Chill Sunshine

After a morning of more reminiscing with Becky and Flo, Jackie and I took a forest drive early this afternoon. On this sun-bright-cool day we followed the easterly route via Lymington, Undershore, Pilley, Norley Wood and East End.

A woman walked her dog along the lane approaching Portmore, where a chirpy chaffinch contributed to the trill of flitting songbirds, and still shaggy donkeys foraged on the verges.

Basking cattle chewed the cud while ponies chomped the grass on Bull Hill.

At Norley Wood Ponies cast shadows across greens, while trees cast theirs across somnolent cattle,

and a pair of donkeys soaked up the sun at Norleywood Road junction.

This evening we all dined on more of Jackie’s spicy arrabbiata followed by gooseberry and apple crumble and custard according to choice. Becky and I finished the Monastrell; Ian drank Hoegarden; Flo drank Elderflower cordial; and The Culinary Queen drank Carlsberg.

63 comments

  1. Your header immediately brought to mind the old wives tale that when cows are lying down, it’s going to rain. I believed it when I was a kid, but turns about it was a post hoc fallacy. My favorite out of this group is the pony framed by gorse.

  2. Gooseberry and apple crumble? Mmmm
    Yesterday we had blueberry crumble (made with almond flour and coconut flour – stevia and fa fresh eggs and lots of blueberries)
    Enjoyed your photos form the chill sun!

  3. As a former cattleman, I have to say that that is a good looking herd resting on the low hill. And having taken a closer look. I’d say spring calves are soon to be on the scene.

  4. Oh, I do love your sandy brown basking cow, with the large ears and prominently placed tags –
    when looking at the photo ‘biggified’, his face is so full of character – or perhaps it’s a ‘her’, chewing the cud whilst contemplating the arrival of spring calves, who I’m sure would be equally pretty..!

  5. Lovely to see the cows out in the sunshine and with no sign of winter coats I’m guessing they’ve wintered indoors just as ours have.

  6. It’s as though the animals are all posing for you, Derrick. Such beautiful portraits of them, though it looks like the cow had a few choice words for you.
    Dinner sounds delicious.

  7. I am impressed that the animals appear to be living free of barbed wire, unlike their American cousins that are kept penned up as if in prison.

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  9. You know, I think you should put the images in a picture book with your poetic descriptions – my working title would be ‘The English Countryside and its Residents.’

  10. It looks like you had a beautiful, sunny and relatively warm day for a forest drive, Derrick and Jackie. The cud chewing cows look like they are attempting to smile for the camera. 🙂

  11. That fuzzy, furry, shaggy gray donkey has always been one of my favorites. It often comes out to greet you, I think. Enjoy your bright and sunny days, Derrick. We finaly have blue skies here today, too.

  12. The subjects of your photographic expeditions appear to be blessed with idyllic tranquility. They leave an extremely pleasant and peaceful effect on the readers.

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