Out In Force Today

Jackie cut my hair this morning.

She grabbed my Covid locks

and trimmed them down to size.

And here was I wishing to turn the clock back.

Contrary to expectations today, albeit several degrees cooler, was, from midday, bright and sunny.

We drove to Otter Nurseries to buy some primroses, including a pot for Elizabeth, which we took to her with a pair of gardening gloves. After a lengthy socially distanced pleasant conversation in her garden we took off for a drive.

A patch of green on Pilley Street generally fills with fresh, reflective, rainwater after the amount of rain we are currently experiencing.

Today a pair of ponies slaked their thirst thereon.

Kewlake Lane is one of those in the forest where local people have lined the verges with large stumps to deter visitors from parking on them. One mossy specimen, reflected in a pool, had been in use for quite some time. We looked down on a fairly orderly sun-streaked landscape.

Along Furzley Lane we encountered more basking ponies and one solitary donkey. The shaggy coated equines were out in force today.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s substantial, flavoursome, chicken and vegetable stewp, with tangy Welsh rarebit, and fresh French bread. The Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Garnacha.

99 comments

  1. Jackie did indeed do a brilliant job.
    I am still toying with the nuclear option.. getting Mike to chop the whole damn lot off. I have provisionally booked an ‘appointment’ for after tomorrow’s grocery delivery. Unless I change my mind overnight..

  2. Is there no end to the Head Gardener’s talents? Was she just trying her hand ahead of some topiary I wonder? Loved all the equine photos.

  3. Oh, I love your haircut, Derrick. Very handsome. Bravo, Jackie. And the photo you referenced – WOW! That’s a great story! Becky is hilarious.

    I love your pony and donkey photos. Hoping the sweet things get some warm spring air soon.

  4. She did a great job! I need the gardener to do that for me but I’m afraid he might use the Weedwhacker. My hair has grown in this one year pandemic! Lovely ponies by the way.

  5. Jackie did a great job! So we have a neat and trim Derrick and beautifully shaggy ponies. I especially like the colors of the reddish pony with the yellow/green of the aquatic plants.

  6. A fine haircut from Jackie, Derrick! Looks good!

    The ponies seem to like their grassy rain pool soup. Those little fuzzy wuzzy ponies are particularly adorable. 🙂

  7. Your haircut looks great – clever Jackie! Richard doesn’t trust me to cut his hair properly.
    What a beautiful afternoon you had! I love all the ponies and the reflections again.

  8. How very interesting… ponies owned by the commoners who had ancient pasturage rites… so different! I love that explanation. May be similar to the bourgeoisie … the middle class in Switzerland who own a chunk of the local forest… Loved your photos of the ponies and the solitary donkey. And of course, as many of your other followers have commented, Jacquie did a superb job taking a straggly overgrown COVID head of hair and returning it to her dapper husband’s rightful length. Congratulations, Jacquie!!

  9. That’s a very spiffy haircut you have, Derrick! A good number of the gentlemen I know would envy you. Their attempts to deal with Covid hair have only been more or less successful: mostly less.

  10. Now that is an amazing haircut Jackie has rendered upon your locks! I meandered down the lane of time to encounter that beatific appearance you sported in 1974 — that is a gem of a photograph. Your granddaughter was astute in her observation.

  11. What a great job Jackie did! Is there nothing she cannot do? I am afraid my efforts with Clif’s hair are nowhere near as good. The shaggy ponies made me smile.

  12. Looking good, Derrick!
    I liked the old photo of you as a young man with long hair.
    It reminds me of the rock band musicians i loved back then. For example on the hair of the young Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin or Ian Gillan from Deep Purple.
    Derrick, I wish you a nice day….??
    Rosie from Germanyj

  13. Jackie did a wonderful job! She really can do everything! My husband’s Covid hair looks terrible. Mine does, too, but I can pull it back.

    I love the pony with the reflections.

  14. Jackie truly is multi-talented and I am a bit jealous. My hair is alarmingly long and it has never been particularly obedient. My hairdresser is only in Manchester but I just daren’t go, even if it were not illegal. You missed the opportunity to use the new before and after picture slider though! I liked the pictures with the horses, ripples and the tree reflections.

  15. Jackie is a woman of many talents. Nice to have someone in the house who can cut hair–and so well. I love the ponies in the post today and the mysterious lichen green thing in the middle of one of the pools.

  16. Looks like a great day all round – I noted that one of the ponies looked like it had been “hair trimmed as well” – but your hair cut comes up as top of the morning. I remember my lockdown troubles – I was about to have a buzz cut but then into lockdown we went – after I didn’t go for another week or two, to give everyone else a chance. Shops had opened and I was bemoaning the fact – when someone said it was “funky” – ummm that’s not what I classed as funky. Anyway I got it attended to and was in the same shop a week or two later and they understood what “funky really meant”

  17. Jackie worked her magic on your covid-hair. 🙂 Looks great! :-)_
    Been cutting my hubby’s hair for about 4 years now.
    He appreciates my doing so.
    Love seeing the ponies and donkeys, always. 🙂
    (((HUGS)))

  18. That’s the problem with hair – it needs controlling, even styling. My scanty covering merely needs chopping back and shaving once in a while. Baldness is indeed the friend of the lazy man., and style is not my area. 🙂

  19. Your white hair is gorgeous! Jackie had a nice mane to work with. That one shaggy horse could have used some work on his bangs. ? Gorgeous landscape photos.

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