Category: Uncategorized

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.

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.

Had I had the courage to photograph the lion, I would have retained it in my iPhotos from which I deleted all the pictures in

During the rest of the day I finished reading ‘Anglo-Saxon England’ and scanned the pictures for my review which I have begun drafting.

This evening we repeated our baked gammon meal with fresh vegetables. Jackie began another bottle of the rosé and I drank more of the merlot.

This morning I busied myself with a backlog of domestic (e.g. ironing), and administrative tasks including filing, phone calls, and e-mails.

After lunch I deleted every photograph from my iPhotos of

and those of

This evening we delved into the freezer for the last helping of the chicken jalfrezi and rice for me, beef pie and vegetables for Jackie, who drank more of the rosé while I finished the Malbec.

Many of our paths and beds bear names that are historic because of changes we have made.

So it was with the Shady Path, originally named because the beds around it were so overgrown as to cover it in permanent shade.

Two days ago Jackie finished her work on clearing the path of weeds, especially pernicious minuscule onion bulbs. Readers may notice the section opposite the decking which had been infested.

Yesterday she cleared and removed resident ants which she found had shifted most of the soil from the roots of the plants in the urn covering the old well.

She lifted the plants, replaced the spoiled soil with fresh compost and settled the flowers back in.

Today she carried out the same process with another terracotta pot sans ants.

tells the story of the early transformation.

This afternoon I read more of ‘Anglo-Saxon England’.

Our dinner this evening consisted of pork shoulder steaks baked with mustard and Demerara sugar, topped with toasted almonds; Bramley apple sauce, boiled potatoes, carrots and broccoli. I drank more of the Cabernet Sauvignon.