July 2023 – Page 2 – derrickjknight

Access To The Bench

Yesterday’s gales prevented us from finishing work on the cannibalised arch destined for the Rose Garden.

This morning Jackie completed her repair work, and Becky helped her set it up enabling me, on my dead heading session, to work round the back of Alan Titchmarsh rose, and giving everyone access to the bench.

I have spent much of the last three afternoons, culminating in today, finishing reading Lawrence Durrell’s Novel “Constance” which I will review tomorrow.

This evening Becky, Ian, Flo, Dillon, Ellie, Jackie, and I dined at the

splendid, yet homely, Britannia Thai restaurant in Milford on Sea. Our great granddaughter was provided with a high chair.

Tasteful paintings and other decorations featured on the clean walls while gentle recorded songs played quietly in the background.

The staff were welcoming, friendly, and efficient, and the food without exception first class.

Starters enjoyed included Tom Yum soup, Thai fish cakes, chicken satay, and vegetable spring rolls;

main courses chosen, and receiving repeated exclamations of delight were tamarind duck on crispy noodles, chicken pad khing, weeping tiger, panang chicken curry, and pad priew wan. Egg fried and coconut rices were shared;

four of us were very pleased we had chosen stem ginger pudding with ice cream dessert, as was Dillon with his chocolate melt and Becky and Ellie with Kwaky containing chocolate ice cream.

Four of us drank Singha beer, J20 and diet coke for the others.

This was generally considered the best Thai restaurant ever experienced.

They Summed Up The Dismal Day

As the rain increased and the wind began building up to this evening’s expected return of the gales, we took the usual precautionary protective garden measures.

After lunch Jackie and I then embarked upon a damp forest drive

where we thought holidaymakers like soggy cyclists and drivers guided by headlights may have regretted their choice of dates, and

rows of damp donkeys huddled along hedgerows of Bull Hill seeking shelter where they could summed up the dismal day.

This evening we all dined on succulent roast pork with crispy crackling; crisp roast potatoes; sage and onion stuffing; crunchy carrots; firm cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli, with meaty gravy and apple sauce with which Jackie drank Zesty and I drank more of the Cabernet Sauvignon.

(I forgot to post this last night)

Bagging A Carpet

Jackie spent much of the day on watering, planting; and laying a thick carpet of clippings from climbing flora, mostly blue solanum, from the arch above the Brick Path beneath which It had become impossible for anyone much above Ellie’s height to pass without a risk of being garrotted.

It fell to me this afternoon to snip a few more stems from the foliage

and bag it all up for eventual removal to the dump.

This evening we all dined on Becky’s pork and apple casserole hammed up by the chef,

and creamy mashed potato bearing a soupçon of skin, which I photographed prematurely.

Jackie drank Zesty and I drank more of the Cabernet Sauvignon

He Vouched For Their Taste

James the carpenter fitted a new drainpipe and guttering on the west end gable wall this morning

while Martin finished clearing the Oval Bed,

in which could now be seen this clematis attracting a hoverfly.

Wasps and bees were also buzzing around,

and the ubiquitous verbena bonariensis provided numerous trapezes for fluttering butterflies such as Red Admirals

and Small Whites.

Dahlias and crocosmia Lucifer are enjoying their time;

lilies in the Rose Garden have survived their recently bent stems.

As the day’s temperature rose, Martin worked steadily clearing the rest of the Dragon Bed.

In the first of these two pictures he holds up one of the fruiting blackberry brambles, for the taste of which he happily vouched.

Ian returned in time to join us for tonight’s dinner which consisted of oven fish, chips, and peas with which he and Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank Louis de Camponac Cabernet Sauvignon 2022.

An Original Sunblock

On this warm, sultry, morning I raised a healthy sweat bagging up, in readiness for the next dump trip, Jackie’s clippings from the path beneath the fallen arch.

I noticed an early mushroom nodding to mossy rocks bordering Margery’s Bed.

This afternoon, on a forest drive, we encountered several groups of

ponies, one sporting an original sunblock, either beside the skip outside the former village shop which had been their customary hopeful resting place;

or on the move elsewhere.

In this sequence, when enlarged, you may notice the distant gentleman pushing a buggy in the second picture, who becomes obscured by the Modus and emerges alongside the equines on the road.

More foals were in evidence outside Little Croft Farm on Bull Hill.

This evening we all dined on herb and garlic roast chicken and potatoes; carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, fine beans, and broccoli tender stems; and meaty gravy, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Malbec.

Work On House And Garden

This morning Nick Hayter finished the final coat on the west gable end wall.

He cleared up his materials, washed his rollers and bagged up empty paint cans.

James the carpenter visited to discuss the next stages with him. This will include the fitting of a new drainpipe and the start on the east end gable.

Jackie, meanwhile, spent most of the day on removing the fallen arch, This involved cutting some plants free of the twisted metal structure before it could itself be moved to a temporary location at Fiveways.

