Wild wind howled and piercing precipitation rattled the roof throughout the night and well into the morning.
Jackie photographed and I e-mailed this image of crooked hand from our 200 year old long case clock to Martin Fairhurst of Dials in Lymington who will repair it. Even with the bend the clock keeps perfect time and chimes seven minutes late according to the point of the digit, as if there were no crook in it.
After lunch I made a start on a month’s ironing. When the sun sneaked out I unplugged the iron and we sped after it. Since it had made the effort we would have been rude not to.
The field alongside South Sway Lane, once home to pony Gimlet and her foal,
was now occupied by a nomadic Mallard family.
A drain was overflowing, suggesting that the lane itself will be flooded soon. Last year it became impassable.
The rain had definitely not conceded the skies. Rainbows followed us around
The fast-flowing, rippling and bubbling Balmer Lawn stretch of Highland Water had overflowed its banks. Within seconds of my striding out to photograph it the clouds rolled in, rain hammered down, and my woollen jacket soon took on the scent of damp sheep.
On the signal of the click of my camera a reflective crow was instantly on the wing.
Just around the corner the sun emerged once more, cast long shadows, and burnished trees against a dark slate sky.
Lulled into a false sense of security I walked across a muddy field to photograph ponies sheltering among the trees. They knew that I would soon be walking through torrential bead curtains.
Houses and trees were silhouetted against the clouds’ bonfire smoke. The skies were changing by the second.
I heard gleeful laughter emanating from a parked people carrier whose occupants were impressed by the ponies. As I raised my camera in polite request
the mother of the boys cheerfully wound her window down and, with a smile, said “put your tongue back in”. This was, of course, the signal to stick it out further. Although rain still rolled down the vehicle it had stopped falling from the skies.
As I drafted this post the heavy rain clattered throughout against my window.
This evening we dined on oven fish and chips, green peas, cornichons, and pickled onions with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Coonawarra.
Ya see, I’m not alone. The children agree that the ponies are special!
Indeed – and you are certainly not alone, GP. Thanks very much.
I love the light in the header photo and of course the rainbow. We have a photo of mallards swimming on our front lawn in the year of the big flood (whenever that was).
Thanks very much, Liz. Had you been blogging that year you could have checked it 🙂
Good point! I came relatively late to the blogging game. 🙂
A good drive out. Rain here last night followed by a gloriously sunny day. In England the weather never ceases to surprise and amaze.
Quite so, Andrew. Thanks very much.
Such a lovely post, full of beautiful photos. Your header photo is stunning, the rainbow is beautiful, and the crow on the flooded bank caught my eye. The boys were funny.
Your clock is beautiful!
We had rain most of yesterday and into this morning, and now we have gusty wind, but better than the snowstorm they’re getting in New England.
Thank you so much, Merril. We have just watched The Life Ahead – really enjoyed it.
You’re welcome, and I’m glad you enjoyed the movie. 😀
So much water! It makes for splendid photos.
Thanks very much, Sheree.
🦆
You use the water so well in your photos. So much atmosphere
Thanks very much, Gary.
the “bent arm” looks interesting – what happened?
In the weekly winding somehow. Thanks very much, Carolyn.
I’m not Carolyn – but that’s okay …
Catherine, of course.
I feel that there must be a poem about a clock with a crooked hand (or perhaps a ghost story). Good pictures of the watery scenes.
Ghost story would be good – you have until next Halloween, my friend. Thanks a lot, Tootlepedal.
There’s a challenge.
🙂
I had to chuckle at the imagery of leaving the chore of ironing, to chase the sun and the days adventure. Well done living in the moment, and love the images of the family in the people carrier.
Thanks very much, msw. The mother’s quotation almost became the title.
Love your rainbow photo Derrick, rainbows are always a colourful positive to the day…
https://youtu.be/wTQxiGJzR_I
Thanks a lot, Ivor – for the music, especially
I love the header photo, Derrick. You know it’s a good day when the rainbows follow you. Isn’t it almost time for Hortles?
Hortles? Thanks a lot, Jill
I guess I messed up the name…your go to Chinese takeaway spot.
It won’t have been you – Hordle is the place – WP don’t like it.
Fascinating. The X on the clock having a faint oblique makes your clock look as though it has not one, but 2 crooked hands. There must be an interesting story behind this?
It looks like a blemish on the face, Roland. Well spotted, and thanks very much.
Yesterday we had a morning of snow, today it was mild and dry.
I am hoping that most of your clothes are non -iron otherwise it you might working on the ironing pile for some time yet!
Love the images.
5 more shirts to do, Sue. Jackie did all the flat linen yesterday afternoon. She has more sense than me and doesn’t buy anything for herself that needs ironing. Thanks very much.
I’m with Jackie!
