Flies Are Now In Season

On another warm, humid, and largely overcast morning garden maintenance was continued.

Jackie mostly concentrated on the Rose Garden, then produced her own gallery. It was the cricket on Absolutely Fabulous that sent her indoors for her camera. She also spotted a bee and a beetle on Rosa Gallica. Winchester Cathedral, For Your Eyes Only, and Lady Emma Hamilton were all ready for their close-ups. The beetle on the leaf in the first Rosa Gallica picture may be an invasive ladybug

My work was wider-ranging weeding, dead-heading, and feeding the compost bin and bags for the dump with suitable material.

With the cordyline Australis and the Wedding Day rose in full bloom it seemed opportune for me to stick my camera lenses through the upstairs windows and produce some

shots from above. So I did.

I then spent a while completing Jackie’s driving licence renewal application on line, only to get to the very last item and be told that there had been a technical hitch which resulted in the whole effort being cancelled. Mrs Knight then repeated the process with a paper application in half the time.

Afterwards we posted the application at Everton Post Office; collected a prescription from Milford on Sea Pharmacy; visited Rosie Lea tea house, formerly The Hobler Inn, to book a meal for which Danni had given Jackie a voucher for her birthday; and, following a forest drive, purchased three more bags of compost at Ferndene Farm Shop.

Beside the stream at the start of Cadnam Lane, apparently exhausted in the heat, a trio of pigs lay flaked out. They occasionally twitched in an effort to shift the horseflies from their flanks. One sow found the energy to rise to her feet and slowly yawn.

Round the next bend ponies sought shelter in the woodland. They, too, received their share of flies.

This evening we indeed on Jackie’s succulent beef and onion pie; new potatoes, firm carrots, and tender runner beans, with meaty gravy. The Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and I drank Les Dauphins Cotes du Rhone 2019.

77 comments

  1. Excellent day, excellent photos and confirms all my prejudices about online application forms. I was momentarily confused that Jackie should stop gardening to watch sport on a well known sitcom when I realised cricket referred to an insect and Absolutely Fabulous to a rose. I wondered why I didn’t remember that episode . . .

  2. Your garden is so beautiful. Jackie’s rose garden photos are beautiful–the color so vivid, I can almost taste it
    (but without the bugs). ? The heat and humidity is bringing out all sorts of insects here, too–flies, gnats, spiders, bees–and I saw a bunch of the invasive spotted lantern flies on a rose at the park. I told the groundskeepers, but he just said yeah, they’re a nuisance. Oh well.

    The pigs look like they wouldn’t move for anything. The pony with the flaxen hair in the last gallery is beautiful! She (?) seems like she knows it, too.

    1. That pony did get very close. Most of the ponies we see are she. The stallions are let out for a few weeks in the spring to do their thing. Some of the young foals have the revealing appendage 🙂 Thanks very much, Merril

  3. I have been reading some very angry reports of delays and impediments at the DVLA. This is a great pity as it has been very reliable up to this year in my experience. I hope that Jackie’s new licence arrives safely.

  4. It is so lovely to see your ‘wedding day’ rose in full bloom.
    I once bought one for friends who, after over 20 years of cohabitation, finally got married.
    They then moved to Yorkshire, and took their ‘wedding day’ with them so I had not seen it in its fully glory until now!
    Bloomin’ beautiful – as is everything in your lovely garden 🙂
    How thoughtful of Danni to have extended Jackie’s birthday celebrations with the gift of a voucher… fab idea!

    1. Thank you so much, Emma. I am now even more pleased to have focussed on Wedding Day. Although it only flowers once it has a good scent, is very prolific, and would take over the garden if permitted.

      1. That’s so lovely to know, especially about the scent; thank you! I love the way so many plants – roses particularly – are suitably named as special gifts for particular occasions 🙂

  5. I love Jackie’s close ups of your garden’s delights, and I always love the 2nd floor views. Such abundance!

    The pigs looked mostly happy until that last one. Glad to know it was a yawn and not a call to war.

  6. Those yellow roses look as big as a man’s fist! I always enjoy the garden views from the upstairs window. It was nice to see some included today. I do hate to see animals bothered by flies. On the northern rural roads, moose will run out of the woods onto the road to try and escape the flies, resulting in collisions with cars when it happens at night.

  7. What a beautiful variety of roses you have. Just gorgeous. As is the pig with fly buddy. He/she looks so peaceful and happy. Hope you are the same.

  8. Beautiful garden photos, both yours and Jackie’s. The lady bird/bug could be either; I have great difficulty telling the difference between the unwelcome and the welcome despite having an ID sheet! One of the good things about this very cool and gloomy summer is that there are fewer flies. Poor animals having to put up with flies all over them all the time!

  9. The close ups of roses have captured the gorgeousness of the flowers and their intoxicated suitors. The aerial shots have resulted in wider portraits of the garden, a bird’s eye view of sorts.

    The glitch you ran into after having completed the entire online form is symbolic of pitfalls of an electronic culture.

  10. I really enjoy seeing pictures of gardens taken from above. Really gives a sense of scope. That picture of the pig is sweet. But drat those flies!

  11. At first I thought the cricket on the yellow rose would be my favorite photo, but the golden palomino pony is absolutely gorgeous! The pigs seem happier than many.

    1. These are the only ones we get. I looked them up once, to learn that it is the length of the antennae that distinguishes them from grasshoppers. I looked up your suggestion. That looks plausible. We get lots of babies. I’ll look out for an adult. Thanks a lot, John.

  12. Excellent photos as always Derrick. I was thinking of you and Jackie and your always amazing suppers. We spent the day outside yesterday. For supper, I made toasted egg salad sandwiches sprinkled with bacon. Dan finished his beer and I finished my vodka cooler. (We need to hire a cook ?).

  13. I have to agree wholeheartedly with all the beautiful garden comments.

    During the past weeks I have spent a lot of time online to the DVLA but it has been straight forward with no problems.

    So that I could sell the RAV – Retaining my personalised number plate and reverting back to the original registration then re- reregistering with the DVLA were the first tasks Then going through the whole thing again but in reverse with the new car.

    Next there was the speeding notification (speed camera) for the new car. I didn’t even have the car! Back on line once more to fill in the details of the garage!
    Fortunately, the response to all the above was surprisingly quick. But now I have far too many vehicle registration books!

  14. A beautiful assortment of photos, and I love the pigs! Is that our Glouster Old Spot there? Yes, fly season. I remember that from when I had horses. They are quite pesky, and irritate horse and human alike.

  15. Your garden from above is marvelous! You could practically sell tickets for tourists who want to see a garden – it’s that lovely. It’s still remarkable to me to recall how it looked years ago, compared to now. You have done wonderful work.

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