Recovering from plantar fasciitis is bad enough without all these posts from runners and hikers enjoying themselves. I grimly carry on doing the exercises and curse a lot…

Archaeologists working amongst a tumble of masonry inside Milecastle 39, with Hadrian’s Wall and a small tree in the background.

That tree hasn’t grown much in the 35 years since we were excavating milecastle 39!

My hearing aids produce “white noise” that is supposed to counteract tinnitus. I certainly don’t notice it while I am wearing them. I think the white noise confuses the brain. At other times I experience a constant hiss, with occasional chirping!

A mud-covered boulder that I managed to extricate from the border without giving myself a hernia.

So much for a little pottering in the garden. I was digging a hole to plant something when I struck a small stone, which got bigger and bigger! I might start a rockery…#gardening

I know the feeling. I was explaining to my teacher that this I regard my instrument as my “new” oboe, and then I realised that it was new about 15 years ago!

Hers is a lovely rosewood Laubin, and I can hear that the forked F is slightly furry (probably not a proper musical term). If I played all three fingerings on mine behind a screen I’d take a bet that you wouldn’t be able to tell which one was which!

I’m not convinced, as on my Howarth oboe I can’t tell any difference in intonation between any of the F fingerings. But her reeds have a softer tone (she finds mine too vibrant) so I’m willing to give them a go.

My #oboe teacher has given me another reed to try, American scrape rather than the European scrape I’m used to. This, along with her insisting I should use the left banana key instead of forked F fingering I’ve always used means I have lots to practice.

Also, heavy rain means I can visit the garden centre without feeling guilty!

Trouble is I have too many baby #succulents, so rearranging the greenhouse will be a bit like playing Tetris using seed trays. Also one of my racks has partly collapsed, so I predict a few muttered expletives! Leek, rocket and onion seedlings doing well though.

A fine day pottering around the garden before the next atmospheric river dumps a week of rain on Vancouver Island (according to the forecasts). But that means I am prompted to sort out the greenhouse (much overdue) in the next few days. #gardening

A heron stands on a rocky beach.

Today's heron:

A seal lying on a rock, mirrored by a seal-shaped rock in the background.

Rock imitating seal...or vice versa!

A chalet at dusk, lights shining through its windows, smoke drifting from its chimney, seen across a tumble of storm-tossed logs, against a background of dark trees.

Friday evening

A patch of grass, and a path leading down to a sandy shore, with the British Columbia mainland in the distance.

Far from the madding crowd: View from the back porch this evening! Staying at The Alders, on the east coast of Vancouver Island, north of Courtenay.

An equally long time ago I lost the piano part, but the piece had vanished from the catalogues. Once the WWW arrived I regularly searched online for a replacement part. After more than three decades of searching I at last found it, at www.goodsheetmusic.com in the UK. And yesterday it arrived! 2/2

The cover of a piece of music for oboe and piano: "Reverie" by John Longmire, published in 1962 by Boosey and Hawkes. The music is a little battered around its edges, and has been repaired with tape.

>50 years ago I was working on an urban archaeological site where our accommodation was an old school slated for demolition. A passing oboist who had had to give up for heath reasons heard me practicing and very kindly gifted me a wonderful pile of #oboe music It included this piece by Longmire. 1/2

A small decaying log covered in Birdsnest fungi, one of my favourites.

Close up of some birdsnest fungi.

Spent this sunny and warm morning helping to remove invasive Scotch Broom from sensitive sand habitats at Island View Beach, Vancouver Island. Hidden by the Broom, a fine collection of Birdsnest fungi. #fungifriends.

One of the Dvorak symphonies does that, with only a couple of bars either side to change instruments. Dry reed blues…

Minus one for the mention of Indiana Jones; plus one for not using the word “ treasure!” A good read!

Oboe day at UVIC yesterday = >20 #oboes and 6 cors anglais. What an amazing collective sound! Plus a masterclass and many words of wisdom. Great fun!

Ran 7km today despite oboe day (good fun) yesterday and too much rum last night. Progressing cm by cm!

My philosophy is: if I, who hated PE at school and never ran for anything other than a bus, can do it, so can anyone! YOU can do it!!

Thank you!

Horrifying that the world record for someone my age (77) is something like 40 minutes. But then I tell myself that the elite athletes have been running all their lives, while I started when I was 65 and am lackadaisical about training...

Started running (if you can call it that) again this week and have managed a 5.5 k and a 6.5k without collapsing. So there's hope! Aiming for a gentle 10k by the end of the month. #running #slowrunning

I need motivation to run, so I've signed up for a 10k race at the end of April. It's several years since I last ran in a race, six months since I last ran, so I'm going to have to work hard to get back into form. My goal is to finish in under an hour, but I'm older and creakier than before.

Rescued the first lizard of the year today! #cats

So this morning the annual tradition of sitting in a queue of 20,000 people on the Parks Canada web site at exactly 8:00 and not being able to reserve a camp site at Pacific Rim. Ho hum… It would have probably rained!

Three cats, their eyes glowing, looking out through a window.

Welcome home Dad! #cats