Tag: Charles Keeping

“Brother Jack Can’t Hold His Head Up Yet”

This morning I scanned the next six of Charle Keeping’s illustrations to ‘Dombey and Son’ – each one an example of the artist’s mastery of of mood in portraiture.

‘Mr Dombey, leading Mrs Dombey by the hand’

‘A stoical gentleman in a shaggy white greatcoat’

‘She sat down upon a heap of stones’

‘ ‘Let go, mother; let go’ ‘

‘She could not have taken a bird more tenderly and gently to her breast’ occupies a double page spread.

‘There was a throng in the state-rooms up-stairs’

Joined by G-Ma Elizabeth, Danni and Ella brought new baby Jack for lunch.

Our great-niece wanted to go straight into the library where her hamper of toys are kept. She was confused and delighted to find that they had already been brought into the sitting room ready for her

to unpack them all and tell Jackie all about them.

While feeding Jack on the sofa, Danni demonstrated multi-tasking by carrying on a conversation with her daughter who informed us that brother Jack couldn’t hold his head up yet.

Elizabeth took a turn at doing it for him;

while Danni moved closer to Ella who has not lost her pointing technique.

Jackie produced her usual lunch melange of cold meats, salads, and fresh crusty bread. Ella saw nothing awry with eating Tunnock’s teacakes and sausage rolls with alternating bites.

Jack, of course, had to flop this one out, which he did on his G-Ma’s lap.

We had given Jack a pack of nappies and a Boot’s voucher; Ella’s present was a set of Play-Doh which she put to use with Elizabeth.

A final feed, a comparison of noses, and one more story completed a very enjoyable afternoon.

Later, Danni sent me a photograph of Jack, sporting his penguin outfit, suggesting he might be suitable for Christmas dinner.

Speaking of dinner, tonight Jackie and I finished her wholesome winter stewp with fresh crusty bread and butter. She drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Malbec.

Fitting Perfectly

Connor and Josh completed their work on our floor this afternoon.

The last stages had them working on different locations alongside each other, and finally together as the work was completed in the vestibule.

Connor’s fitting of the tiles round the WC bowl and macerator; and his joins at the corner of the doors fit perfectly, and the link between the hall and vestibule is a seamless operation.

After spending some time putting things back together again, I scanned the next three of Charles Keeping’s exemplary illustrations to ‘Dombey and Son’,

‘There was a labyrinth of scaffolding raised all round the house’

‘The afflicted foreigner remained clasping Miss Tox to his heart’

‘Mrs Skewton smirked at her cadaverous self in the glass’

This evening we dined on second helpings of Jackie’s wholesome, well-filled beef and onion pie with accompanying vegetables, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank Patrick Chodot Fleurie 2019.

Really Faster Broadband

A Kelly telephone engineer visited at 7.50 a.m. this morning to install the new faster Broadband. Max of Peacock Computers had not been told, and, of course, wasn’t likely to be available at that time. I was forced to dash upstairs in my dressing gown and don some clothes.

The plan had been that Max would meet the engineer at the house with the new router with which to set up our service. Peacock’s man phoned the supplier at lunchtime when he learned what had happened. Less than an hour later he arrived with the router and worked his magic.

First he activated the Broadband and checked that all was well.

Then he synchronised the TV and the laptops.

In the meantime, Jackie cleared more of the wisteria and

trimmed Paul’s Scarlet rose.

I had moved the patio chairs to their winter quarters between our house and the fence shared with North Breeze.

All today’s photographs uploaded like a dream.

This gave me the confidence to scan another five of Charles Keeping’s inimitable illustrations to ‘Dombey and Son’.

The passive desolation of disuse was everywhere silently manifest’

‘Florence wept long and bitterly’

‘The shutters were not yet taken down’

‘The major wafted a kiss to Cleopatra’

‘An old, worn, yellow, nodding woman, huddled up, like a slovenly bundle’

Although these pages uploaded swiftly and smoothly, I struggled to entitle the images. I am assuming that that remains a WordPress glitch.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s very savoury rice topped with a fluffy omelette; and two preparations of prawns, namely hot and spicy and tempura. The Culinary Queen drank more of the Chardonnay while I drank more of the Douro.

The Artist’s Own Embellishment

Between struggles with blogging posts today was spent on sorting cupboards; shredding and recycling documentation going back fifteen years; and making administrative phone calls. Unfortunately my shredder takes a rest every ten minutes or so.

There were no illustrations to https://derrickjknight.com/2021/11/13/a-knights-tale-63-a-course-and-a-change-of-position/ so I was able to post that late this morning.

I spent a considerable amount of time wrestling with transferring five scanned pages from Dombey and Son. In the event I gave up on the last one, to which I will return on another day. I don’t want to omit any of Charles Keeping’s superb illustrations.

‘They were all three put aboard the Son and Heir’

‘Mr Tootle, professionally clothed’

‘The little cavalcade drew near’

In ‘Mr Carker broke into a trot’ the dogs are the artist’s own embellishment.