The remaining section of the arch will be used to support the pale pink climber in the Rose Garden which currently blocks access to the bench in front of the shed.

While in that section she also photographed an apple and Autumn sculpture in front of a fuchsia of the Hawkshead variety;

then the view of the garden from the Cryptomeria Bed to the house.

This evening we all dined on further helpings of Jackie’s tasty pasta arrabbiata with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Malbec.

We Needed A New One

With the windspeed having reduced somewhat today, I ventured out in full sunshine to examine the damage.

Becky’s having laid flat the garden furniture; Jackie’s having taken down several hanging baskets and loosely tied back some plants, like

these towering lilies, bowed but unbroken, saved them from snapping.

Not so the arch spanning the path from the concrete patio to the Oval Bed.

A new one was clearly required, so the Head Gardener and I spent much of the afternoon touring garden centres seeking a rustproof replacement, and eventually found a wooden one at Otter, which is the nearest to home.

Without, Ian, who had returned to Southbourne this afternoon , the rest of us dined on Jackie’s tricolour penne pasta Bolognese, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Malbec.

Hale Purlieu And Godshill

Yesterday having been Bill’s 90th Birthday, Helen hosted open house today, so, carrying gifts, Jackie and I visited for a short time in the afternoon where we also met John, Stephanie, Billy, Max, and Rory; David and Jenny; and, briefly, Rachel. Helen provided plentiful snacks and a variety of beverages.

We retuned home through the forest via Hale, where cattle were in the

process of leaving the green and following walkers down the rocky sward of the hill.

Further on along the Purlieu ponies on the march rustled and thudded

in the woodland, or, with frisky foals, clopped along the tarmac flanked by mossy roots on raised banks and sculptural piles of similarly greened logs.

On the approach to Godshill we encountered another mare and foal. Note the wooden posts intended to deter drivers from parking on the verges.

We arrived home in time to see the last set of the Wimbledon Men’s tennis final between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokavic.

Then we all dined on Jackie’s lemon chicken and savoury rice with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank Passamano Frappato Syrah 2021.

Windburn

Today we enjoyed more sunshine and less rain than yesterday, but the wind raged at 55 m.p.h. I battled with this on a dead heading expedition and later photographed some windswept plants – I was at least as wobbly as the flowers.

Although Jackie had taken down the most vulnerable hanging baskets they were blowing in the wind,

as were many of the flowers, some of which will be obvious from a lack of focus or a missed framing – sometimes it would be me who wasn’t holding the camera steadily enough, such as with the first of

this group of phlox.

On the other hand these lilies of the same plant, one cluster higher than the other were pictured just a second apart.

More worrying are the leaves of the Weeping Birch, already prematurely aged by wind-burn from previous gales.

Comparatively sheltered are most of the day lilies

and some of the roses.

The decking and St John’s wort were largely protected.

This afternoon, Jackie and I watched the Wimbledon Ladies final between Marketa Vondrousova and Ons Jabeur.

This evening we all dined on Red Chilli Takeaway’s excellent fare, with which Jackie, Ian, Dillon and I drank Kingfisher.

Great Great Grandma’s Mug

Steady rain fell outside throughout the day.

Almost 50 years ago, when we lived in Soho, and Becky and Matthew spent weekends with us, we often shopped in Gerard Street in the heart of Chinatown. Perhaps I was putting this shoe on in July 1974, for one such a trip.

In June 2008, Becky took her daughter, Flo, on a tour of her old haunts, and sent me this photograph by e-mail.

Regular readers will know that my own mother, who lived until 15th September 2021, had adopted the practice of labelling items with the names, usually of those who had given them as presents, of those to whom she wished to bequeath them.

One which came to me was a Chinese mug and teapot set bought in Gerard street about the time Jessica produced the header picture. Not wishing for her to have to wait as long as I did, I gave this to Becky, who decided to keep it here for when she visits.

This morning my Mum’s great-great-granddaughter took a shine to her Gram-Gram’s mug.

Peering through racing windscreen wipers barely keeping pace with streams of precipitation coursing across the window, on a decidedly cold and wet midsummer afternoon, Jackie and I spied bubbles bouncing from tarmac streaked with reflected headlights as we set out on a forest drive.

Damp sheep huddled where they could beside the road at Bramshaw.

Moorland along Roger Penny Way was barely visible

Venturing across Deadman Hill for this view, ice tipped javelins pierced my skin; I could not see what I was pointing at; and I returned to the car soaked to the skin.

Moorland along the way was scarcely visible.

The first ponies we saw were disrupting the traffic at North Gorley.

Along Gorley Road donkeys dripped; reflecting headlights starred; raindrops bubbled and splashed.

This evening we all dined on Fire Pit beef burgers; fried onions; plentiful salad with Becky’s dressing, and various tasty sauces. Jackie drank Diet Coke and I finished the Merlot.