I thought so. My problem is that I remember the first nylon shirts. 🙂
Bri-nylon! That is a blast from the past. 🙂
Jackie has just described it beautifully. I said you would remember it too. 🙂
I can’t get the photos from this post to load today, but I can just picture pretty little Gimlet and her foal in mind’s eye. I’ll try looking again later.
Now the photos load! It took a few tries on refresh. Beautiful photos, Derrick and Jackie. A kaleidoscope of weather, dark skies, rainbows and sun. I always love the ponies. 🙂
Thank you so much from us both, Lavinia – especially for persevering.
I’m pleased you finally managed to load the pics, Lavinia. Thank you very much for the effort
You were wise to unplug the iron and chase after the sun. The rainbow confirmed it! I haven’t ironed in years, though David used to iron his shirts for special dress up occasions – not many of those lately. I love that slate sky and burnished treetops.
Thanks very much, JoAnna. A month’s ironing is less than it used to be 🙂
Wonderfully moody photos!
Thanks very much, Leslie
I love your photos! Looks like your monsoon season! :>) The horses are great. The little munchkin was cute as a button!
Thank you so much, Dwight
Love your clock with the crooked hand, Derrick. I have my grandfather’s clock, very similar to yours, but it stopped the day my grandfather passed away and so far nobody was able to figure out the reason as it the mechanism seems to be in perfect order.
Rainbows are always cheerful; they indicate hope for the world, and the world definitely needs it right now.
Thank you very much, Dolly. Rainbows are, indeed, a blessing. I expect you know this song: https://youtu.be/50aZvm7yT44
No, I didn’t know; that was before I emerged from behind the iron curtain. Thank you so much for the link, Derrick; now I am not the only one with a clock that follows its owner’s demise.
🙂
You only need to dial down the gladiator clock by seven minutes to make it chime at the accurate hour but it will be a sacrilege not to get the minute hand restored to its graceful shape. By the end of the post so convinced was I of the rain I checked my own sweatshirt for droplets of elements. Some of those photographs are a classic.
Thanks very much, Uma. I am so pleased the rain came through 🙂
Rain and rainbow plus some sunlight in between. Nice subject to take a photo.
Thank you very much, Arlene
So much water, both on the ground and in the skies, still to come.
Thanks very much, Anne
Apart from the variety of watery photographs, I ‘bathed’ in delight at your beautiful descriptions – you are a master of alliteration, Derrick!
Thank you so much, Anne
I love your rainy day photos! How wonderful that the rainbow became a companion on your photographing travel adventures! So beautiful!
We all love the ponies…and those sweet faces of those little boys are such a delight, too!
How wonderful that your handsome well-seasoned clock still keeps time even with a crooked hand! And aren’t we glad when we are well-seasoned and have hurting, crooked, or bent (ETC) parts we can still be useful, too! 😉
(((HUGS))) 🙂
Quite right about our crooked bits. I have a finger I have never been able to bend since I broke it playing rugby 40 years ago.
Both the rainy season photographs along with that of rainbow are excellently clicked. The descriptions for each photographs are wonderful.😊😊
Thank you very much, Harbns
My pleasure derrick sir.
Ik ben onder de indruk van die oeroude eikenbomen die bijna uit elkaar vallen.
Over drie maanden bloeien de croccusjes weer: Houdt moed!!! Alles komt goed!!! * http://www.friedabblog.wordpress.com * Amsterdam, 6 december 2020 *
Heel erg bedankt, Frieda
beautiful header and rainbow shots! never seen a crooked clock hand, Derrick. your vintage clock must be special! as always, loved the gallery of photos for the day! thank you so much 🙂 🙂
Thank you so much, Lola
O derrick – that clock is so cool – and they sure made stuff to last when craftsmen made these things and to pump them out factories
—
and many times your posts have these beautiful literature snippets that are so wonderful – a little mini story in a way with layered feelings and actions — like this
“When the sun sneaked out I unplugged the iron and we sped after it. Since it had made the effort we would have been rude not to.”
oh just so much to that right there –
and lovely post amigo
Much appreciated, Yvette. Thanks a lot. 🙂
🙂
Beautiful trees! And, yes, it would have been very rude to ignore the sun. As the old myths instruct us, mortals can get themselves in a lot of trouble by ignoring the gods.
🙂 Thanks very much, Laurie
What a wonderful wet adventure. 😀
At least someone is enjoying all this rain ☔️ 🦆 😉
Indeed, Ribana. Thank you very much
Beautiful clock and beautiful rainbow.
Thank you very much, Mrs W
I so love the opening picture, Derrick. The trees in the wind. Can tell it was a strong one.
Black & white pictures are beautiful!
Thank you very much, Inese. The only period in which I developed and printed my own negatives they were always black and white.
I have never developed my own color images too. It costs a fortune:) My black&white darkroom was set up in the pantry 🙂
Mine was in the kitchen in the ’80s 🙂
Happy days 😊
Another beautiful gallery of a lovely day.
Thanks very much, Rupali