Freckles

I was very drowsy today. However, the weather was so unseasonably warm and sunny that we did go for a drive in the forest.

Very close to Fawley Powers Station is this section of the New Forest that we have not driven through before. It leads to the village of Blackfield where live many of the families who work at Fawley. There was evidence along the tracks that local children enjoy quite an idyllic playground.

Ponies at East Boldre basked in the spring sunshine, some too somnolent to get on with their job of keeping the grass down.

Suddenly the word got around that there was some tree work being carried out at the corner of Chapel Lane. The ponies ambled along the road to investigate the clippings in the gutter.

Last year’s foals foraged on either side of the road through East End,

A troop of miniature ponies assiduously shaved the sward. One appeared to be covered in freckles.

Later, while watching a recording of this afternoon’s Six Nations rugby match between Ireland and Italy, we dined on succulent chicken Kiev; tasty ratatouille; mashed potato; crunchy carrots and cauliflower; with tender green beans.

92 comments

  1. Aw! I love the Freckle-face beauty!
    Sounds like a wonderful ride!
    I love how each pony has a different winter-coat they wear!
    Hope you got some rest that curried the drowsiness!
    Your dinner sounds lovely!
    HUGS!!! πŸ™‚

  2. Great photo, Derrick. I’m amazed at how you managed to find a part of the NF that you hadn’t visited before.

  3. Such a beautiful drive – I thoroughly enjoyed going on it with you both (and your many friends from around the world [ha-ha]). Freckles is lovely – get well.

  4. Lovely! Derrick, tell me again where you live. I need to find it on a map so I get an idea where you are in England. By the way, if you’re interested, i live in the western part of New York State. I’m in Brighton, which is a suburb of Rochester, NY, along the shore of Lake Ontario. Rochester was the home of Eastman Kodak, Bausch & Lamb, Gannett Newspapers (USA Today), XEROX. Kodak used to employ 62,000 workers when I lived here in 1976, now it’s just a very few thousand. Others have moved headquarters or shrunk significantly.

    1. Thanks very much for that geography, Steve. Although I grew up in London where I lived until, at 45 I moved to Newark in Nottinghamshire we have now settled in Hampshire’s New Forest, on the South Coast in close proximity to the Isle of Wight.

  5. Enjoy the sunny days Derrick!!

    The weather system Okeanis swept across Greece over the weekend, pushing down temperatures and bringing snowfall to much of northern Greece and mountainous parts of Attica.Winds were particularly strong, reaching 10 Beaufort BRRRRRRR!!!

    Have a nice week !!!

  6. “The word got around…” by Pony Express i assume? πŸ˜‰

    I love the piebald pony, but your photos of ‘Freckles’ are to be highly commended! πŸ™‚

    I wonder if there was more to that chance meeting between the 3 of you than just random happenstance??

    Thank you for your daily posts and photo’s which give all of us a little ‘fresh air’ πŸ™‚

  7. Beautiful!
    Today is brilliantly sunny, and my first thought was to grab my husband as soon as he wakes and take him to the lake. Then I saw the weather, that it is 6Β°F. Maybe I can take him out before he sees the weather report? He hates the cold! But loves the sun, as does his camera

  8. Beautiful blog post as always, much enjoyed even when I’m not particularly into horses, but I was fascinated by the freckled horse, as I have freckles myself in the summer πŸ™‚ A fine horse!

  9. “The word got around that there was some tree work being carried out at the corner of Chapel Lane.” That made me laugh out loud. I always love your pony photos, and that freckled face is precious.

      1. Heh, heh, heh … ah Derrick, you know how fond I am of your ‘from the rear’ photos which our hooved and feathered friends model for so willingly. πŸ˜€

  10. I always enjoy the ponies, Derrick. Little Freckles looks adorable. His coloring is like an Appaloosa. I don’t think I’ve seen a pony colored quite like that before.

  11. A beautiful idyllic lifestyle Derrick, both therapeutic to the eyes and the Soul, you are very fortunate my friend, you see something that many in the City never see or experience.
    Cheers.

  12. They are all beautiful photos, Freckles especially. I think those of us who spent years living in cities and suburbs before escaping to the country appreciate our country living more than those who’ve lived here all their lives. Each day I look out of my window and I say a quiet thank you, forty three years on and I am still appreciative of what I see.

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