chimney pot – derrickjknight

Blending In

In the interests of culling pictures from iPhoto I reinstated two from

and deleted all those appearing in

and in

This could be counted as partial success.

Then I ruined it by photographing the recently acquired terra cotta

chimney pot Jackie has positioned to blend into an appropriately coloured section of the Pond Bed. As with all chimney pots the Head Gardener has selected a smaller container of soil to stand in the rim of what was a stack on someone’s roof for carrying smoke into the atmosphere. When the current contents are in full bloom red geraniums, some trailing, and a towering verbena bonariensis will blend with surrounding Japanese maple, miniature pieris, and camellias.

We inherited the Japanese maple when we bought the house. A few years ago it attempted to die until resuscitated by Aaron and me.

The pieris was part of the contents of a planted display of flowers given to me by the foster parents group when I ceased consultation with the adoption and fostering agency Parents for Children in 2008. Five years earlier, when I had completed my stint as Chair of the Adoption Panel, I was given

this silver mounted paper weight.

Later, I read more of ‘Britannia’.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s flavoursome liver casserole; creamy mashed potatoes; crunchy carrots; firm Brussels sprouts and cauliflower with which she drank more of the chardonnay and I drank more of the zinfandel.

Special Spoils And Partially Successful Culling

This morning we transported six green refuse bags and various rusty and otherwise decayed metal items to Efford Recycling Centre and

returned home with a perfect stool and chimney pot – the latter, although not old, a really unusual find that had only come in today.

Today’s culling of iPhotos was only partially successful in that I reinstated one from

and one from

Both from when we were spending weekends working in Elizabeth’s garden.
Later, I began reading ‘Britannia; A History of Roman Britain’ by Sheppard Frere.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s wholesome liver casserole, boiled baby new potatoes, carrots, broccoli and runner beans.

Afterwards we popped down to catch the sunset at Milford on Sea,

then on to Barton on Sea.

In The Greenhouse

Reportedly only for a couple of days, the wind had stilled overnight. The day was dull and warmer, with very little rain.

Jackie spent much of the morning rescuing tossed pots and loosened climbers.

After lunch I gathered up numerous small broken branches, then cut the grass and produced a few pictures, one of which shows

the pieris between the Nottingham Castle bench and the planted chimney pot.

Florence enjoys this view across the lawn to North Breeze.

Jackie’s latest owl purchase remained safely perched on its log, surveying the view across the Dead End Path.

We also have aquilegias, violets, dicentras, peonies, and a few lingering camellias.

A number of blue irises grace the Weeping Birch Bed and elsewhere.

Some plants, like the osteospermums in the Cryptomeria Bed have suffered from wind burn.

The Gazebo Path; and the Dragon and Palm Beds have recovered well.

Jackie spent much of the afternoon potting up in the greenhouse, where she was decorated with libertia reflections.

Later I scanned the next seven of Charles Keeping’s inimitable illustrations to Charles Dickens’s “Nicholas Nickleby”.

‘Mr Tix transferred his admiration to some elegant articles of wearing apparel, while Mr Scaley proceeded to the minute consideration of a pimple on his chin’

‘The two combatants chopped away until the swords emitted a shower of sparks’ is a typical balanced depiction of action from Mr Keeping.

‘There bounded onto the stage a little girl in a dirty white frock who turned a pirouette’. Nothing less than a full page would suffice for her.

In ‘Two strong little boys were dragging the phenomenon in different directions as a trial of strength’, Mr Keeping has shown how balance is maintained by their planted stances.

To depict the distance between the higher admirer and the performer on stage in ‘The warmth of her reception was mainly attributable to a most persevering umbrella in the upper boxes’ the artist has used the different levels of the double spread.

‘Lord Verisoft threw himself along the sofa in order to bring his lips nearer to the old man’s ear’

In ‘ We come on a mission, Mrs Nickleby’ ‘ the success of the smarmy flattery is clearly apparent.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s tasty liver and bacon; firm boiled potatoes and carrots; and tender cabbage and runner beans, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Malbec.

A Bit Harsh

On an overcast morning promising rain we set about clearing up from Jackie’s pruning and weeding of the last couple of days.

My task was to gather up, chop to size, load the debris into trugs (how many times, WP, do I have to tell you this is not rugs – look it up), and, because the main compost bins are full, transport the contents to the front bin. That is now full.

When I announced that the job was done, the Head Gardener stated “You haven’t seen what I’ve done on the Head Gardener’s Walk”.

It had been clear before I began. “I thought you were just going to sweep and rake the paths”, said I.

“I had to do some cutting back before I could get down it. Don’t worry. I’ll do that. Go back inside and sit down before you fall down”. Such cruelty to be kind seemed a bit harsh to me. Nevertheless, with relief, I obeyed instructions.

She was, however, as good as her word, and filled two trugs while clearing and sweeping the path. The sun had, after lunch, put in an appearance. “Where’s Jackie?” (3) is located in the first of this trio of pictures. Click on any image to access the gallery; for enlargement scroll down to the box under the right side of the picture to ‘view full size’; further enlargement is also possible.

I had time to tour with my camera before a heavy shower sent us inside.

This evening we dined on Mr Chan’s Hordle Chinese Take Away excellent fare with which Jackie drank Becks and I finished the Rioja.

Irrigation

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Sporting her Russell crow protection helmet Jackie spent much of the more overcast, but still hot and humid, morning watering her container pots and hanging baskets. The last picture features one of her reservoirs made from upturned bottomless plastic bottles. Russell did not put in an appearance.

