Despite there being little sun and a quantity of intermittent rain today, bees were busy harvesting nectar from Jackie’s plants. This afternoon I walked through Minstead to Football Green; up to and through the grounds of Minstead Lodge; down Seamans Lane and skirted Suters Cottage; to emerge from the forest on Running Hill just belowContinue reading “Planted In The i-Mac”
Monthly Archives: July 2013
An Interesting Manoeuvre
Early this miserably wet morning, Michael drove me from Minstead to East Croydon where I caught the train for Victoria for my next Sutherland Place book packing trip. We stopped at Fleet service station on the M3 for my son to have breakfast and each of us coffee in Starbucks. Michael had finished his porridgeContinue reading “An Interesting Manoeuvre”
I Had Just Won The Lottery
Today it was time for a big shop. In this instance that meant a trip to Totton for Lidl and Asda. On the way we diverted to Copythorne to recce a house in Copythorne Crescent. The house looked good. It was down a narrow unmade road with hedgerows alongside fields opposite. In one field aContinue reading “I Had Just Won The Lottery”
Petra Wouldn’t Chance It
Earlier in the year, along with all her other plants, Jackie potted a couple of clematises. They seemed to be doing pretty well until they were, literally as it turned out, cut off in their prime. Each one had been snipped just above the ground. This proved a mystery until one afternoon Jackie watched aContinue reading “Petra Wouldn’t Chance It”
Dicker Day
27th July 2013 The sunflowers seeded in Jackie’s pots by birds, no doubt as a reward for her feeding them, have came into bloom today. They are rather like cuckoos in that they are planted in someone else’s nest. I don’t think, however, that they have pushed out any other flowers. Just before we leftContinue reading “Dicker Day”
The Dragonfly
This afternoon we visited Elizabeth at The Firs. I delivered the prints for the summer exhibition and we telephoned her framer to discuss framing my pictures. We had hoped to get down to gardening, but all felt pretty lethargic because it was still rather hot and humid. We did get some watering and treating ofContinue reading “The Dragonfly”
Holly’s Beauty
Light rain began to fall just as I left home to repeat the walk I had taken with Matthew and Oddie on 7th. This precipitation was to take the form of intermittent showers for the first three quarters of an hour or so. During the few periods when the sun pierced the grey cloud cover,Continue reading “Holly’s Beauty”
Computerphobe
Helen and Bill are about to go on holiday. They have a surfeit of sausages left over from the barbecue on 14th. Ron had done his usual grand job with the charcoal, the smoke, and the bottle of beer he used to dowse the flames when they looked like singeing too much. But there hadContinue reading “Computerphobe”
Mumbai
As I sat down in the London train to which Jackie had delivered me this morning I was greeted by a beaming smile, reminiscent of Tenniel’s Cheshire Cat, from the gentleman diagonally opposite. I knew immediately what I was in for. It only took a few seconds for me to learn that he was travellingContinue reading “Mumbai”
The Rose
Becky and Ian were today due to view a house to rent in Oving in West Sussex. After an early lunch Jackie and I drove out there to surprise them with our moral support. We arrived half an hour before the appointment time. Jackie waited in the car whilst I had a wander around Oving,Continue reading “The Rose”