Waste Not……..

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE. REPEAT IF REQUIRED.

Although I didn’t have to grapple with the mortgage issue until late this afternoon, I’ll deal with it first to get it out of the way. The latest nonsense is that, after almost a month of procrastination and prevarication on behalf of the solicitors in the case, we learned two days ago that one of our documents must be signed in face to face contact with a solicitor acceptable to the lender. The firm that the building society originally approved is in Manchester. We were not prepared to travel up there for a ten minute encounter. Our independent adviser found one in Southampton who withdrew today on the grounds of sickness. Jackie and I will have to trail around tomorrow to find another prepared to witness our signatures.

Happily ignorant of this, we began the wet and rainy day taking the bags of garden refuse to the dump, then drove on to MacPenny’s garden centre in Bransgore, where I wandered around the garden while Jackie plundered the plant sales and waited for me in The Robin’s Nest cafe.

Plants for sale

Autumn has applied its rosy tints to many of the potted shrubs on offer.

Hosta

Being the only person daft enough to enter their garden on such a day, I had it to myself. This giant hosta gave me a gleaming greeting.

Shrubbery 1Shrubbery 2

Shrubbery 3

The dismal weather could not deter the shrubbery from doing its cheery best to brighten the day.

Cyclamen

Cyclamen,

Fuchsia

fuchsia,

Unidentified flower

and this flower I cannot identify, splashed colour around. Susan Rushton, in her comment below, has suggested this: ‘The mystery flower looks like hesperantha coccinea.’.

Hydrangea

Hydrangeas were a little more muted.

Mossy root

Almost fluorescent green moss coated tree roots;

Chrysanthemums and stepsChrysanthemums and grass

small ferns punctuated log steps beside which asters, or Michaelmas daisies, clustered; splendid Pampas grass perched on a terraced bank.

Steps 1

Other logged steps were deep in shade;

Dog's headstone

where William was laid to rest.

Autumn leaves 3

A few trees were in the process of shedding their leaves; some clinging stubbornly on;

Autumn leaves 1Autumn leaves 2Autumn leaves 6Autumn leaves 4Autumn leaves 5

others decorated damp sward.

Autumn leaves on path 2Autumn leaves on path 1Autumn leaves on path 3

Winding paths are already being carpeted.

Hosepipe

A loosely coiled hosepipe lay dormant.

Eventually the rain increased and drove me inside where we enjoyed good quality brunches before returning home.

Regular readers will know that it is rare for us to leave the recycling centre ( the dump), without making a purchase from the sales area. Today, Jackie bought a child’s multi story car park for the use of grandchildren and great nephews.

Apples and bag of bulbs

Someone had tossed apples along with branches into the green refuse container. They were rescued and brought home with bags of bulbs from MacPenny’s. As the saying goes, ‘waste not, want not’.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s exquisite beef and mushroom pie; tasty gravy; new potatoes; and crisp carrots and cabbage; followed, of course, by stewed apples and vanillaΒ ice-cream. The Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the malbec.

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62 comments

  1. Oh, that log staircase past the purple flowers and around the bend to the red ones – I want to climb it! And, bravo, Jackie! I bet the stewed apples and ice cream was delicious.

  2. What a major pain. As my father says, “It’s always something.” I hope you get this nonsense straightened out soon, Derrick. In the meantime have another scoop of ice cream. πŸ™‚

  3. The lunacy enveloping the legal world has no parallels and I suspect it is the same across the planet. How different are we then from the primitive tribes? Perhaps ancient laws were infinitely simpler. You did make the best of a rainy day. I was touched by your discovery of William. I guess parts of him have been returned to the air in flowers and foliage.

  4. A wet garden…I would also be “daft” enough to enter, the photo colors are more vivid on a cloudy day. William was loved. And of course, you had stewed apples.

  5. Waste not is right! I bet those stewed apples were delicious. Such a lovely, drizzly fall day. And, good luck with that mortgage.

  6. Your photos of the garden centre are lovely, Derrick, and I definitely approve of Jackie ‘rescuing’ those apples. We have so much fruit in our village. Every house seems to have fruit trees and shrubs, and there are box loads full of all types outside so many gates.
    I wish you lots of luck with your mortgage/re-mortgage issues. “Keep Calm and Drink Malbec”!

  7. I love the autumn colors πŸ™‚
    I have to sadly report that my cyclamen plant died during the extremely hot summer days in Southern California. My loving care was of no avail πŸ™

  8. The radially symmetricality make me concur with Susan that this is indeed a hesperantha coccinea of the iridaceae family! (And I might add as an after thought, that I have just spent half an hour on Google).

  9. Excellent photos again Derrick – gives me space to pause and smell…autumn!
    Do hope these legal issues resolve soon – it’s become a crazy world where we are the mercy of systems and policies and the out-of-touch people who create them! So frustrating!

  10. Beautiful autumn photographs.
    I like your tradition. Recycling should be a norm in every household. The same about the fruit and veg – it is a shame to put them into the garbage bin.

  11. I tend to put apples in myself rather than the bin, so well done on the rescue.

    As for modern trends in making everything far too complicated – good luck. I suspect we have much the same views on that subject.

          1. Oh, yes. I actually don’t like continuing battles once they are over, but our mortgage adviser wants me to produce a letter of complaint at the end of all this.

          2. Yes, it’s pointless continuing these things, but if even the mortgage adviser suggests a letter of complaint is in order there must be something badly amiss. Good luck with getting through it.

  12. So happy you both realize, there’s nothing wrong with saving discarded food items. πŸ˜€
    I rescued peaches and nectarines in a big bag where bees were circling in my own apt building dumpster. Ohh, they were juicy and delicious while I did offer one apartment of father and two daughters some, they exclaimed and were thrilled! Have a wonderful rest of the week, just in case I don’t get back to visiting tomorrow night after work, Derrick! β˜€ πŸŒ„ 🌞

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