This afternoon, among other tasks, Aaron of A.P. Maintenance pruned the wisteria, while

his companion Daryl watered the areas I had irrigated two days ago.

A little later I watched the first half of the World Cup football match between Spain and Russia; and slept through much of the second, waking in time for the penalty shoot-out.

Ian arrived to join us this morning, and the four of us dined this evening at The Royal Oak. I enjoyed my Sunday roast lamb with roast potatoes, excellent Yorkshire pudding, and a range of crisp vegetables, followed by Eton mess. I drank a glass of excellent Malbec. If any of the others would like to state what they had, I will leave that to them

Idiosyncratic Titles

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Late this morning Becky and I checked on the chimney pot planter she had successfully refreshed yesterday. She was able to photograph the results;

and I photographed her doing so.

Bees were very active, and I was unable to resist recording this one in a cosmos.

We returned to the house and Becky added her input to this post. So expert is she with Microsoft computers and so adept at mobile phone photography that it was a pleasant experience for me to instruct her in the use of DSLR and loading pictures onto the iMac for transfer to WordPress. Naturally I gave my daughter a free hand in the process, and would therefore hope readers will forgive her idiosyncratic titles for some of the galleried images.

This afternoon we watched the World Cup football knockout match between France and Argentina. Soon afterwards Jackie returned home, having enjoyed three days with her sisters in a static caravan at Bowdens Crest Caravan and Camping Park at Langport in Somerset.

Jackie would have been proud of the excellent chicken curry with special rice that Becky produced for the three of us this evening. This followed vegetable samosas. I drank Patrick Chodot Fleurie 2016. Jackie had already drunk her Hoegaarden beforehand, and our daughter abstained.

Energy-Sapping Humidity

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Today was hotter, and considerably more humid than yesterday. I flopped this morning, but didn’t sleep. Perhaps that fact that I slept all yesterday evening had something to do with this. My brief trip into the garden at mid-afternoon was energy-sapping.

Correctly surmising that I might need a rest en route to my planned perch at the Westbrook Arbour, Jackie positioned Mum’s stool beside the Nottingham Castle Bench. I took a few pictures from there, then moved on. Melting, after about twenty minutes I fled back indoors.

I took a cooling break before uploading the pictures. This was extended by a very welcome visit from Shelly and Ron, for which I was most grateful.

My choice of Supermarket prepared meals this evening was fish pie to which Jacke added crisp carrots. leeks, and mange-touts, which added fresh flavour.

The Meteorologists Kept Their Promise

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Becky, Ian, and Scooby returned, last night, to their home in Emsworth

The wisteria, sharing its perch with a red rose, is now fully in bloom;

and aquilegias (columbines in U.S.) are cropping up everywhere.

We live in a fascinating microclimate where, despite the vast improvement in the accuracy of weather forecasts, our experience is often better than we are given to expect by the meteorologists. Take today, for example. We were promised an afternoon of rain.

Our gardening was therefore done this morning.

My major task was to cut the grass, after which I reshaped the Japanese maple standing on it, so that the lower branches no longer restrict our access to the small sward, and the chimney pot planter may be viewed from the Gazebo Path.

Jackie continued tidying and weeding. The wonderful pastel shades of the peeling eucalyptus bark lead us into the first of these pictures. Not having complete faith in the promise of rain from mid-day, the Head Gardener slaked the thirst of the drooping rhododendron beside her with several buckets of water. Naturally this ensured that the meteorologists kept their word. It rained all afternoon.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s delicious sausage casserole, with boiled new potatoes and curly Kale. The Culinary Queen drank Peroni and I drank Reserve des Tuguets Madiran 2014.

P.S. Note exchanges with Mary and Gwen, below. We have Lemon Scented Gum ( Eucalyptus citriodora ),

Can It Be Mid-October?

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The lingering virus from which we have now recovered has really rather reduced gardening for a month. Today, I wandered around on a survey mission, and was pleasantly impressed.

The grass could do with cutting, but there is also colour in abundance.

Dahlias we would expect;

and chrysanthemums;

but clematises?;

roses Just Joey, Margaret Merrill,

Penny Lane, or Altissimo?,

begonias?,

geraniums,

and fuchsias in abundance?

Not to mention honeysuckle,

or bees frequenting asters.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s delicious pasta beef arrabiata. Her beverage was Hoegaarden, and mine Santa Julia malbec 2015.

The Playground Bully

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On another balmy morning I began a tour of the gardens at the front of the house, where

fuchsia Delta’s Sarah blends with the pink Japanese anemones framed by white ones and Michaelmas daisies;

and myrtle

and solanum continue flowering.

Outside the kitchen window, spritely spring poppies emerge alongside ripened sedum,

not far from sprawling autumn crocuses flanked by gauras and geraniums.

This tiny white fuchsia adds variety to the Rose Garden,

and honeysuckle hangs on in there.

Pink is a frequently encountered colour.

The still prolific dahlias Bishop of Llandaff are a richer red, still attracting the bees in their New Bed playground. This whacking great bee bulldozed a smaller boy from this flower with a thumping thud. (I am indebted to Barrie Haynes for correcting the sex of the bullied bee – it is a girl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_(bee)

He sloped off to another flower. Comparison of the bees against the similarly sized stamens will demonstrate what a big bully we have.

This evening we dined on beefburgers, mashed potato and swede, and cauliflower cheese. I drank Doom Bar.