74 Miles Per Hour

The title represents the fastest speed of the hurricane force winds gusting through The Needles this morning. With our garden in direct line about two miles from these there was no point in going out to investigate the damage, so we drove to Barton on Sea to have a look at them.

Jackie photographed the wind filling my jacket as I stood as near the cliff edge as I dared (not very) to photograph the waves; and this sequence of a Union flag wrapped and unwrapped round the pole by the gusts. Even the crows and gulls kept away.

I managed just a couple of decent shots among the wobbly ones before descending the slope to the promenade below.

Like me, this couple had reached the bottom. I hadn’t tried it for at least two years since my knee surgery.

Flora on the hillsides must have found it difficult to remain rooted.

I had hoped to descend to the rocks below, but this would have meant sliding down the grassy slopes beneath the gravelled path along which others walked. I wasn’t about to risk that.

Choppy waves threw up spray as they battered the sturdy breakwaters and smashed into steadfast rocks. Salty vapour shrouded hazy horizons.

This afternoon I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2021/07/30/a-knights-tale-7-world-war-i/

Even by dinner time the winds had not totally subsided, so we decided that tying up plants and removing broken stems would have to wait until tomorrow. Similarly, we have let the garden furniture lie.

Jackie, however completed her project on clearing the stepping stones through the Palm Bed, and photographed it along with

the sunflower, which has survived.

This evening we dined on plump roast chicken; sage and onion stuffing; crisp Yorkshire pudding; roast and boiled potatoes; crunchy carrots and cauliflower; fried chestnut mushrooms; and tasty, meaty, gravy, with which Jackie finished the Rosé and I finished the Recital.

83 comments

  1. That is some wind! Sorry about the damage to your garden. You didn’t indicate that you lost your power. With winds like that, our whole town would be down.

  2. This is when black and white photos are so much more expressive and dramatic than the colored ones. I liked the beginning of a sentence ‘Jackie photographed the wind…’ Nothing more was needed, Derrick.

  3. All of the seascapes are very dramatic! My favorite of of today’s group is “Seascape and convolvulus.” I like the serene pink flowers next to the grey, roiling sea. Jackie’s projects turned out very well, in including your evening meal, which sounds really good.

  4. Strong winds! Amazing photos! You and Jackie captured the wind! Things a-blowin’! Things a-wavin’! Things a-gustin’! What action!
    Love the owl keeping an eye on the sunflower! ? ?
    Hope you didn’t see Dorthy and Toto fly by! 😮
    (((HUGS))) 🙂
    PS…“The breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind.” – Kahlil Gibran

  5. Wow … some very impressive photos of the gale force winds Derrick … and yes there is few I’ll select for my collection …

  6. When I read 74 mph, I assumed it had to be the weather, since what I’ve seen of your roads pretty much guarantees you wouldn’t be navigating them at that speed! That’s one splendid sunflower you have; I’m glad it stood up to the storm.

  7. I hope the garden will not take too much work to recover. I have been making Yorkshire Pudding for 44 years and I have always made it with roast beef. Now I have yet another reason to love chicken! I must try serving it with Yorkshire Pudding.

  8. How wonderful that the beautiful sunflower has survived the onslaught of the wind. You have captured the turbulent weather conditions very well, Derrick.

  9. Wonderful shots of the stormy sea. We had much needed heavy rain all day, but fortunately, without the gale force winds.
    I hope the garden survived the weather and without too much damage.

  10. Lovely sunflower.

    When I heard on the news about the stormy weather near the Needles, I wondered how you would be faring. Looks like it was cold as well!

  11. I enjoyed these views of the shore, Derrick. I guess hurricane season is starting over in the Atlantic. Sunflowers have such bright, cheery faces, and I love your surviving sunflower photos. The closest thing I have to are are sunchokes in a large container. They have not bloomed yet.

  12. Are you getting hurricanes that have traveled north along the US east coast and veered out across the Atlantic, or is this a different set of hurricanes?

  13. You did well just to get out and stand up in such conditions, let along take so many interesting pictures. I hope that you didn’t have too much tidying up to do.

  14. That sunflower is beautiful and such a contrast to the wind-swept grey sea. I’m surprised you went out in those strong winds, but you did get some stunning shots. ?
    We were fortunate not to get the storms, winds, and tornados that areas just a bit north of us got the other day.

  15. I missed this post earlier… we were busy with our son and daughter-in-law here … and we were experiencing gusty days, too… but not as crazy as yours! I’m glad your sunflower survived and the two of you didn’t get blown away. Lovely photos, Derrick!

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