July 2022 – Page 2 – derrickjknight

Poisonous To Them

On a much cooler and overcast morning Jackie drove me into the forest.

The water tubs at the start of Sowley Lane had been refilled, and we saw another on St Leonard’s Road.

Barley fields on either side of Tanner’s Lane are producing fine crops, perhaps a little early.

Against the backdrop of the Isle of Wight the Solent gently rippled with choppy waves slipping over the grating shingle beach.

Plants clinging to the ancient stone walls of St Leonard’s Granary, and the sweep of sward outside the grange were beginning to die back, although the no doubt well irrigated lavender borders remained bright.

The pool alongside the Grange where we often see groups of ponies drinking was becoming very dry. The close-up of the marsh ragwort was produced by Jackie.

The ponies and foals gathered together further along St Leonard’s Road know instinctively to avoid the familiar yellow plants which are poisonous to them.

This afternoon the clouds were swept away from the garden as the sun brought back the heat. Later Flo watered and dead-headed; Jackie planted, watered, and dead-headed; I just dead-headed – quite a lot.

This evening we dined on succulent roast chicken; crisp Yorkshire pudding; boiled new potatoes; crunchy carrots; firm cauliflower and broccoli; tender green beans; and tasty gravy, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden, Flo drank mixed fruit cordial, and I finished the Cabernet Sauvignon.

Parched

Early this morning, after she had shopped and Tesco and we had unloaded her purchases, Jackie drove me to Wessex Photography in Lymington where I bought more printing paper; and further on into the forest.

Although grasses were well-watered beside Hatchet Pond

the surrounding moorland was drying up. It was hot enough for us two days ago, and therefore not surprising that areas 10 degrees C hotter elsewhere in the country suffered numerous grass fires that spread to destroy neighbouring homes. We considered ourselves fortunate that the New Forest remained unscathed.

Waterlily tapestries adorned the pond, and beneath the sheltering

lakeside silver birch

cygnets originally seen in May and posted in https://derrickjknight.com/2022/05/27/a-hanging-out-nest/ have now caught up with their mother.

While wandering around Hatchet Pond, I met and enjoyed wide-ranging conversation with friendly Australian Justin and Spaniard Natalia, on holiday from their home in Andorra, who were happy to be photographed with their boys and dog before Jackie called to tell me that the cygnets were back.

Already, soon after 10 a.m. ponies at East End were lining up in what shade they could find in order to escape the oppressive heat and the myriad of flies that could either be momentarily shooed off with twitching tails, rubbing noses against legs, or simply stoically tolerated. The last of the trio looks as if she may have found a mud bath at some point.

There are usually a few ponies cropping this parched patch which would now be like breakfasting on burnt toast. Perhaps it is the residents of No. 1 Sowley Lane, opposite who have filled these containers of water for the animals who have slaked their thirst and moved on to seek greener grass.

This afternoon I dozed over ‘The Moonstone’.

This evening we dined on roast duck, fried and boiled potatoes, fried onions, and firm carrots, cauliflower and broccoli, with meaty giblet generated gravy. Jackie drank Hoegaarden; Flo, Robinson’s mixed fruit cordial; and I, more of the Cabernet Sauvignon.

South End Back In Order

Martin finished the work on and around the Oval Bed –

pictured in progress

and on completion.

The Rose Garden has been rather neglected during the last week or so. Our friend just had time to shave the rampant red carpet rose and bag up the clippings before it was time for him to return home. He has certainly got the rest of the south end of the garden back in order.

While Martin gardened I printed – another 59 of the wedding photographs before I ran out of ink this afternoon. Becky ordered me some more on line while I sourced the albums myself.

In order to keep an eye on the printing process I do not leave the machine which takes quite a time. This has enabled me to make a very good start on reading “The Moonstone” which Becky bought for me for my birthday.

Topped up with a little of Jackie’s rice we dined this evening on the last of the Red Chilli takeaway with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

Starting On The Wedding Prints

This morning Jackie and I completed our final selection of photographs taken at Karen and Barry’s wedding on 15th. They total 189, of which I made 36 A4 prints this afternoon.

After this I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2022/07/19/the-sea-the-sea/

This evening we dined on second helpings of yesterday’s Red Chilli Takeaway meal with which we each drank the same beverages, i.e. Hoegaarden, water and Fleurie.

The Sea, The Sea

Late this afternoon I finished reading

of which this is the book jacket of my 1978 first edition. The front illustration is a well-known detail from Hokusai’s ‘The hollow of the deep-sea wave off Kanazawa; the back cover is from a wall painting in the Golden Hall of the Höryū-ji, Nara, Japan.

Sir Alfred Ayer, chairman of the judges commended her 19th novel which won the Booker Prize as “it impressed the judges as a more ambitious book than its rivals, and excelled in the force of its imagery, its delineation of character, and its descriptive power”. I agree with this description of the work as quoted in Philip Howard’s review from The Times of 23rd November 1978 that I slipped into the wing of the jacket when I bought the book. The blurb states that “reflections upon love and hate and fear contribute to the intense atmosphere of (what it claims to be) this comic tragedy.

Certainly a tragedy, its comic nature escapes me. As usual I will not give details of the story save to say that the writing is in the form of a diary from the main protagonist seeking to escape from the world, his fame, and much of his past, while at the same time recapturing the lost innocence of an early love, while constantly wondering was it the first. He constantly puts his own construction on his relationships while destroying them with lack of commitment and anxiety. Murdoch explores this complex personality with considerable insight.