This evening we dined on second helpings of yesterday’s Red Chilli takeaway meal with the same accompanying beverages.

Keeping, Garden, Peacock, Wardrobe

This is the progress Richard and Ross had made on the bedroom wardrobe before they finished last night. I had been unable to add it to yesterday’s post, but did so this morning.

Later I scanned six more of Charles Keeping’s illustrations to ‘Dombey and Son’.

‘Mr Carker the manager’ will be instantly recognisable when he next appears.

‘Florence came and sat by his side’ and

‘Sister and brother wound their arms around each other’ give Mr Keeping opportunities to use flowing folds to indicate their closeness.

‘A vista to the railway world beyond’ demonstrates Keeping’s skill with perspective.

‘Mr Carker, showing all his teeth’

‘Florence smoothed his coarse back with her little delicate hand’

This was interrupted by a session with Max of Peacock Computers in which he remotely controlled my iMac in order to rectify a problem with my BT ID and password being rejected. This is apparently not an unusual situation resulting in lack of access to e-mails.

I then plucked up courage to wander round the garden which has received scarcely any tidying up since the recent storms which brought down the wisteria arbour. I was pleasantly surprised at how well she was looking.

These are a random selection of photographs of how I found it. Each is labelled in the gallery.

The Kitchen Makers gents had reached this stage of the wardrobe assembly before we left them this afternoon to drive to Elizabeth’s home at Pilley to complete further administration relating to Mum’s estate.

By the end of the day the wardrobe was almost finished. The more accurate colours feature in the penultimate gallery.

This evening we dined on smoked haddock; creamy mashed potatoes; tangy cauliflower cheese; firm carrots and broccoli; tender spinach and green beens, with which we both drank Jurancon white wine 2019.

A Spot Of Pedicure

Jackie drove us to Ferndene Farm shop where she bought eggs, a leg of lamb, and vegetables while I photographed some of the produce displayed outside, including

pumpkins, cut flowers, cyclamen and pansies.

A pair of roofers worked across the road.

On this warm, damp, and largely overcast day the sun briefly signalled its presence when I stopped to commune with ponies outside Burley.

One grey indulged in a spot of pedicure.

A number of walkers enlivened the landscape.

I had no problem uploading pictures today, which is probably just as well since obtaining two multiple page forms concerning Mum’s probate was a different story.

As I eventually said when I got to speak to someone in the probate service, because I am an old man who didn’t grow up with computers I want to do as much as possible as an executor without going on line. Having previous experience in the case of my friend Wolf I knew that I needed Probate Application and Tax forms. www.gov.uk gives information about obtaining and completing these on line, but not about receiving them by post.

I therefore tried the telephone. After three differently accented machine voices led me through three different option numbers to press I eventually joined the muzak queue – for a good half hour. The man who eventually answered me and I enjoyed an amusing conversation when I explained that I wanted paper forms sent to me. Normally he could have done this, but not now. Why?

Because they are out of print. I can, of course, download them and print them myself.

I hoped to calm myself by reading a little more of ‘Dombey and Son’ and scanning the next four of Charles Keeping’s excellent illustrations.

‘Then came rows of houses’ displays one of the artist’s excellent street scenes, this time with chickens; and with the foreground portrait offering perspective.

‘Captain Cuttle advanced to the table’, and the next two drawings show more of Keeping’s excellent portraits.

‘The doctor was sitting in his portentous study’ is one;

‘Paul’s chair was next to Miss Blimber’ contains two.

The errors during uploading returned with a vengeance in these. I had so many attempts at the first that I couldn’t see straight. The process took a very long time, and I was then unable to edit them in the gallery. That will also have to be tackled mañana.

This evening we dined on tasty baked gammon; succulent ratatouille; firm roast potatoes, some of which were sweet; crunchy carrots; tender green beans; and piquant cauliflower cheese, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank Montepulciano D’Abruzzo 2018.

On Bréhec Beach

Last night I began reading

and scanned, in addition to this Title Page and Frontispiece, three more of Charles Keeping’s wonderful illustrations.

‘My very particular friend Miss Tox’ has been depicted by the artist faithful to the author to the very last line.

‘Miss Tox soon returned with the party under convoy’ is again portrayed precisely as the author described.

‘The sun came with the water-carts…. and the people with the geraniums’

This was the one volume of my Folio Society that I thought I had lost, lent to a forgotten person who did not return it. Becky, however, gave me an identical copy she had tracked down for my last birthday.

I received an e-mail request from Sam for an electronic image of

himself of a colour slide I produced on Bréhec beach in Normandy in September 1982. I sent it to him. He is happy for it to appear on this blog. My father had framed an A3+ print for me, and Becky, knowing that her brother was to go on and row the Atlantic 20 years later, captioned it “One Day……”

This afternoon I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2021/10/15/a-knights-tale-51-working-with-families/

Later we took a forest drive out to Bramshaw where

the proximity of a pair of ponies caught my eye.

