On a digit-tingling icy cold morning, where the surface of every water container reflected bright sunshine
I took a brief walk around the garden where the seed heads of cordyline Australis accompanied new buds of rhododendrons;
resilient ornamental grasses vied with spent hydrangeas;
columns of shadows including those of a stout rose stem on the orange shed door and a string of small watering cans against the kitchen wall decorated flat areas.
Lichen lingered on sculptures of Summer and Autumn somewhat out of season.
This evening we all dined on spicy piri-piri chicken and Jackie’s savoury rice with which she finished the sauvignon blanc and I finished the cabernet carménère.
In bright, warm, sunshine this morning Martin cleared more of last year’s dead garden material.
Here he works around the patio and Dead End Path;
The Pond Bed is now ready for new growth,
such as the tree peony in the Palm Bed, to emerge.
Daffodils, for example the tête-à-têtes, are really proliferating.
Summer and Autumn seasonal statues continue to gather lichen,
while Florence casts her shadow across the Shady Path.
Hellebores are beginning to hold up their heads; berberis, sometimes somewhat nibbled lingers on; and a hyacinth which began life in a gift pot returns year after year.
This afternoon, I facilitated enlargement and provided header pictures for the following posts:
Essentially what I am doing with these Classic Edits is converting them to Blocks.
Elizabeth visited this afternoon toting a large bag of very good clothes for Ellie which had once served Ella or Jack. She stayed for cups of tea and conversation including swapping recommendations of TV programmes.
Later the rest of us dined on flavoursome pork bangers and creamy mash with tender cabbage, crunchy carrots, fried onions, and meaty gravy. Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Shiraz.
On another soporific, gloomy, mid-afternoon I ventured into the garden in search of something interesting.
First I needed to negotiate the accumulated rubbish bags outside the stable door. There will be more by the time the bin-men collect them tomorrow.
Our temperature has warmed enough to set the Waterboy fountain flowing freely.
Jackie’s weatherworn wooden mushrooms have been uprooted.
Our garden statuary such as Autumn and Florence continue to gather lichen.
A few stubborn leaves cling to the almost stripped copper beach.
Just a minute. What loiters there behind the bushes?
Ah. Becky had said to Ellie: “Let’s lurk and be something interesting for Grandpa”.
Then the rain set in.
This evening Jackie kept a warm turkey and vegetable stewp on the hob and we all helped ourselves in our own time to portions of this wholesome repast accompanied by fresh crusty bread and butter with which we scurried away to our chosen nests for tasty consumption.
On a dull and frosty morning Jackie photographed some aspects of the garden.
A perky dragon was garlanded in frosted ivy; the ‘Autumn’ sculpture vied with winter;
euphorbia, cordyline Australis, and rose leaves bore fringes of frost and lingering water drops;
some potted pansies were rather limp, while iris reticulata and tulips broke the soil in defiance.
By the time we drove over to Pilley to present Elizabeth (in our bubble) with a tub of Jackie’s substantial chicken and vegetable stoup, the skies had brightened.
In the woodland alongside Undershore a soft toy had successfully scaled the wall that is the undercarriage of a fallen tree.
The decorated postbox in Pilley Street now bears the year date 2021;
the icy old quarry lake bears branches and reflections.
At Walhampton I photographed a pheasant on the verge and Jackie focussed on a silhouetted wood pigeon;
on Monument Lane while I caught the lowering sun behind trees Jackie picked out its tipping the monument railings.
Finally the Assistant Photographer caught me
focussed on the dying sunset and twilight haze shrouding the Isle of Wight and The Needles at Milford on Sea.
This evening we dined on succulent fillet steaks; crisp oven chips; moist mushrooms; nicely charred onions; cherry vine tomatoes; and a colourful melange of peas and sweetcorn, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank Patrick Chodot Fleurie 2019.
