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I watered the pots in the front garden this morning.
More pink roses bloom on the trellis each day;
and clematis Piilu
and a tiny solanum are now making their way across the garage door frontage.
New arrivals in the Rose Garden include Mamma Mia,
Rosa Mundi,
and Deep Secret;
and my favourite rhododendron is coming to fruition.
The peach rose is reaching its peak,
and attracting bees.
This afternoon we took Sheila on a forest driveabout to the North of the forest.
A group of ponies on the far side of Burley ignored a Give Way sign as they held up the traffic.
While we were watching another group, including a couple of foals, drinking in the stream at Ibsley,
an alarming neighing was set up by two other adults of these normally silent animals. There was a clattering of hooves on the tarmac to our right, and a thudding on the sward on the other side of the water, as the spooked ponies scattered. The foals clambered up the bank at the calls of their dams. This one nuzzled its relieved parent.
These creatures reconvened on the road.
Meanwhile others tore frantically around the field until a loose collie dog ran off and joined its owners out of sight. The horses then quietly regrouped under the trees.
Some homeowners leave carrots out for ponies. This mother crunched on one, whilst her foal satisfied itself with grass to the right of the cattle grid protecting the house entrance.
As I disembarked from the car, the youngster made its way back to its Mum,
and had a scratch under the protection of her flanks.
We stopped off for a drink at The Royal Oak in North Gorley, then Sheila treated us to a meal at The Plough in Tiptoe. We all chose gammon steak, eggs, chips, and peas. My drink was Ringwoods Best Bitter. Probably because I had also had a pint at The Royal Oak, I wasn’t able to fit in a dessert.