Rob’s Table, Helen’s Photographs

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE IN A GROUP TO ACCESS ITS GALLERY, INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF WHICH MAY BE VIEWED FULL SIZE BY SCROLLING DOWN AND CHECKING BOX AT BOTTOM RIGHT. THESE CAN BE FURTHER ENLARGED WITH A CLICK OR TWO.
Jackie drove me over to Rob and Helen’s home in Lordshill, a suburb of Southampton where we spent a very enjoyable day.
Apparently thirty years or so ago I gave Rob a rusty old sewing machine which had been left in the garden shed in Lindum House in Newark. I have no memory of this, but the fact that he has kept it all this time has now borne fruit.

He has cleaned and refurbished the base of the Bradbury of Oldham industrial artefact which has a still working treadle. Fixed to its top he has placed a solid sheet of cedar wood which was once a headboard. This has been sanded and oiled, thus releasing the beauty of the glowing grain.

On a nearby wall of this covered outside seating area hangs a splendid antique French water dispenser.

We enjoyed a superb three course lunch consisting of choice carrot and coriander soup by Helen; a most flavoursome fish pie by Rob; and a luscious lemon meringue pie by Helen. Rob and I enjoyed an Aldi claret.
Helen’s sister Marion and her husband John dropped in for a visit after lunch.

On 27th September last year, Helen had taken a batch of splendid photographs of our garden. She had sent me a set, but I was unable to download them. This afternoon we viewed them on Rob’s computer and he loaded them onto a memory stick which I brought home with me. Here is a selection, the individual titles of which appear on the gallery.  Autumn leaves are in evidence. Perhaps in another fortnight we will have some more. Jackie was ambivalent to see the pictures of the dahlia Bishop of Llandaff which has since been devoured by a vole.

Later this evening I found room for a ham sandwich followed by Elizabeth’s special Firs Mess of meringues topped, on this occasion, with raspberries and ginger ice cream. Sparkling water was my accompaniment.
 
 
 

0 comments

  1. Rob fashioned a beautiful table from the old sewing machine. Helen’s photos are indeed splendid, but of course she had your wondrous garden as her source. Did she catch you by surprise in the one photo? It sounds like a delightful visit.

  2. Rob does such beautiful work!
    The photos of your garden are stunning! So glad dragons are welcome! 😉
    And your meals sound delicious!
    Hope you and Jackie and Elizabeth have a wonderful rest of this week!
    HUGS!!! 🙂

  3. Any season, any year this garden looks amazing. And that old white wicker chair is now a planter isn’t it? Your friend did a remarkable job with the old treadle and I love his antique water dispenser too!

  4. A fascinating story, beautifully illustrated. Apologies for missing some of your recent posts, Derrick. I seem to have stopped receiving email notifications for some reason.

  5. That sewing machine! My maternal grandmother had a treadle sewing machine. One of my cousins has it now. I zeroed in on the picture of you in the armor looking splendidly healthy and you and Rob in the garden together. I do like that watering system for the planter. Glad it was such a good day, but not glad to see fall. I suppose I’ll get used to it though.

  6. I suppose sitting against that table top with your feet occasionally working the treadle might trigger the circuits of the brain buried deep in one’s cranium. One could even write a ghazal or two!

  7. The garden is really quite magnificent – But I am a lover of timber and that wooden top on the old sewing machine is beautiful. I am really pleased to see that it has been oiled and not ruined by painting it with high gloss “Estapol”.

  8. I remember teaching a boy whose house was haunted and I have dim memories of it being Lindum House. It was something to do with the bells to summon the servants ringing regularly, although they had actually been disconnected long ago.

  9. Rob does excellent work! And you’re quite right about the pictures of the garden. Have you compared them to last year’s? It seems to me things have quite improved in the course of one year!!

  10. That sewing table is stunning! And isn’t it a treat to stumble across old photos for the first time?

Leave a Reply