Along Church Lane

Ten years ago yesterday I began this blog as a daily diary in order to keep my children up to date with my activities. Since then I have taken, different additional directions, largely stimulated by the encouragement and interests of a quite unexpected number of followers and friends from all over the world. Until comparatively recently all posts were uncategorised, making some subjects difficult for new and longer standing readers to track.

One development has been writing about books, often illustrated. This morning I embarked upon the task of changing the category of posts featuring observations about them. “Books” entries will often be found contained within the other activities of the day. A simple example of this is https://derrickjknight.com/2013/09/05/carthage/

Since I have to trawl through almost 4,000 posts to find these, I might take some time.

This afternoon Jackie drove me into the forest for a short trip.

We took the Sandy Down route to

Church Lane. The second of the above images shows a gentleman making good progress on his postprandial constitution; the first is a section at right angles to

a bridge over the stream reflected in the water’s surface.

The lane slopes up to St John the Baptist parish church, where the Ukrainian flag heard flapping in the churchyard on this otherwise silent afternoon adds an extra poignancy to the many others flying in our locality.

Beside the church, ponies crop the verdant fields.

English bluebells still thrive along the way,

between the ancient hedgerow banks along which gnarled roots are exposed.

This evening we dined on well cooked roast lamb; crisp roast potatoes, sage and onion stuffing, and Yorkshire pudding; crunchy carrots; firm broccoli and cauliflower; mint sauce and meaty gravy, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Malbec.

92 comments

    1. Oh, my gosh! I thought the exact same thing…and then I saw your comment! As a teacher, mom, and grandma…Winnie and all of his friends hold a special place in my heart and life. 🙂
      (((HUGS))) 🙂

  1. Your header photo today is great! The St John the Baptist Church flying Ukrainian flag photo brought some tears to my eyes…so poignant and so powerful!
    Lovely photos all! 🙂
    Have fun with the sorting and categorizing! 😉
    Congrats on 10 years with this blog! It holds so many memories for you! So glad you are still here blogging away! We need you! 🙂
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

  2. Oh, my goodness, Derrick! Congratulations on 10 years of blogging! It’s been wonderful learning about your town and your gardens and your family and your history. Your quiet strength and loving, insightful soul are always apparent in everything you do. xo

  3. Congratulations on ten years of beautiful and interesting posts! I love today’s photos of winding roads, bluebells, verdant pastures, and shaggy ponies.

  4. Categorising posts is an excellent idea. You have a remarkable collection of book posts. You might also consider adding tags to the posts, e.g., Charles Keating, Charles Dickens.

    Your quick outing has collected interesting pictures of the solitary walker, forest roads and ponies feasting on fresh grass.

  5. I really like the curve of the sandy road … it holds so many possibilities. Your children are benefiting enormously from your daily postings and the rest of your readers are the richer for your efforts.

  6. Congratulations on your 10-year blog anniversary. I’m glad to see the Ukrainian flag in so many locations around the world.

  7. My blog started as a retirement activity meant to stimulate my brain. What I wrote about then changed totally once I got a cat, then another. Before long, my blog became one of those obnoxious cute kitty blogs that blight the blogosphere!

    Like you, readers’ comments guided the content and direction my blog headed. I was a bit amazed my blog made my kitties minor international cat celebrities, with fans on six continents. Thanks to their lure, I’ve made contact with some amazing people in other countries, even my own. What a treat they are to know!

    Best of all, though, was finding other bloggers’ postings, among them yours, Derrick! A walk-through of the English countryside is a welcome relief from the tedious day’s news, and your book reviews remind me there are better ways to spend the day than stewing about nuclear bombs over Washinton! I enjoy reading what you had for supper, too. I don’t know why. I just do.

    1. Thanks very much, Doug. My niece, Danni, asked me to say what we had for dinner one day. Then when I didn’t do it the next time she commented that she couldn’t go to sleep unless she knew what her uncle had for dinner. 🙂

      1. LOL! I understand the situation! Readers of my posts instruct me on their preferences, too. When Dougy was alive, he had a fan club that was upset if Dougy didn’t get his fair share of posts. I periodically post old photos of Dougy to let his fans know I still think about the little rascal and understand they miss him, too.

  8. Congratulations on your blogging anniversary, Derrick, and good luck with your project. Your blog is most enjoyable with beautiful photos and well-written and interesting narratives. Plus, I enjoy seeing your dinner menu and the wines you imbibe in.

  9. Good luck with that task of categorizing! It will be a daunting exercise in choices since (like this beautiful post) most of your posts are not one-dimensional!

    I always enjoy journeying with you through the forest and seeing your splendid photos. God bless your chaufuesse!!

  10. Congratulations on 10 years of first rate blogging, Derrick. You have a great community here too. I loved reading about how your what-we-had-for-dinner sign-off started. It will make it all the more charming to read in future.

  11. WordPress housekeeping can be very time consuming, as is blogging itself. Congratulations on keeping it going solidly for ten years, and for keeping up with all your comments. That quite an effort.

  12. Forest photos are marvelous, Derrick. Did you know that Mendel Mendoza produced the first kosher Malbec? Now everyone is following suite, but his is still the best (at least we think so).

  13. You had a beautiful day for your forest drive, Derrick and Jackie. The littlest ponies are growing rotund on the new spring grass. 🙂

  14. You must be surprised and gladdened that so many of us around the world enjoy your daily and weekly activities. I have felt much more connected to all of humankind since I joined the blog world and follow folks from all over(just English speaking though. I am pretty limited that way.)

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