Frozen

I begin with this picture of Jackie’s, down the Brick Path, which I unfortunately omitted yesterday. Mea culpa.

We received a fair bit of rain overnight, but today was dry, if pretty cool, with intermittent sunny periods blown along by stiff breezes.

Our morning began with a trip to Tesco where Jackie carried out the shopping, then wheeled it to the car in a trolley, and I helped unload it into the Modus, after having read a little more of David Copperfield. I then unloaded it at home before my Chauffeuse took us on a forest drive.

During one of the duller spells we drove down Lower Pennington Lane where fresh cow parsley; burgeoning blackberry blossom; and carpets of yellow flowers dotted the fields and hedgerows beneath lowering skies. An inquisitive goat peered through a farm fence.

Looking across to the Isle of Wight we could see Hurst lighthouse and castle, distant walkers, and hang gliders welcoming the wind.

As we pulled into Longslade Bottom car park I was intrigued by voices emanating from the undergrowth. Upon inspection I met three friendly women seated on folding chairs enjoying the shelter.

Dog walkers shared the grassy slopes with ponies. By and large they were respectful of each other.

Then along came a gentleman with two dogs on leads. A small brown one barked a lot. It was loosed. It carried on barking at the ponies. Fortunately they ignored it.

I was also let loose on Bisterne Close where I photographed the woodland and its trees, lichen, moss, and fresh ferns.

A squirrel, racing between trees froze, listened, then sped on. It was so kind of it to pause for the photographer.

A young buck in a field of yellow flowers was quite unfazed by my presence.

More ponies stood among the gorse in the moorland alongside Holmsley Passage.

This evening we dined on a rack of ribs in barbecue sauce; Jackie’s delicious egg-fried rice; and tender green beans, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Rioja.

109 comments

  1. Lovely photos, Derrick, the buck is a handsome guy! The horses are beautiful too. I thought that you had an overnight freeze. 🇬🇧

  2. Thank you for my tour. It was a pleasure spending time with the ponies.
    As always I enjoyed another garden view.

    I love the photo of the ladies – two of them look very happy to be photographed but the third looks slightly worried!

      1. Judging by the big grins of the other two I guessed you’d asked permission. I love it when we have willing subjects.

  3. It was worth putting Jackie’s picture in.

    I liked the last picture of the ponies among the gorse, best today, though I had a hard time picking it out of a fine selection.

  4. Jackie’s picture is just stunning, with the framing and the beauty of your garden. And I loved the sweet goat with his head tilted just so. The rude dog owner made me mad. I cannot imagine letting my untrained dog harass any living thing. Shame on him.

  5. You’re sharing some wonderful old trees. One looks like it might have been coppiced, or died and re-sprouted. Love the urn in Jackie’s photo, too!

      1. that’s not would have them as “pest” in terms of destroying the environment, prey on native birds, cause agricultural sector to have big issues.

  6. Jackie’s brick path photo is magnificent, and reflects well the amount of work you’ve both put into the garden. Love the oak trees, too, and the goat!

  7. There are so many beautiful photos here! I love the arches in Jackie’s photo. Thank you for sharing the incredibly handsome ponies, the mossy roots, ferns, and interesting tree trunks. I see a face at the base of the trunk in the black and white photo on the bottom left.

  8. Today’s wide viewed photographs are special, beginning with Jackie’s capture of the Brick Path framed by the arch. The three ladies behind the growth seem to be enjoying their fairyland existence. I was quite amused by your description of being let loose by Jackie whereupon you have produced suitably fetching images.

  9. It has felt good to go out on a drive and a walk with you again – and I am very glad you included Jackie’s photograph: a triumph to excellent gardening.

  10. This post was a wealth of riches in photos and prose. I knew frozen had to refer to something other than weather. 😏 That photo of Jackie’s with brick path and garden–it’s a wonder you ever leave, but then the sights in your part of the world! That little curious goat, the paths, the wide expanse with horses (and inconsiderate dog owners), the buck and squirrel happy to pose, along with the three women who magically appeared–friendly witches, I suspect. And then to return to a delicious dinner. I would happily eat the egg-fried rice, green beans, along with the Rioja.

  11. beautiful set of photos for us today, Derrick! thank you! the brick path is just gorgeous; like walking into a paradise 🙂

  12. I always enjoy these forest drives! The black & white photos mixed in add a different perspective.

    We are in cloud here this morning, but it won’t last long.

  13. I could almost picture the brick path on the front of a jigsaw puzzle box; it looks wonderful.
    And as usual the forest ponies are so photogenic.
    x

  14. There’s always one (yappy dog and its irresponsible person) … the Three Fates looked like they were enjoying sorting out a resolution for the human race. 😀

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