Picking Up The Autobiography

Yesterday evening, through the window beside my desk, Jackie photographed glistening pearls strung out by a furry spider.

For reasons which will become particularly apparent from my post “The Foam Rubber Mattress”, patient readers who may have notice an hiatus in the drafting of my autobiography, may be pleased to know that I picked it up again this afternoon. Hoping to have lifted my block I have taken material from that post and from “Chocolate Surprise Pudding”

Jackie carried out more planting, ably hindered by Nugget.

This afternoon we experienced more showers than sunshine as we drove to The Wheel Inn to book a table for lunch to celebrate Mum’s 97th birthday tomorrow.

The rain really set in as we continued into the forest, but desisted just as we had decided to return home. We stayed on at Brockenhurst where

pair of donkeys trotted alongside the school buses transporting youngsters home from Brockenhurst College

and idled past our windscreen.

Ponies

and cattle happily grazed among huge oaks just outside the village.

Pied wagtails are to ponies as robins are to gardeners. We watched one nipping around nearby hooves and muzzles.

Back at home, Jackie took her camera into the garden.

She is particularly pleased with this clematis, shrivelled and wizened when we arrived here five years ago.

 

Another great survivor is the Phoenix grass we tried to kill, now rising triumphantly from Elizabeth’s Bed.

The Dragon Bed, seen from the Gazebo, was a jungle five years ago.

Sculptural grasses come into their own at this time of the year. These are in the Palm Bed.

The helianthuses Lemon Queen sit before a curtain of Virginia creeper.

She cannot remember the name of this gorgeous fuchsia.

Other favourites are osteospermum;

the waving verbena bonariensis

and the peripatetic cosmoses mingling with them.

This evening we dined on roast chicken with sage and onion stuffing; roast potatoes, including sweet ones; crisp Yorkshire pudding; crunchy carrots and cauliflower with which I drank Patrick Chodot Fleurie 2018.

84 comments

  3. ‘Jackie carried out more planting, ably hindered by Nugget.’ 😀 And I’m glad you didn’t succeed with killing off the Phoenix grass – that would have been a bit of an oxymoron……. and the loss of a particularly elegant specimen. Love the pearly spider web. Very glad to hear you are back at work writing, I’m coming back later to follow those links to posts I don’t recall or maybe have never seen. xo

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  6. I always laugh at your humorous asides about Nugget. The garden is looking especially fetching! I can’t even imagine how much work it is to keep it so — my regards to the head (and hard-working) gardener!

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  11. OH! Happy Birthday to your beautiful, sweet Mum! Next time you see her, give her a hug from me! 🙂 🎂 🎁 🎉 <3
    That spider has a sparkly home! And the garden photos are lovely! The lemon-queens are aptly named! Also love the fuchsia and the osteospermum! Wonderful photos, Jackie! 🙂
    Oh, the donkeys, horses, and cattle! Their portraits are wonderful! 🙂
    Ha! 😀 on the comparison…I guess birds-of-all-feathers can be a bit pesty in their trying to be helpful! 😉 😛
    HUGS!!!
    And TWEETS to Nugget!

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  14. The damndest thing about autobiographies is that the longer you take in writing them, the more there is to tell…
    Very glad to hear that you’re back at it.

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  16. It sounds, from this post, that it has taken only five years to bring your amazing garden up to its current standard…what a feat! It is Fall, but surprisingly, your garden shows no sign of withering.

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  18. Happy birthday to your mom! Gorgeous pictures as always! That clematis really looks pretty! I love the colour of that osteospermum! Cute Nugget as always 🙂

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  21. Wish the very best to your Mum on her 97th Birthday tomorrow! It’s good to learn you have resumed work on your autobiography. Those are great shots, as usual.

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  25. Excellent equine and bovine shots sir – i really love the ‘blonde’ pony. 🙂
    Jackie’s work with her Canon are most noteworthy, but i did not realise cosmos were so philosphical? 😉

    Best wishes to your Mum and hope you all enjoy the celebrations. 🥳

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  30. The photographs are lovely Derrick, and I love the close up of Nugget. Hope you all have a lovely birthday lunch tomorrow. What a grand old age she will be!

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  33. Oh my! Your photography just keeps getting better and better. I love the horses and the flowers – and that sweet photo of Nugget. What a delight!! Thank you for sharing, Derrick.

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  34. Thank you for the links to the older posts, Derrick; they have filled in a few gaps!
    I think the photos of the ponies’ faces are absolutely gorgeous!

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  36. Your garden is a wonderland of visual delights Derrick, both you and your wife are to be commended on your efforts and enthusiasm in sharing the fruits of your enviable hobby, your pictures are a pleasure to see.

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