of them.

Harvey here  #7
When Ray went away to Cuba he didn’t take me with him, grrr.
I went to stay with Skye at Innerwick, woof.
I was there for two weeks and had a great time play fighting with Skye, woof, woof.
The garden at Skye’s house is very easy to get out of, so I went exploring quite a lot. Skye’s owner tied me up, but I showed them, I chewed through two leads… who’s a clever boy then?
When Ray got back he took me camping on the coast between Gullane and Yellowcraig, arrf.

He did a painting of the scene and I chased the waves. Ray laughed at me when I got scared by the big waves, grrr. We slept in his one man – one dog tent, woof.
The only trouble was that a north wind blew up and we were both cold, grrr
We got up early and had some fun running around the beach, woof.
I’ve not been staying in the car when Ray is at work because it’s too hot, arrf.
Sometimes I stay in the house and other times I can get into the garden, I’m always pleased when he gets home from work, arrf, woof.
This week we have been going to Butterdean wood and exploring the paths. It’s great there, I can run around following all the scents woof ,woof