Category: Uncategorized

Reminders Of Storm Conall

The gently pastel-streaked dawn photographed by Jackie didn’t really live up to promise;

neither did the brief sunshine tipping the trees on Beckley Common road remain long enough to provide a hoped for visible sunset

when, on a forest drive, we splashed around lanes like Gorley Road making us feel grateful that we had not received the severe flooding experienced elsewhere in the UK.

Later, I read more of Elizabeth Goudge’s ‘Gentian Hill’, after which we dined on roast duck breasts, tender inside yet with crispy skins and Yorkshire pudding; boiled new potatoes; crunchy carrots; firm Brussels sprouts and cauliflower with its leaves simulating cabbage, and tasty gravy, accompanied, in my case, by South African Coastal Region Pinotage 2022.

Sunset At The Beach House

This is a photograph from https://derrickjknight.com/2016/01/20/the-beach-house/, showing the room in which we shared teas and coffee with Giles and Jean this afternoon until just before sunset. Our friends were on good form and we enjoyed pleasant conversation.

Jackie photographed the windows of this room from outside.

These are her views of the skies.

I wandered slightly further afield, taking in a dog walker, The Isle of Wight, The Needles, the lighthouse,

and reflecting patterns on neighbouring windows.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s wholesome Shepherd’s pie; boiled new potatoes; firm carrots and cauliflower (with its chopped leaves doubling as tender brassica); moist spinach, and tasty gravy, with which I finished the Fleurie.

A Leaky Butt, Garden And Loo Refuse

With Storm Conall raging all around the south coast, yet leaving us

unscathed we transported 12 bags of green garden refuse and a leaky water butt to Efford Recycling Centre this morning and returned with what Jackie termed a glorified toilet roll holder which fits neatly in the

downstairs loo and keeps a good supply in there. This is her photo.

Martin had to negotiate a severe flood stretching some distance from Ringwood to Bransgore, no more than five miles from us.

In the dark later afternoon with a lamp strapped to his head the excellent Greg Mouland visited and cleared a drain blockage. I had only sent him an e-mail yesterday and he squeezed us in after all the rest of his work.

As Jackie said, “we got rid of an awful lot of shit today”.

This evening we dined on roast chicken; boiled new potatoes; crunchy carrots; firm pure white cauliflower with its chopped leaves; tender spinach and green beans; and tasty Brussels sprouts, with which I drank more of the Fleurie.

Autumn Has Arrived

Today’s culling involved a few pictures from April 1969 – not these of Elizabeth feeding Matthew.

This afternoon we took forest drive.

Autumn leaves still clung to the trees along Holmsley Passage, where a few holly berries hung and trees were reflected in the rippling stream bubbling under the ford.

On Bisterne Close a mere handful of ponies, one wearing a bracken mask, wandered among the woodland

which Jackie photographed, including me.

Just before a somewhat cloud-obscured sunset I photographed a tree against the darkening sky.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s wholesome shepherd’s pie, firm flavoursome carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts with which I drank more of the Fleurie that involved opening another bottle.

Recovering

Today at intervals between dozing and coping with the side effects of yesterday’s BCG vaccine installation I came close to finishing my reading of Elizabeth Goudge’s ‘The Heart of the Family’ until we enjoyed another of Jackie’s wholesome chicken stewp with fresh crusty rolls.

Hampered Concentration

21st November 2024

After Jackie had de-iced the windscreen, swathed in our warmest garments early this morning we drove into a curtain of ceaseless swirling snow and sleet all the way to Southampton General Hospital for the last of my current spell of BCG vaccine installation, only to be told once we had walked through steady precipitation to the main entrance and up to the Urology Department that I had no appointment today.

I needed to be at my firm persistent best, barely concealing my frustrated anger, to persuade the rather abrupt receptionist to check with the nurses. My appointment, despite my having been sent two reminders for it, was not on the system. Eventually, Fiona, who had been attending to another patient, came out. She of course knew I should have had one and confirmed that, although it wasn’t on their spreadsheet, she would fit me in as soon as she has seen two more people. She did and was most apologetic, as was Anna, who joined in at the end of the smoothly undertaken procedure.

The next step is for the camera to check whether all is well. This will be undertaken probably in the first week of January. I will be sent a date for that. Hopefully.

Our return journey was uneventful, except that the precipitation had turned to slush and snowballs slid from the trees overhead, slapping the windscreen. We regretted not having a camera on board as we observed that we had never seen trees bearing festive flakes and autumn splendour simultaneously.

