Wetter Than Expected

My plan this morning was to walk along Bisterne Close for half an hour after which Jackie, having dropped me at one end, would follow and pick me up. In gloomy morning light and light drizzle we set off.

The War Memorial in Everton Road, Hordle, had been prepared for tomorrow’s Armistice Day.

The commemorative bench bears stylised pale red poppies and pure white doves of peace.

More poppies grace fences and

freshly mown grass.

By the time we reached Holmsley Passage the drizzle had increased to light rain which

gave ponies a somewhat more than bedraggled look.

Soon the rain had developed deluge dimensions. My readers will know by now that I don’t know when to give up, so we continued to

Bisterne Close.

 

Listening to the increasingly tympanic pattering of raindrops drumming onto the trees, dripping off the leaves, and thudding onto the shoulders of my porous allegedly damp-proof raincoat; peering through specs lacking windscreen wipers, through which I couldn’t clearly see my viewfinder I captured what woodland scenes I could.

Autumn leaves, above

or below, glistened with precipitation.

I resisted the temptation to ask a horse chomping hay for the loan of its cheerful rug.

Here, as on much of the forest terrain, pools were appearing.

Autumn leaves submerged beneath the water where raindrops floated on muddy surfaces until bursting into spiralling increasing circles. I stuffed my specs into my pocket and attempted to employ my dampened eyelashes to provide clear vision.

Fallen trees and their branches, both recent

and longer-lying, settled into their task of maintaining the ancient forest ecology.

while others, now dead, did their bit while still standing.

Some trees sent tentacles in search of rooting soil.

Such bracken as had not yet gathered a fully autumnal appearance was turning nicely.

Well fed birds have not yet been tempted to strip the hollies of their berries.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s spicy pork paprika, savoury vegetable rice, and tender runner beans with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Cotes du Rhone.

 

 

85 comments

  1. Stunning photos, Derrick–and wonderful descriptive prose, too. I can’t pick a favorite photo–I just kept saying to my self– this one, no this one. 🙂

  2. The new bench and the poppy decorations (etc) are so heart-touching and beautiful. Yes, we must remember.
    All stunning photos, Derrick! Love the rain, puddles, leaves, trees, raincoated-horse, newly-showered pony, etc! Your words are so descriptive and wonderful you got my senses involved…and I feel like I am there taking it all in!
    Stay safe!
    Stay dry, if you can!
    HUGS to you and Jackie!!! 🙂
    TWEETS to Nugget and Muggle!!! 🙂

  3. You did well to brave the weather, which is something I’ve backed away from lately. Your photos, full of beautiful autumnal tones were worth a little damp,

  4. Ah, the things we do for our art 🙂 Fabulous capture of the rain splashes into the water and the moss and lichen covered old trees – that green is so beautiful! The cloud gave up it’s rain at last – and it’s also here today too.

      1. Sadly we don’t need the rain – it’s sunshine we are looking forward to down here Jodie. But, you know, the climate is changing, the weather patterns are different and nobody can be really sure what to expect any more.

      2. Oh, Pauline – we just went through an odd late summer/early fall drought – so rain is only good in my head. Of course, with the wacky weather, you might have a different outlook. Wishing sunshine for you!

  5. I never see the poppies without remembering a certain teacher, and how pleased she would be that I still remember, “In Flanders Fields.” There’s more than a poem that needs remembering.

  6. Rainy rainy it’s nice to look at but after a day the rain can seem rather depressing. That Forrest is something amazing wow those trees remind me of suspense novels.
    I love the post.
    How are you?

  7. Now that is a deluge of woodland photographs. It is hard to pin a favourite. I empathise with your frustration at fumbling with your spectacles and admire your perseverance. You have inspired this lazy fool enough to engage in some enterprise worth its name. Thank you, Derrick.

  8. That’s a lovely post, Derrick, showing how it got gradually wetter and wetter. I also enjoyed the war memorial where the location of death was added to the name. I’ve never seen that done before and it’s a really original idea.

    1. Thanks very much, Vintage. It is a Canon EOS 5D Mark 2. Yesterday’s lens was a Sigma 105. Sigmas, I find, let in more light – and I don’t know enough to take the camera off automatic 🙂

      1. Ah yes, Canon is a great make! I had a little point and shoot camera from Canon many years ago… even that was good. Auto settings are very easy to use… I did that too for a few months on my Sony A6000 just to get used to the camera. I could have happily stayed on auto, but I forced myself to try a few other settings. Do you have an aperture priority setting? That’s what I mainly use now. It’s a very easy setting to use. I like f5.6 for close up images and f14.00 for distance shots on bright days. It’s the only thing I have to set, the shutter speed is auto on that setting. Give it a try if you can, you might like the f stop choice. I found f14 has allowed me to get a better quality image on distance shots. But even if you stay on auto… you are doing very well! ?

        1. Thank you very much, Vintage. My camera was second – hand so I had to find and download a manual which I haven’t looked it. Perhaps I’ll have a go eventually.

  9. You even manage to attain lovely pictures in the rain. I couldn’t find anything of interest in our rain yesterday. I don’t have the “photographer’s eye” as you do.

  10. I appreciate your eye for rich and earthy details like the things that grow on tree trunks, the raindrops in water and a shaggy pony.

  11. Many thanks for taking us along with you on your rainy day where we could enjoy from our cozy homes — the raindrop photos are especially wonderful 🙂

  12. Those are very beautiful and artistic photos from your day, Derrick. Grey wet weather does have its own beauty, but it is also nice to return to a warm, dry house and good hot food.

  13. For not being able to see very well, you got some very artistic shots on your soggy ramble. I was startled to see in the fourth water pool photo a skeleton hand on the left and Merlin holding a long staff on the right!

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