A Dazzled Spider

With our dry heat now reaching 30C we carried out watering this afternoon before retreating indoors where I posted: https://derrickjknight.com/2021/09/07/a-knights-tale-29-early-interviews/ ,

read more of Dickens’s Our Mutual friend and scanned the next five of Charles Keeping’s Inimitable illustrations.

‘The objectionable Sloppy’

‘She folded her hand round Lizzie’s neck, and rocked herself on Lizzie’s breast’

‘Riderhood looked amazedly from his visitor to his daughter’

‘Limehouse Hole’

‘Betty Higden gravely shook her head’

Early this evening as we sat drinking water and Diet Coke on the decking the unrelenting sun beat down so hard that all was silent.

A wood pigeon confused its claws with fleur-de-lys.

Sunlight dazzled a spider which dropped its dangling prey;

after which Jackie photographed it on its trapeze.

This evening we dined on pork shoulder steaks; tasty gravy; fried onions and mushrooms; crisp Yorkshire puddings; boiled new potatoes; firm carrots and cauliflower, with which neither of us imbibed.

70 comments

  1. Need to come back to enjoy me some Dickens – but you know how I love your such natural prose of phrases
    Like
    the unrelenting sun beat down so hard that all was silent
    and
    “Sunlight dazzled a spider which dropped its dangling prey”

    Also – that spider photo has some nice pink! Cool photo

  2. On a day such as today, and I know yours will have been hotter than mine I don’t blame you for retreating indoors.
    The only time I was outdoors was to water the plants and hang out and bring in the washing

    No wine… was Lidl shut today? 😅

  3. On a hot day ’tis best to be inside with Mr. Dickens and Mr. Keeping! 😉 😀
    All the Keeping photos you shared today have great details…buttons, flowy-dresses-hug, mesmerizing shapes and texture in the Limehouse Hole, and evocative expressions!
    Great spider photos! He’s having his day in the sun! 😉
    Spiders art-web-work is always just so impressive! 🙂
    (((HUGS))) 🙂
    PS…They say, “Seeing a spider is nothing. It becomes a problem when it disappears.” HA! 😀

  4. Today I could be the fly in your spider web Derrick … as these ‘covid’ lockdown days drag on and on …
    Spider’s Domain: Haiku

    fernery spider
    guardian of the garden
    lord of the flowers

  5. Keeping’s illustrations have fused with Dickens’ storytelling heart and soul. Meanwhile, the wood pigeon is in acute focus and presents a pretty picture.

  6. I am sorry to hear the hot, dry weather is now in your corner of the world. We are still in it here, but at least the days are shorter now and it cools down sooner.

    That is a beautiful spider. It looks like it may be in the genus Argiope.

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