derrickjknight

Shifting As The Sun

I have retained no photographs in my iPhotos culling from this post:

A couple of days ago Jackie assembled and lost a hook on a pole and has not been able to locate it since. I set about trying to find it this morning. Before I discovered it I found lots of sticky willy, a weed which climbs erect on any available surface, and needs to be pulled down before its white flowers emerge.

Jackie photographed my findings.

I photographed a few random flowers before said Hook,

without the aid of a ticking clock, was tracked down. The Head Gardener then remembered that it was intended to hold a lantern which she now added.

As the day progressed, while I continued with ‘Early Medieval English’, Jackie proceeded, as the spirit and the need for shifting shade moved her, with different sections of the garden.

The gravel path is around the Oval Bed, and the brick in the Rose Garden, which also needs watering.

Also in the Rose Garden she has cleared of ants and replanted the stone urns.

I keep her plied with Diet Coke. Here she worked on the Iron Urn Bed.

By mid afternoon the whiskers on these poppy buds stubbled up.

Sometimes colour combinations are deliberate, as in these astrantias and the red Japanese maple; since this plum tree has never produced fruit before it remains to be seen whether they will blend serendipitously with the clematis and the allium.

This evening we dined on Ferndene pork and garlic sausages; mashed potato and carrot; moist ratatouille; flavoursome mushrooms; and firm cauliflower, with which we repeated our respective beverages of yesterday.

Forest Foals

I made a good start on reducing my iPhotos collection by

removing all but one of those appearing in

But…..then we took a forest drive,

which means I added more. In this first gallery ponies shared the East End moorland with cattle, crows, and flies.

It is definitely the season for foals. This one didn’t like the look of me, hauled himself to his feet, and strode off for mother’s comfort.

Later, he could leave her to graze unmolested.

Another was not ready for striding; indeed it was so new it toppled over.

It should be apparent how close this little family was to the traffic passing through East Boldre. Moments after I took the last shot, a white van sped past, narrowly missing the youngster, forcing it to career into the post which somehow it managed to avoid and escaped unscathed.

Afterwards we brunched at Redcliffe Nurseries.

This evening we enjoyed second helpings of last night’s Chinese takeaway meal with which Jackie started on another bottle of the rosé while I finished the Malbec.

Loos Of London And English History

This morning’s effort at reducing the number of pictures in my iPhotos collection involved the removal of all those featuring in

and of those in

Thus I reduced the number to a reasonable extent.

I spent the rest of the day making considerable progress on reading ‘Early Medieval English’.

This evening we dined on Chinese Takeaway from Happy Wok in Ashley, with which Jackie drank more of the rosé and I drank more of the Malbec.

Keeping Balance

This morning’s iPhotos culling involved all but one of those featured in

and every one from

I retained just one from

I am thus keeping a somewhat better balance between deleting and increasing numbers of my iPhotos pictures.

Speaking of which, I have never until now understood why medics assessing the condition of elderly people sometimes ask whether they have recently fallen without an apparent reason.

The above post, containing the image from it, I have begun to understand, contains the answer, explaining why I can no longer lift my right arm above my head and the shoulder is always painful. You see my physical balance is rather rickety which is why the Nordic walking poles is helping.

I could not fathom why I had fallen, but I must simply have lost my equilibrium.

Now I am an expert furniture walker and when plodding around the garden constantly reach for the nearest branch or stem that doesn’t contain rose thorns. I also avoid steps like those leading up from the patio to the Dead End Path.

This morning Jackie visited Otter Nurseries where she bought two wooden stakes which she planted

above the step. I now have poles to grab which, unlike the metal posts beside them, are not supporting rose tree stems.

This evening we dined on soft centred haddock fish cakes, succulent ratatouille, boiled potatoes, cauliflower with its leaves chopped as brassica, carrots and spinach, with which Jackie drank more of the rosé and I drank Valle de Uco Malbec 2023.

The Heligan Path Revealed

This is a photograph of the Heligan Path from April 1st 2014 when the now deceased Weeping Birch towered above Jackie as she gathered daffodils from the eponymous Bed. The image appears in

The Before And After post above documents the work from May 21st 2014 to October 20th 2015 taken to reveal the path, which she

cleared once more of weeds over these last three days.