Love, hate, and fear, all contribute to the speculations and actions of the characters whose mindsets are determined by their own versions of events and others activities which they interpret as facts. Faith, religion, sexuality, and its orientation are all matters for conjecture.

The variations in the mood of the Sea, itself among the cast of characters, are reflected in the narrative, with its certainly intense atmosphere in which the weather plays its part. The story moves along with prose both flowing like the waves and startling like their crashing on the rocks. Dialogue is managed well.

The details of the author’s descriptions of the natural world and the environment are most impressive. Precise details of clothing contribute to the pictures of personalities.

Red Chilli Takeaway

Her parents brought Flo back home after we had gone to bed last night.

Today I stayed indoors and published https://derrickjknight.com/2022/07/18/isabella-or-the-pot-of-basil/

This evening Jackie, Flo, and I dined on a Red Chilli takeaway meal which we hope may last three days.

First we neatly lay out the goodies in their containers;

then dive in at will until

our plates are empty enough for empty containers to be transported while others are moved to the fridge for tomorrow.

Jackie drank Hoegaarden, Flo drank water, and I drank more of the Fleurie.

Isabella Or The Pot Of Basil

Today I reread and scanned

Beside the title page I have shown the front board.

Each of the first 62 stanzas is part of a pair in a decorated border. The 63rd stands alone on the final page. I have chosen not to reproduce the intermediate verses, but to include each of the double spreads

illustrating selected lines.

There are numerous analyses and observations on this classic romance from 1820, so I won’t attempt any.

MacDougall’s 1898 illustrations are worthy examples of the golden age of illustration, produced on good cartridge quality hand made paper originally uncut.

Golden Showers

While watering the garden this morning Jackie photographed

a bee on a thistle;

and the goldfinch chicks in their nest – as soon as she did so all three flew off.

Later I watered and dead-headed a little on the Back Drive, before we set off for Ivy’s birthday barbecue at Newbury.

Our great-niece Ivy is now one year old. Her mother, Jane, looks rather happier about it.

Helen and Bill were unable to attend, so Shelly and Jackie thought their sister would like to see that they needed their fans.

After our great-nephew Rory had tried out all the buttons on my camera and been foiled by joint darts from Jackie and John in his attempt to speckle my white trousers with chocolate

the least I could do was photograph him while he was planning his next foray.

The event was so well attended that it wasn’t conducive to me staggering about with a camera trying neither to tread on little children nor to elbow others. There was much convivial conversation, eating of tasty sausages, burgers, fried onions, and salads, and drinking of wine, beers and soft beverages, followed by cakes and sparkling wine.

On the A3057 while returning home we joined a short convoy following a long container lorry spreading golden showers every time its load of hay scraped overhead branches as it contributed to the inevitable shaving of tree tunnels.

There was probably relief all round when the articulated juggernaut turned off in the direction of Mottisfont.

Needless to say we needed no more sustenance than cold water this evening.

“I Wouldn’t Start From Here”

Early this morning I read in the car while Jackie bought vegetables at Ferndene Farm Shop and birthday presents for Ivy at New Milton. We then drove on to Burley where I settled on a bench to watch the world go by. My sojourn was to be brief.

As I left the car park I noticed that a decaying stump I had last photographed Before Covid had been servicing the ecology of the site.

I walked through The Queen’s Head car park where I attracted a foal which tagged me into the roadway where I had difficulty shifting it.

Its parents slept in charge of the infant as they sought refuge against the pub walls.

A group of cyclists, amused at my unwanted attendant passed another pony on the road.

Others wandered along the High Street of Burley as, lens at the ready, I stationed myself on an unoccupied bench.

Soon, 87 year old Sylvia joined me and asked us – Jackie had joined me by then – whether we knew where the bus went to from here. Resisting one of the jokes about “I wouldn’t start from here”, we learned that she wanted to go to New Milton and had boarded a bus to an unknown destination which turned out to have been here. She had been hoping to arrive at the New Milton Tesco’s from her home at Highcliffe. Given that we lived a mile from there we had no choice but to cut short my people watching and transport her there. Which we did.

I was to become relieved that my photography session had been so brief, because I spent six hours this afternoon carrying out a first cull of the photographs Jackie and I produced between us, when I cut the numbers from 300+ to 207. I barely had the energy then to start on the Burley set.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s wholesome sausages in red wine, boiled potatoes, firm carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I started on a bottle of Patrick Chodot 2019 that Flo, knowing it was a favourite, had given me for my birthday.

A Delightful Day

From midday onwards Jackie and I were the official photographers for the most delightful wedding of our friends Karen and Barry Chislett-Bruce.

First, beginning with Barry’s son and best man, Owen, and his partner Tori, guests arrived at the Lymington Community Centre where the ceremony was to take place. As we all gathered together, partaking of Pimms or elderflower cordial, the bride and groom entered the room designated for their interview with the registrars and emerged ready for the service. Jackie and I were invited to move around as much as we liked during the ceremony.

The meal was excellent – of three courses followed by plentiful plates of cheese and biscuits. Cider, wine, tea, and coffee flowed.

Heartfelt speeches from Karen’s father and from Owen were full of emotional moments. Much convivial conversation with friends and family of the happy couple followed before we eventually took our leave.

There are several hundred photographs of our own to process, and will be many more to come from the many other cameras that were in evidence. I will print the best of these and find albums for them all. Because these pictures will belong to Mr and Mrs Chislett-Bruce, they will not appear on this post.

We did return home via Brockenhurst on order to find a pony or two for the blog.