In order to enjoy what might be our last day of autumn sunshine Jackie drove us into the forest this afternoon. We took the Undershore route to Pilley and beyond. Fallen leaves glowed on the passing spaces necessary on this narrow lane, and on pools and the footpath alongside Lymington reed beds.
As we passed a field along Church Lane, Boldre, I glimpsed working horses within it. In order to create these images it was necessary to poke my camera lens through spiky hedges and spikier still barbed wire. Some of the animals wore their winter rugs. I assumed those without such protection were the hardier forest ponies. I’m not sure what they made of my protuberance. One stood and stared; others wandered away.
Burnished bracken spoke to golden oaks at Puttocks Bridge car park where
the lowering sun caused chestnut ponies’ pelts to metamorphose into rich velvet pile.
The mother of one foal crossed the road and ventured into the woodland on the other side. At first the youngster remained with its older companion;
then ambled across the road and nosed around among the fallen leaves.
The road here runs over the stream also spanned by the eponymous bridge, where a small family paddled in the shallows
while I admired the reflected trees, leaves, and skies.
Apples worthy of tempting Eve hung enticingly just out of reach of
the pony on the pavement initially fooling me into thinking it had developed road sense.
No such luck. Suddenly the creature stepped out in front of a car brought to an abrupt halt, and dawdled off along the tarmac. (The reason there are two sets here is revealed below)
Another adult led another youngster into the road. The skittish foal rushed along the pavement on the other side,
chasing the chestnut before veering off to the left, presumably having spotted something more interesting.
Following elmediat’s helpful advice in his comments on yesterday’s post I have had one more try at enabling these images to be enlarged by readers. One amendment I noticed after drafting all this was that my images were cropped for alignment in the galleries, so, for example, the picture of the pony stepping in front of the car lost the all-important glimpse of the vehicle. Without cropping the shapes are also altered. I have left the very first set cropped, in order to check whether this is how they are presented, or whether the random selection we previously enjoyed is shown.
I still receive the ‘somewhat embarrassing’ message when I try to look at a preview, so I can’t check whether the enlarged viewing is possible before posting. If it is not, I will revert to the old system until the new is forced upon us. I am sure you will continue to let me know.
This evening we dined on roast chicken; sage and onion stuffing; Yorkshire pudding; roast potatoes and parsnips; tasty Brussels sprouts; and rainbow carrots; and gravy with meaty bits in it. This was followed by mixed fruit crumble and vanilla ice cream. Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Madiran.
Just lovely.
Thanks very much, Alex
Well, I can now enlarge, but not access a gallery, just one photo at a time. Which is a better situation than previously. The ‘velvet’ ponies are beautiful aren’t they, I feel like I could reach out and touch that coat and it would be velvet.
Thanks very much, Pauline. Maybe I’ll persist one photo at a time – maybe I’ll revert to the original method. We’ll see!
Same feedback as Pauline BUT when viewing on iPad (as opposed to laptop) still the photos are juxtaposing over the text.
Grrrr
grrrr indeed!
Beautiful start to a wonderful collection of photos, Derrick. Yes, I can enlarge the photos…yay! Thanks for your efforts.
Many thanks, Jill. I really don’t understand how some people can enlarge and some can’t – and I still can’t obtain a preview
The chestnut fits perfectly into the autumnal backdrop. Great shots!
Thanks very much, Jessica
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Beautiful photos, Derrick. I love the water/reflections, but the ponies are wonderful, too.
Yes, like Pauline said, we can not enlarge (yay), but just one photo at a time.
Thanks very much, Merril. I’m leaning towards reverting to old system
The enlarged images are unviewable in my iPad as only a fraction of those occupy the screen. Three to four images fit the screen, including the one that supplied the title. Perhaps the utter ignorance of ponies to roads and the putative conventions emanate from nonchalance than deficient intelligence. Horses are known to have displayed spectacular wisdom in battlefields of yore.
Thanks very much, Uma. Perhaps I should get a pony to help me 🙂
I clicked on one photo and it enlarged beautifully. I had an argument with a friend of mine who complained about the lack of detail in some of my photos of my road-trip. He was using his iphone and I very politely asked why he bothered. I only look at photos on my desktop. The politeness of the conversation began to deteriorate a little at that point.
Thanks a lot, Paol. I really don’t understand this, because it doesn’t enlarge when I try it. However your comment encourages me to persist
Well done for persevering with the new editor!
Thanks very much, Andrew 🙁
All of the photos are lovely, Derrick! But the ones of the reflected leaves, trees and skies AND the one of the apples AND the one of the little boy and his mum (dressed alike and having fun in the water) got “OH’S! from me! Love them! 🙂
When I click on the photos now, they do enlarge. 🙂
HUGS!!! 🙂
PS…for dinner we had roasted chicken, and a salad with all kinds of greens, including spinach, tomatoes, avocado, onions, etc. 🙂
Many thanks, Carolyn. That is encouraging. We’ve just had cold chicken salad for lunch 🙂
Lovely ponies.
You are getting the hang of the new editor. They open large now. I hope you take the time to let WP know of difficulties and dislikes. I noticed on mine the captions are no longer pop-ups on the gallery mode. They are pasted on there and I don’t like that. I am making a list as I go along.
Thanks for the encouragement, Sherry
I was able to enlarge the pictures, Derrick, which only enhanced those chestnuts!! Their coats are beautiful!!
Many thanks, GP. That is encouraging
Beautiful photos, Derrick. I can enlarge them, as well.
Thanks very much, Eugenie. That’s encouraging
Excellent. I like the autumn moods – and the “water pictures” with the refelctions.
Thanks very much, Rabirius
Love the photo of the reflected trees, leaves, and skies.
Thanks very much, Rosaliene
Great photos Derrick, and nice use of lighting.
Many thanks, Quercus
“Apples worthy of tempting Eve…” That bit made me smile. All wonderful!
Those apples did indeed look worthy of tempting Eve. And speaking of tempting…those horses in the road certainly looked as though they were tempting fate.
Didn’t they just? Many thanks, Laurie
Made my mouth water just to look at the picture.
🙂
Gorgeous photos. I like the chestnut and the light on the soft, silky staring pony.
Many thanks, JoAnna
I do not like the new editor either, I cannot find the accents. I love the roof tiles. I find your going through 2 knee operations very courageous. I am told it is painful.
Many thanks, Sylvie. I was told it was painful, too, but I din’t anticipate how much, and how long.
Bon courage?
Merci beaucoup, encore
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Love the photos! 🙂
Hi Derrick, With regards the editor preview issues…
In the new Editor you can click on the three vertical dots top right of screen to ‘Show more tools and options’. Down the bottom you can select ‘Switch to classic editor’. This will take your work saved to the old version where you can check the preview! Kinda defeats the purpose a little but it suffices until such time as WP fix the bugs ( Like not having a ‘Select post to copy’ option! 🙁
You can also revert back after you check – if you need to? 🙂
I might add that i used the old editor today and it would NOT let me preview a post with only 2 pics it??
Have a pleasant day.
Many thanks, Love. I’ll give it a go (If I can hold my nerve)
Hang in there! 🙂
🙂
Lovely collection of Autumnal photo’s even the ponies match the colour scheme, As for the photos, when you click on them, yes they can be enlarged wonderfully with massive detail.. Thank you.
Thanks very much, Sue
They don’t need road sense.. The roads belong to them obviously!
They do have right of way – legally. Thanks very much, Brian.
A bit like the Queen; or King of England really,