A Gentle Snow Plough

This morning I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2021/08/31/a-knights-tale-25-a-papal-honour/

By mid-afternoon the earlier Stygian gloom had lifted enough for us to drive to Puttles Bridge and back after buying another, larger, bag of tree bark mulch.

With barely a ripple the now very shallow Ober Water could hardly be said to flow under the bridge.

The root trip hazards, often framing pools of water, are now bone dry.

Two or three families were frolicking in what was left of the stream flanked by dappled woodland devoid of the usual mini-pools. I enjoyed a pleasant conversation with the mother in the first of these pictures, whose son, while manoeuvring a small dinghy, was heard to say “It’s not deep enough”. I told his Mum I had never heard that before.

Ponies, including a large foal, grazed beside the road.

A child had hopped home with one shoe.

Chips fell from a fallen tree.

On our return through Brockenhurst, a Highland cow, with its cumbersome rocking gait, lumbered among the patient vehicles.

Among the multicoloured heather on the moorland beyond the town, other, tail-swishing, ponies with another foal clinging to its mother, grazed or took their ease.

Two remained obdurately planted in the road until a tour bus, like a gentle snow plough, proceeded to shift them.

This evening we dined on succulent roast pork; boiled new potatoes; crisp Yorkshire pudding; crunchy carrots and cauliflower; moist sautéed peppers, mushrooms, and onions; and tasty gravy, with which Jackie drank more of Pino Grigio Blanc and I drank more of the Faugeres.

78 comments

  1. With the Highland cow in the road, it’s a good thing you drive on the left side of the road!
    My horses and ponies are looking good, Derrick. Thank you.

      1. Unfortunately, just virtual. haha, I’d love to see the look on our HOA if I rode up to the clubhouse one day!! ?

  2. Your dinner sounds so delicious, Derrick! I would love to try Jackie’s cooking. I’ve never seen horses and other critters walking on public roads before. You’ve never heard the term “it’s not deep enough”? As an avid boater years ago, that was a common saying. The Highland cow looks really huge!

  3. I was wondering how a snow plough was going to come into the post! Your dinner sounds really good!! I have a hankering for a good pork roast now. It’s been ages since I’ve had one.

  4. As gorgeous a post as ever! I took my six year old grandson for a walk to the store this more – with an umbrella. It has never taken me as long to get such a short distance!

  5. Such wonderful photos, Derrick. I can’t pick a favorite, though I do like that Highland cow.
    The first mossy roots photo looks like a bird’s leg with clawed foot to me. ?

  6. HAHAHAHA! That Highland Cow owns the road! 😉 😀
    Love your photos of the pairs of ponies and the blue bus!
    Always enjoy your reflection photos, your light ‘n’ shadows photos!
    The roots photos remind us how well-seasoned those trees are…they’ve seen so much! And remind us to be grateful for our own roots! 🙂
    Aw, on the little lost Peppa Pig shoe! 🙁 I bet it was missed for a long time.
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

  7. Your intriguing photo of the highland cow slowly lumbering down the road is an image I could’ve used in my post “Time Strolls”, but I am sure there will be another time …

  8. ‘Obdurately’…what a lovely word. I’ll find a use for it. Roast pork, another lovely word, or two, as the case may be. Nice post, Derrick.

  9. a great variety of photos for today, Derrick. delightful to see the highland cow and ponies and reflections. i’m not too sure about the exposed roots though. kinda eerie.

  10. Hello Derrick
    It’s fun to see the shape these roots took when they were no longer covered by water.
    I still love to see the ponies walking around like this at your place
    Hello Jackie and have a nice day in the garden? to both of them

  11. I love the photo of the Highland cow. It’s amazing the animals are free to walk on public roads. It’s unfortunate those roots are lacking water, however, trees can be real survivors.

  12. YOur wife is a very good cook, Derrick. I also cook a lot and my sons are used to home cooking. I wonder if they girls still learn to cook now. Why is your river so low, I thought the UK had been getting a lot of rain this year.

  13. I love the description “Stygian gloom”. It is not one I have seen in a long time, and you have captured it well in the woodland photos. Highland cows are unique-looking, and I always love to see the ponies.

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