April 2023 – Page 4 – derrickjknight

Relaxation And Recovery

After yesterday’s Easter celebrations we took it comparatively easily today.

This morning I worked on ideas for a logo for a friend’s project. I won’t feature this work in progress until I submit it for acceptance.

This afternoon I undertook more picture recovery for the following posts:

Weaning

Finishing Touches

Finishing Touches (2)

I Am Pleased To Have Retained The Film

The first two and the fourth are of the Convert to Blocks edit type; the third was Attempt Block Recovery.

Later, I read some more Balzac and published https://derrickjknight.com/2023/04/09/droll-tales-20/

For dinner we all enjoyed succulent roast lamb; crisp Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes; tangy red cabbage and apple; firm carrots, cauliflower and broccoli; meaty gravy; mint and cranberry sauce, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Coonawarra red wine.

Droll Tales 20

“Desperate Love”, “Despair in Love”, and “Love’s Despair” are the varied title translations of the last story in the second Decade of Honoré de Balzac’s largely scurrilous selection, illustrated respectively by

Mervyn Peake, with his mastery of the simple line;

by Gustave Doré with his packed detail;

and by Jean de Bosschère who produces his own particular interpretation.

This is a short story telling of a handsome and melancholy young man enamoured of a great lady, yet becoming tongue-tied and limp-limbed when attempting to translate the fiercely erotic energy imbued into his skilful sculpting to the wooing of the tantalising temptress.

Further details of each of these publications is given in https://derrickjknight.com/2023/01/06/droll-tales-1/except that the second Decade is published by New York’s Covici, Friede in 1929. It is America’s first edition thus and is a limited copy. The illustrations are not protected by tissue but the book’s condition is quite good and covered by a cellophane wrapper.

Ella And Jack Go Hunting

This morning Jackie laid out her usual cold meats buffet and sandwiches for the Easter egg hunt gathering taking place this afternoon. At lunchtime Jacqueline arrived with salads and Elizabeth brought a quiche. Jackie handed added pizzas to the table shown above.

Jackie had added photographs of her Easter decorations.

Meanwhile I converted

A Good Read

from Classic to Block Edit.

Soon after arrival Ella and Danni decorated the Easter Bonnet Jackie had given our great niece. Because it was difficult to fix the chicks feet through the perforations in the hat, Jacqueline stuck them on with Sellotape.

This was the final result.

As usual Ella found it difficult to wait for Ellie to wake up and join us. When at last she did Ellie’s bottom lip protruded above her top one, her arms tensed, and she began crying each time Ella turned away from her.

At last, after lunch, the Easter egg hunt commenced. Ella was fully aware of the process. Aided by Danni and Jacqueline, she enjoyed seeking the locations represented in the photographs Jackie had taken and Elizabeth printed; collected the treasures discovered for herself and Jack; and placed them in the two children’s separate baskets. Jack was less cognisant of the game, but he very much enjoyed running around the garden.

Andy arrived later to accompany Danni, Ella, and Jack home.

A few seconds after the little family’s arrival home Danni sent me this photograph she entitled “the sugar crash.”

As usual on such an occasion I needed no more nourishment this evening. Jackie, Flo, Dillon, and Ellie continued grazing.

A Close Look

This morning, I converted the following posts from Classic to Block edits:

A Fascinating Collage

Nearly There

Twelfth Impression

Not Lost After All

For those who are wondering, the reason I have to do this is that anyone now clicking on the Classic edit pictures, perhaps to enlarge them, will access a message claiming that there is Nothing There.

On a bright, sunny, yet cool afternoon shared with various flying insects, I took a close look at the flowers in the garden.

Each image, including cherry blossom, bees on euphorbia, a damselfly on a leaf, camellias, magnolia Vulcan, primulas, honesty, daffodils, tulips, muscari, epimedium, wallflowers, cowslips, spirea, Japanese maple, and weeping birch catkins, is labelled in the gallery.

One tree that we inherited from our predecessors has never before produced more than one blossom in the ten years we have been here. Today it has a fine display. We think it is a plum.

This evening we all dined on succulent roast gammon; crisp roast potatoes; piquant cauliflower cheese; crunchy carrots; tender cabbage and cauliflower leaves, with which I drank The Second Fleet Coonawarra Cabernet Merlot Petit Verdot 2021, Jackie abstained, and the young family all drank fruit juice.

Along Holmsley Passage

After purchasing final Easter provisions from Ferndene Farm Shop Jackie and I took a short forest drive.

The Postbox Cottage letter box on Wootton Road is now graced by an Easter Bunny yarn decoration.

Along Holmsley Passage Jackie parked the Modus and I stepped out

to photograph ponies, landscape,

and a family wheeling with their dog along the disused railway track.

This evening we all dined on meaty pork spare ribs in barbecue sauce, Jackie’s savoury rice, and green and runner beans, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Nero di Troija.

Preparing For Easter

I was lucky to have seen a fleeting sunrise over Christchurch Road this morning, for within seconds it had disappeared and apart from a brief glimpse later at Mudeford we were not to see its effects again.