A helicopter chugged over Penn Common upon which

sheep. ponies, and crows shared the pasturage.

On our return ponies possessed the verges leading back to Bramshaw. The recently clipped tail of the adult suggested that a recent drift had taken place.

Elizabeth popped in for a cup of tea and to check that I had recovered from yesterday.

Afterwards Jackie and I enjoyed our second helpings of Wednesday’s Red Chilli takeaway. My wife drank Hoegaarden and I drank 1000 Stories Bourbon Barrel-Aged Zinfandel 2018, given by Jessie.

Woodland And Moorland

This morning I finished reading ‘Our Mutual Friend’ by Charles Dickens, and scanned the last three of Charles Keeping’s superb illustrations to my Folio Society edition of 1982.

‘Riderhood went over backward, Bradley Headstone upon him’

‘They both laughed, till they were tired’

‘A canopy of wet blanket seems to descend upon the company’

Christopher Hibbert’s introduction is useful and insightful.

I have to say that I found this novel at times quite heavy going. Hibbert opines that the author found the work difficult to write.

Dickens deals with the contrast between the false lives of the nouveau riche and the hardship and poverty of those living from hand to mouth. It is perhaps his distaste for the former group that makes their sequences boring to me.

The sets of parallel pairings of characters I found somewhat confusing – perhaps because I took so long to read the book. This possibly only became clear during the author’s typical summing up of how the protagonists lives panned out.

Dickens’s pacing, descriptive prose, and dry wit is still in evidence despite his struggle to complete the book.

Sensing that the River Thames itself is an important character sent me back to Peter Ackroyd’s history “Thames: Sacred River”. This former Literary Editor of The Times deals at length with our famous Victorian novelist’s drawing on the capital’s waterway, none more extensive than in ‘Our Mutual Friend’.

After lunch we sent a Birthday Card on it way from Everton Post Office, and continued briefly on a forest drive.

Burnt gorse and browned bracken straddled Holmsley Passage up which a group of women walked, passing pasturing ponies.

Among the woodland and the moorland alongside Bisterne Close grazed or dozed more ponies,

one of which enjoyed a good scratch against a convenient tree.

A log stack had been built to provide winter quarters for various forest fauna.

This evening we dined on Red Chilli’s excellent takeaway. Jackie enjoyed a Paneer Chicken starter with Saag Chicken to follow; my main choice was Tiger Prawn Dhansak. We shared Special Fried Rice and a Plain Naan. Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Fleurie.

A Very Thoughtful Gift

As Jessie left this morning to return home to Primrose Hill, Jackie and I drove to Elizabeth’s to wait for a Parcel Force delivery while she kept a hospital appointment.

We took a minor diversion through the forest on our way home.

Groups of pigs from the verges and the greens of Pilley converged on the sward carpeted with silver birch catkins which they crunched with the delight of a child chomping on his Rice Crispies breakfast cereal.

A llama pricked up its ears as I approached its field at East End, where

donkeys dawdled up the road, pausing to sample prickles along the way.

While at Elizabeth’s I read more of ‘Our Mutual Friend’ and this afternoon scanned three more of Charles Keeping’s inimitable illustrations.

‘The train rattled among the hose-tops’ gave the artist scope to display his perspective skills.

‘They began driving among low-lying water-side wharves and docks’

‘Bella and Mrs Boffin took a good long look and one another’

Before dinner we drove out to Hatchet Pond in order to Photograph the sunset.

During the afternoon Jackie received, delivered by Amazon, a very generous gift from Jessie, who had enjoyed the solar lights.

As soon as we arrived home she dashed out to plant and photograph the treasure. Thank you very much, Jessie.

This evening we reprised yesterday’s roast dinner with similar beverages.

Illustrations Accommodated By The Text

Early this afternoon we discovered a leak beneath a bathroom tap, dripping into our downstairs utility room. A local plumber could only promise a visit tomorrow afternoon, but said he would try to come later today. Considering that a pretty good response given the shortage of available plumbers nearer than Geelong, we were confined indoors for the rest of the day.

This gave me the opportunity to read more of Charles Dickens’s ‘Our Mutual Friend’, and to scan six more of Charles Keeping’s illustrations demanding that the author’s text accommodate them.

‘She always walked with her husband to the railroad’ has the couple carefully placed in the background.

‘The river and its shores rang to the terrible cry she uttered’

‘ ‘If he ain’t a-going to bathe!’ ‘

‘Mr Fledgeby went rolling over and over again’

‘Dozing women-drunkards’

‘Hours and hours, days and nights he remained in this same condition’

Dave, of D J B Plumbing visited shortly before 6 p.m. and fixed the leak quite quickly at a price less than other firms’ call-out fees. He is a very engaging gentleman, too.

Afterwards we dined on Jackie’s tasty steak and onion pie; crisp Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes; cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, and broccoli all cooked to perfection; and meaty gravy, with which she drank more of the Pinot Grigio and I drank Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2019.