As my concentration is more than somewhat hampered by the usual urgent after effects of this procedure, I prepared this clutch of culling a couple of days ago:

This picture of Michael & Piper from June 1977 appears in each of https://derrickjknight.com/2012/06/22/geoff-austins-shoes/ and https://derrickjknight.com/2012/06/30/piper/

These images are survivors from https://derrickjknight.com/2012/10/16/cricket-in-the-street/

These pages are survivors from https://derrickjknight.com/2014/11/27/teenage-creativity/but since I still have the originals, perhaps they should be deleted.

These pictures were a surprise from https://derrickjknight.com/2014/02/11/sneaky-little-becky/

and these from August 1964 featured in https://derrickjknight.com/2014/01/22/a-link/

So hampered was my concentration that I didn’t actually post this after we enjoyed Jackie’s wholesome chicken stewp and fresh bread

Dump Trip And Forest Drive

This morning we transported eight bags of garden refuse, a rusted sack barrow, and two lidless dustbins surplus to our requirements, to Efford Recycling Centre.

The blue-sky-bright sunshine belied the acute chill in the air as we took a forest drive towards the end of the afternoon.

The postbox outside the eponymously named cottage on Wootton Road sports an Armistice memorial.

Autumn colour lingers along Holmsley Passage where the stream ripples across the larger ford;

along the Bisterne Close woodland fallen leaves and mossy trunks were lit by late shafts of sunlight,

and a bay pony cropped and chewed holly leaves impervious to prickles in her leather-lined jaws.

We were just in time for sunset at Barton on Sea’s Marine Drive East,

where cloud colour was muted when looking east.

This evening we dined on breaded scampi, chips, onion rings, and peas.

Today’s Culling Involving Doctor Who

This is the survivor from https://derrickjknight.com/2013/11/15/a-chance-meeting/

and two from https://derrickjknight.com/2013/11/18/a-medicinal-infusion/

These are from https://derrickjknight.com/2013/11/19/goose-fat/

Oh, and there was this, too,

and this from https://derrickjknight.com/2013/11/20/doctor-who/

I spent much of the afternoon reading more of Elizabeth Goudge’s ‘The Heart of the Family’.

This evening we dined on well cooked pork belly chops perked up with Batt’s BBQ peppery seasoning; boiled new potatoes; flavoursome Brussels sprouts; crunchy carrots; tender runner beans and cabbage, with which I finished the Malbec.

Like Mother Like Daughter

Whilst enjoying a break in the rain of a steadily wet day, we transported 16 bags of garden clippings and a broken metal shelf to Efford Recycling Centre early this morning.

When I printed the picture of Jackie drawn by Flo many years ago which appeared on https://derrickjknight.com/2024/11/11/a-phenomenal-drawing/ I did so on some of my late brother Chris’s paper which Frances gave me after he died ten years ago. It was the only one I possessed of the requisite size, 6″ x 4”. Perhaps it was too old because it rapidly discoloured. Jackie bought me some fresh stock and

I printed a new one today. Becky has confirmed that, because of where they were living at the time, she can be certain that our granddaughter was between 4 years 8 months and 5 years 8 months when she made the drawing. She would have been able to write the title herself before she attended school.

This portrait greeted Jackie when she returned from the bar after purchasing the noodles. Flo regarded looking at a model as cheating.

The picture may be worth comparing with Becky’s own

‘Troll in a Storm’ painted when she herself was 6. As far as I remember there is a good drawing of a fish on the back. Like Mother like Daughter.

After drafting this, I continued with Elizabeth Goudge.

This evening we enjoyed another chicken jalfrezi and savoury rice meal with the addition of a plain paratha. The Culinary Queen insists on freezing the rest of the huge potful, so it won’t be repeated tomorrow. I drank more of the Malbec.

Culling And Chicken Jalfrezi

On another post-BCG vaccine procedure rest day I carried out more iMac photos culling.

Here are three survivors from https://derrickjknight.com/2012/08/02/reminiscing-with-don/

These from a trip to https://derrickjknight.com/2013/11/10/kelsey-park taken in October 1967.

and these from https://derrickjknight.com/2013/11/12/you-know-what-youve-got/

and from the following day: https://derrickjknight.com/2013/11/13/panettone-and-jam-pudding/

This evening we dined on Jackie’s authentic chicken jalfrezi and savoury rice. Pictures can go some way to showing the red-brown sauce with a turmeric-yellow base, but cannot convey the delicious aromas carried into the kitchen by this wonderful meal, with which I finished the merlot.