Just a little later we drove to Milford on Sea where I collected dry cleaning from Whites, and on to Stewart’s Garden Centre outside Christchurch where Jackie bought Easter treats suitable for Jack’s dietary requirements for the forthcoming egg hunt.

Knitted and crocheted letter boxes were in evidence at Stanpit, where two women and children stopped to admire them as I boarded the car;

and at Mudeford, where I enjoyed an enthusiastic conversation with Alison and her friend whose name I didn’t catch. I last photographed this box on 9th September 2021, when I detailed its history, and when its metal collection dates notice had been in situ. We speculated as to why this should have been removed just a few days ago.

Crabbing was underway on the Mudeford quayside, and buoys bobbed on the sparkling choppy Solent.

Later this morning Ben Renouf visited to look at various electric lighting improvements that we need. He will prepare a quotation.

The children attending the Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday are too young to read clues, so they will be presented in photographs. At lunchtime I e-mailed Jackie’s pictures to Elizabeth who will print them because I am having problems with mine. They will not be posted today because parents might cheat.

This afternoon I converted from Classic Edit to Blocks:

Loos Of London

Cleaning And Hanging

Identification Required

The third of these is now categorised as Garden

This evening we all dined on cheese centred fish cakes, Jackie’s savoury rice, and her piquant cauliflower cheese, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Nero di Troija.

Trees Toppled

It was all go at Old Post House this morning. At 7 a.m. Ian and a companion from CSG cleaning services pumped out our septic tank; between 9 and 10 Ronan of Tom Sutton Heating had another attempt to stir our last radiator on the system into life; at 9.30 Martin arrived for whole day’s shift in the garden.

Despite, or maybe because of the bright sunshine, finger-tingling-chill crisped the air.

More tulips are blooming.

Varieties of daffodil keep on coming. The up-market cat, perhaps Persian of some sort, from No. 5 Downton Lane remains persistent in dislodging the fence planks along the Back Drive intended to deter marauders. We hope it reduces rodent infiltrators.

Mahonia thrives on the more sunlit side of our rear entrance. Hellebores are ubiquitous.

Wandering along the paths I noticed several of Camellia’s pink carpets, and that the Weeping Birch will soon be in leaf.

Soon after we arrived here some of our small trees gave up the ghost and we shrouded them with climbing plants, such as clematis and roses.

Recent storms have finally toppled two of them.

Here, Martin concentrates on a prunus pissardii, first clearing it, then strengthening supports for the plants that had festooned it. The last picture in this gallery is “Where’s Martin? (4)”.

This evening we dined on another of Jackie’s wholesome cottage pie; crunchy carrots, and firm cauliflower and broccoli, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank Puglia Nero di Troia 2020.

Artificial Intelligence Has A Long Way To Go

This morning I converted the following Classic Edits to Blocks:

The Serpentine

The Chicks Have Hatched

The Carpet

The second, I recategorised as Books.

The third now contains in parentheses, “(This picture seemed to have been lost altogether, but I found it on Google’s page for the project – as I did the two Tesco club cards. So many sites bear my photographs that I might try this again – 3rd April 2023).” This was an amusing discovery. I tend to forget that my photographs turn up all over the internet. The Tesco club cards bear no relevance to the Sunrise Bushcraft education project which I was featuring, but they appeared on the same post. Artificial Intelligence has a long way to go.

This afternoon Elizabeth and Charles, her garden designer, came to collect some of our old patio paving stones for use in Burnt House Lane.

Later I read another of Balzac’s Droll Tales and published https://derrickjknight.com/2023/04/03/droll-tales-19/

This evening we dined on Jackie’s smooth and tasty cottage pie; crunchy carrots, and firm Brussels sprouts, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Fleurie.

Droll Tales 19

The story entitled by The Folio Society as “The Succuba”, and by the other two publishers under consideration as the more normal “The Succubus” Is the longest story in Balzac’s collection.

The tale explores the nature of this female demon believed to have had sexual intercourse with sleeping men – in this case the “sleeping with” is not today’s euphemism for not actually sleeping. The case against, in what is essentially a 13th century witch hunt and trial, following the determination of the equivalent of our Crown Prosecution Service that there is a case to answer. Evidence is amassed, and a conclusion reached after a veritable Inquisition. I will not detail this for fear of spoiling the story, but must warn that anyone reading too much of the text accompanying Doré’s illustrations may get the idea.

Although there is plenty of the author’s entertaining wordplay to keep us engaged, some repetitions, for example the lists of participants ( the reason I never finished Malory’s “Morte d’Arthur”) does bore a bit.

Here are the illustrations of Mervyn Peake in the Folio Society edition;

those of Gustave Doré published by The Bibliophilist Society;

and Jean de Bosschère from Covici Friede.

Running Round The Haystack

After lunch Jackie and I took a drive out to Pilley and back.

We took the route where we knew there was a sheep field, hoping there might be lambs, and were rewarded by the usual inquisitive sheep bringing their offspring up to the wire beside my usual vantage point.

Around the corner into Burnt House Lane the creatures were far enough away for them not to be interested in me, the youngsters being far more engaged in chasing each other around the haystack and playing king of the castle; the dams getting on with the business of renewing their strength by cropping the grass.