This afternoon I passed the halfway point of reading ‘Early Medieval England’.

We joined Elizabeth and Jacqueline for dinner this evening at Rokali’s, where I enjoyed lamb vindaloo; Jackie and Elizabeth chose chicken sag; Jacqueline’s pick was lamb korai; we shared bindi and cauliflower bhajis, various rices, and a plain paratha. Jackie and I drank Kingfisher while my sisters each drank sparkling water. Cooking and service were as excellent as ever.

Paths And Plants

This morning’s iPhotos culling involved all but one image featured in

and all from

While catering with beverages for those working on the garden I photographed a few plants, each of which bears its title in the gallery.

In addition to everything else that they achieved, Martin refurbished a footpath in the Rose Garden

while Jackie continued clearing the Heligan Path.

This evening we enjoyed more of yesterday’s fuseli Bolognese meal with the addition of tender broccoli stems and the same wines.

In The Rose Garden

This morning we transported another full car load to Efford Recycling Centre and came home empty handed.

Later this afternoon I inspected the Rose Garden. Each of these images, roses or not, bears an image in the gallery.

Next I tried a little culling of my iPhotos, including all but two of those featuring in

and all but one of those in

This evening as we sat on the patio enjoying pre-dinner drinks to the lilt of sweet birdsong, tinkling wind chimes and trickling water, a whirring overhead revealed itself to be a drone. This was very brief, but I may have to investigate and raise an objection at the intrusion.

Our dinner consisted of fuseli Bolognese and green beans with which Jackie drank Zesty and I drank Reserva Privada Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon 2023.

The Mate-Seeking Season

I deleted from my iPhotos 6 photographs featured in

all those found in

and in

I kept ahead of the game by posting less images today.

This morning Jackie finally completed her clearance of the Brick Path. The picture from above takes us from the brick circle the the midway bend. The second takes us back to the bend. One of the hazards with which she has grappled has been weeds, some with thick, deep, roots, along the adjacent beds needing removal before they spread over the path. Another, particularly along this route, has been the burrowing of a mole churning up soil and rocks. During his mate-seeking season, recently ended, she has had to cope with regular heaps above trenches dug beneath.

Here is one such heap flattened out beside the path with its pebbles sieved and transferred to the gravel covering the concrete patio.

I read more of ‘Early Medieval England) this afternoon.

For dinner this evening we enjoyed roast chicken thighs and duck breasts; mashed sweet and white potatoes with carrots; Brussels sprouts, and spinach, with which Jackie drank more of the Zesty and I finished the merlot.

Defeating The Object

As I have now passed 60,00 pictures in my iPhotos I thought I must really press on with my culling.

There are no more from

nor any from

Yes, We Do Have Toys

I kept just the obvious one from

Another Lost Opportunity

Later, I defeated the object by guiding my camera around the garden.

Each of these images bears its location in the gallery.

In between times I made a good start on reading ‘Early Medieval England’ by M.T. Clanchy.

This evening we dined once again on Jackie’s wholesome chicken and vegetable stewp with fresh crusty tiger rolls. The Culinary Queen drank Zesty and I drank more of the merlot.

A Little Lost Lion

Today Jackie continued work on clearing weeds and pernicious little onions from the far end of the Brick Path. As will be seen she also has to stab at the currently rock hard soil at the edge of the beds in order to heave out the strays. This involves crumbling the not exactly friable clods in her fingers. One of these was particularly stubborn. When she eventually pulled away its embedded roots she found it was a dull but bejewelled model lion no more than two inches long bearing a hook for hanging. The wine bottle beside it is included for scale.

Naturally she cleaned it up and left it to dry, and for me to photograph.

It is difficult to isolate the two black eyes and the little red nose. There are a number of such creations on the web suggesting they may be watch fobs. None have the solid quality of this little gem.

In the rest of the garden clusters of roses are now blooming,

with many buds set to open;

aquilegias have proliferated;

the Chilean lanterns are now rounding out on their tree; the gladioli Byzantium have transferred well into the Rose Garden from the patio, and another rhododendron is showing its colours.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s chicken and vegetable stewp and fresh crusty bread, with which she drank more of the rosé and I drank Kooliburra Barossa Valley Limited Edition Merlot 2023.