“We Would Have Driven Past”

Following a suggestion by Yvette Prior, I spent the morning changing the categories of my “A Knight’s Tale” series of posts. They are now categorised as A Knight’s Tale, thus giving readers who may wish to view earlier episodes easier access. The first three also contain my diary entries for their days. I have still to work out how to separate that material from the narrative.

On another unseasonably warm and sunny afternoon we took a drive into the forest.

Cattle and donkeys shared the green at Ibsley, the equines sometimes spilling onto the road to annoy the traffic.

One calf sat beside a pool formed from the recent rains now covering the soggier sward, reflecting the trees above, and bearing fallen leaves.

The greens at North Gorley offered cold soup from similar winterbourne pools. One pony, it’s hooves beneath the surface on which it sent ripples, remained dining for some time.

A few pannage pigs and piglets were once again released onto Newtown Lane.

On our way back through Ibsley we noticed a woman photographing toadstools. Jackie parked and I disembarked to join the other photographer. She told me that her friend had sent her in search of these poisonous Fly Agarics and she was delighted to have found them. I said that had we not seen her in action we would not have spotted these gems and would have driven straight past. I asked her to thank her friend from me, too.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s very wholesome stewp with fresh crusty seeded bread and butter. The Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden while I drank Chevalier de Fauvert Comté Tolosan Rouge 2019.

110 comments

  1. Those toadstools look as if they were specially created for fairies. I love the reflection series. My favorite is the first one with the unexpected, contented calf.

      1. OK. I did some surfing around and I did find you new category – A Knight’s Tale and I think it let me “like” but there’s nowhere I can leave a comment and there’s no comments visible on any of those posts. I can’t see any comments on any of the past posts in the new category.

        1. Here is a further solution from Sue W. If you scroll down to the end of Archives on any post, you come to Categories. They are all there under A Knight’s Tale – you should then be able to like and/or comment on any one you select I didn’t know that myself :).

  2. Those toadstools are amazing. I agree with Liz that they look like there were created for fairies–they look like they were painted by or for fairies.
    It took me a minute to see the calf, and the reflections are lovely. I love all the animal photos.

  3. Your Toadstools were indeed a wondrous discovery Derrick .. and I have stored the photos in my “Derrick File”, and I’m sure there is a story to be told about this magical and colourful patch …

  4. The donkeys seem so sweet. I would be tempted to get out of the car and give them a friendly nudge. The toadstools are fantastic! I’m glad you photographed the photographer so we could see how big they are.

  5. The depth in the top three photographs pulls in the viewer. Is the 16:9 format an option in your Canon? Watery forest parts look good, the ponies savouring the brew look even better. The toadstools appear to be right out of a fairy tale book.

    1. Your question had me googling 16:9 format and reading all about aspect ratio which I had never considered. I haven’t explored the camera’s possibilities yet. Those top three photographs were all taken with 35mm lens and cropped to shape. Thank you very much for this and your other comments, Uma.

  6. As regards the donkeys, I think that they are suffering from a limited gene pool and could do with an injection of some outsiders’ new blood. They are far too pale and occasionally even white, which is a classic sign of a limited gene pool. It’s seen in captive bred pheasants with a white ring round the neck, and it’s often the same thing with mallards. It would certainly be a very great pity to see the donkeys die out, they’re really lovely.

  7. The animals all look happy! Donkeys always make me smile! 🙂
    Glad you were alerted to the fungi circle! Those mushrooms are so pretty! ? ? ?
    Love the reflection photos today!
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

  8. The auburn / golden grown of the ponies drinking has such a warming Autumn glow to it – very endearing!
    What a happy coincidence that you saw the photographer and were able to enjoy the mushroom growth too – the message passed on silently like Chinese Whispers! It is wonderful how fungi appear, so varied, and then quietly disappear again – we have a lovely ring of something I’ve never seen before standing so proudly by our gate just now!

  9. Fairy toadstools! I’m so pleased you spotted the photographer. I wonder if her friend will get to hear that they fungi images have been shared with and enjoyed by so many. Beautiful animals today, especially the little black calf sitting quietly.

  10. What a lovely drive in the forest today. I loved the ones of the pony and the ‘soup’. Oh and toadstools are so magical!

    I looked at your last published Knight’s Tale, and under the categories at the end of the post, I was able to view the ones under a Knight’s Tale. I scrolled down through a good few but didn’t go all the way back; instead, I typed in a search for ‘The Sneaky Weekend’ it came up straight away. If it had been marked private it would have been impossible to look at it no matter how we attempted to view it. BUT number 2 was not there, it went from number 1 to number 3.

    1. I hadn’t unchecked Uncategorised for number 2 which must have overridden A Knight’s Tale which I had checked. I hope it is OK now. Thanks again for the alert.

  11. Ooh, Derrick – you were helped to find a wonderful group! I’m so happy for you. A great mix of flat and rounded ones too. I’ll link my post to yours, so anyone who wants to see how they flatten can come here. I’ll also change my mentions of mushrooms to toadstools having been inspired by you to look up the difference.

  12. It’s unfortunate the colorful toadstools are poisonous. They have a magical look about them. I’m amazed there are that many donkeys that roam freely.

  13. Your donkeys and ponies always delight, but those mushrooms are magical! I’ve never seen even one of them. I believe they do grow in this country, but mushrooms and prairies aren’t such a congenial pair. I need to spend more time in the woods!

Leave a Reply