Despite The Winds Of August

Yesterday’s winds were not quite as bad as expected, but they persisted today, amid sunny spells. The Head Gardener carried out more pruning, clipping, and tidying, with minimal assistance from me.

After lunch I wandered around with my camera.

Here is a selection of our white flowers, comprising Marguerites, cosmos, dahlias. Japanese anemones, and petunias.

Begonias come in varying colours, shapes and sizes.

as, of course, do the dahlias.

The pale peach and the yellow Summer Time climbers flower throughout the season.

Hues of hydrangeas and lilies, including hemerocallis are also numerous.

Crocosmia, including Lucifer, towering in the Palm Bed, and the more orange one against the red Japanese maple in the Pond Bed send up flickering flames signifying different heats.

Despite the winds of this unusual August, we still enjoy the exuberance of Nature’s painter’s palette.

I then scanned the next four of Charles Keeping’s skilfully sensitive illustrations to Dickens’s ‘David Copperfield’

‘I lay my face upon the pillow by her, and she looks into my eyes, and speaks very softly’

‘Standing by the building was a plain hearse’

‘The ship rolled and beat with a violence quite inconceivable’

‘ ‘I will speak!’ she said, turning on me with her lightning eyes’

Shortly before dinner, I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2021/08/09/a-second-revolution/

The delicious meal consisted of roast chicken thighs; crisp Yorkshire pudding and fried potatoes; herby sage and onion stuffing; crunchy carrots and cauliflower; with thick, meaty, gravy. We each drank more of our rosé and red wines respectively.

82 comments

  1. The sad, but gentle tranquility of the first illustrations, emphasized by flowing horizontal lines of Dora’s hair repeated in the folds of bed cover, is a stark contrast to the stormy third illustration. ‘Lightning eyes’ are depicting through eyebrows, as well as the reaction of the listener; Mr Keeping is certainly a master of showing emotions through listeners’ reaction.

    1. He is, indeed. As you know, I just scan these in the order in which they appear, but I thought this a pretty stunning set of variations. Thanks very much, Dolly

  2. Despite the winds, the flowers turn their beautiful faces to the sun ready for you to take their portraits! What gorgeous colours and shapes their faces are! 🙂 The dragon bed is lovely! 🙂 I always enjoy seeing Florence! 🙂
    As always, Mr. Keeping’s illustrations fascinate me! I pour over them trying to take in every detail…the buttons, the lace, the wood, the books, the horse’s hair, etc. He created such amazing textures AND emotions in his work!
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

  3. Hydrangeas made me happy. I just watched a feature story on a Sunday morning news program about the hydrangeas of Cape Cod in the northeast part of the US. I hope to visit there one day.

  4. Looking at the shady path to the house, and all the other paths, I imagine skipping around them to rest on a bench and admire the beautiful colors with Florence.

  5. I do believe that there is considerable justification in renaming your blog to “After lunch I wandered around with my camera.” ??????

  6. A fearsome and frenetic atmosphere created within Keeping’s drawing (724) which superbly captured the wind and waves violence, as described by Dickens words …

  7. Lovely photos as always, Derrick. I am thinking of adding some dahlias to our yard next year. Are they quite hearty? It seems our yard is either hot and lots of full sun or cooler and total shade.

    1. They are very hearty, and like heat and full sun – not much shade. Strictly, we should lift the tubers and store them inside over winter, but neither Jackie nor I have ever done it – especially here in the south. Thanks very much, AnneMarie

  8. Today’s flowers look exceptionally gorgeous. The framing of photos has the touch of the connoisseur. The sections from David Copperfield are the ones that touched me the deepest when I read the classic first, or so I remember — it was eons ago!

  9. A tip of the trowel to you, Derrick! Those white flower photos are nothing short of splendid. I know all too well how hard it is to get a good photo of a white flower. All too often, blow out. At least for me and my wee camera. Anyway, yours are wonderful.

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