gravel paths – derrickjknight

Manicured

At the beginning of June we watched a cumbersome pigeon nest building. This morning, as I worked my way through blog comments I noticed the potential parent bird seemingly incubating. The first of these photographs was taken through my window; the second from the garden.

Because of this sighting I was quite hesitant to begin my planned project in the front garden this warm and humid morning, so began by starting the pruning of the Félicité Perpétue rose which is furthest away from the nest. After about 20 minutes I started weeding th gravel path which didn’t seem to upset the wood pigeon. After lunch I returned to the task. The bird was gone and, although we could see it, the nest seemed empty.

The third of these photographs taken by Jackie constitutes “Where’s Derrick?” (4). Despite the obvious clues, enlargement may be necessary. The fourth image is of the footpath through the bed.

This is how far I got before stopping for the afternoon. There is a compost bin beside the trug beneath the overturned chair, but I will clear the footpath to it before I empty the trug.

Jackie has spent much of the last few days weeding and planting the beds around it and manicuring the lawn. She proudly photographed the results of her efforts.

She also focussed on the Pond Bed and a garden view around the Shady Path.

Later, I watched the Women’s Wimbledon tennis matches between Angelique Kerber and Coco Gauff, and between Emma Raducanu and Ajla Tomljanovic.

Dinner, taken on a tray seated in front of the television consisted of two prawn preparations, namely tempura, and hot and spicy served on Jackie’s special fried rice, with which I drank more of the Rioja while the Culinary Queen abstained.

Redundant Water Points

Today was the day for this year’s annual trip to Jackie’s mother’s plot at the Walkford Woodland Burial Ground taken by Jackie, her two sisters, and sometimes the three spouses.

Normally, Shelly, who lives nearby, buys a wreath which the sisters place on the site of their mother’s ashes. This year Jackie volunteered to make one.

She was rather amused at my insistence that she posed with this fully degradable work of art. The ribbon has Veronica Rivett’s initials embroidered on it and samples from each of Helen and Shelly’s gardens are woven into the circular structure.

We met at Shelly and Ron’s home; listened to the rain hammering down for a while, and, when this adopted a slightly lighter touch, the women and I decided to go for it.

Naturally the rain persisted. Stepping from our cars we negotiated the mud bath that led to

the pool laden winding gravel path leading to Pine Close where my late mother in law’s remains lie. Raindrops rippled the surfaces of the puddles.

Passing windfall apples I managed to resist scrumping any.

Jackie, Helen, and Shelly honoured their mother’s memory as they laid the wreath on the muddy ground.

The strategically placed watering stations complete with watering cans were rather redundant.

Back at Grenville Road Shelly produced what she called a light lunch consisting of plentiful cold meats and cheese salads followed by mince pies, fruit jelly and ice cream with which we drank red or white wine according to taste. Coffee and mints completed the meal after which we watched Ron’s video of Jane’s graduation ceremony, narrowly escaped another quiz, and enjoyed stimulating conversation until well into the afternoon.

As we left, Jackie photographed the house and front garden Christmas lights.

No further nourishment was required this evening.

A Normal Day For Aaron

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE. THOSE IN THE GROUP ACCESS A GALLERY THAT CAN BE VIEWED FULL SIZE BY SCROLLING DOWN THE PAGE AND CLICKING THE RELEVANT BOX.

Today, Easter Sunday, we confined ourselves to light gardening. For Aaron it was a normal day.

He reorganised the compost bins. This involved shifting the greenish fencing to the left from behind the Head Gardener’s Shed, and moving the contents of one heap into the one I had emptied during the week.

He painted the Ace Reclaim Bench.

He weeded more paths, and moved spare posts from the rickety orange shed to the trunk of the sturdier beech tree. Both of these tasks are shown in this view of the Phantom Path with the beech at the far end.

Another snaking path was that entitled Heligan.

The Shady Path, seen beyond the Dragon Bed;

and the Gazebo Path were weeded last week.

We have many ajugas, such as these

in the Oval Bed, like Elizabeth’s Bed beyond, now fully composted.

We have almost finished the preparation of the Rose Garden, the first image of which shows the chimney pots in the distance, and the vantage point from which, at the south-easternmost corner I photographed the

jackdaw, now guarding the nest inside the chimney, with my little ZX700 HS. Every so often the bird descends into the chimney.

geranium macrorrhizum Ingwersen's Variety

The geraniums macrorrhizum Ingwersen’s Variety are now blooming nicely.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s piquant cauliflower cheese, fish pie, crunchy carrots and runner beans, with which I finished the shiraz.