How To Get Rid Of Dandelions

I began the last push on clearing the two rooms Nick is currently working on together at 4 a.m. this morning. These are the new sitting room and our bedroom upstairs.

Our friendly decorator began prepping before Jackie and I took a mid-morning forest drive.

A framed crocheted Queen welcomes visitors to St. Mark’s Church, Pennington.

We travelled along the very narrow Pauls Lane on our way to Pitmore Lane

alongside which I photographed the landscape with horses.

Further along we encountered a group of donkeys and their foals which

attracted a number of other photographers including this Frenchwoman. I quipped that these donkeys would become very familiar with the camera, and realised that her husband did not understand me. He told me so in English and followed in his own tongue which I didn’t understand. When he explained this to his wife I suddenly tuned into his French accent and replied, haltingly, in his own language. The three of us then spoke about how difficult it is to speak in another language for the first two or three days of a visit. The husband told me that they kept two donkeys at home.

One of the foals appears to have been attempting to emulate the stereotypical female Argentine tango dancer. Tossing its head around, scratching against the stiff grass, first on its feet, then sinking to the ground and rolling its muzzle close to the ground, the little animal failed to grasp the secret of how to get rid of dandelions.

By this afternoon Nick had made considerable progress and will begin applying paint tomorrow.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s excellent chicken korma and various leftovers from last night’s Red Chilli takeaway, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden, Ian drank Cobra, and I finished the Bordeaux.

75 comments

  1. Great work by Nick.
    I didn’t think anything could be cuter than the donkeys and foals until I saw the next gallery with the foal and dandelion. I think this little one is wiser than you know, and understands the pleasure of stopping to smell the dandelions–knowing roses have thorns. ?

  2. The crocheted Queen is wonderful. It deserves to be taken into the church and preserved for people far off in the future to see. There could be no finer monument to how much we respect our monarch’s character than such a time consuming labour of love.

  3. Hahahahs
    The tango to rid the dandelions – thanks for the smile
    Also – the cross cultural language chat sounds fun!

    I was shopping a while back and aided the Mexican cashier, is this dos or tres?
    He answered – that one is two and the other is four ( no Spanish reply – lol)

  4. Great work, Nick! And your beautiful smile lights up the day! 🙂
    Oh, you know I love donkeys! These photos are fabulous, Derrick! Imagine being that cute AND being able to deal with dandelions! 😉 😀
    Love your tango dancer comparison! 😀
    The upstairs sitting room window and view with coffee mug is a cool photo!
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

  5. Adorable donkeys and foals. I can imagine spending all day with them, but your photos will do nicely. I like your cottage windows. Good work, Nick!

  6. The donkey foal is adorable. Your description of the foal trying to get rid of dandelions is hilarious. Meanwhile, your homestead is certainly in the process of reincarnation.

  7. I wish I had Nick’s skills! There are a number of projects of that sort I would like to do here.

    The donkeys, especially the foals, are always adorable. This group has some unusual markings that are quite beautiful.

  8. It is funny how we begin a conversation in either English or Afrikaans in this country depending on where we are when travelling. We once stopped to ask the way and the conversation proceeded in Afrikaans until my husband got stuck for a word … only to discover the other fellow was a native English speaker too!

  9. The secret to England’s beautiful countryside is the adorable livestock, eh?
    Nick is doing an outstanding job!

  10. Another great post, Derrick. Nick is really making good progress – how exciting to see each room become picture perfect. And those donkey babies! What cold be cuter?

  11. It’s so difficult to get good tradespeople, people promise to come out to fix things then don’t show, so I’m happy you have someone so reliable and thorough.

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