I have never before experienced a sauna, but when I stepped out into our steamy garden to carry out my first dead heading of roses for the last three weeks at 11 a.m. I was greeted with a good idea of what to expect if I ever do. I had returned indoors by midday, and did not emerge again until late afternoon when I wandered around with a camera.
Jackie had achieved her gardening tasks before I came out for the first time.
She had further reduced the pile of pots on the patio awaiting planting out.
Hanging baskets and the iron urn, which she has spent 2 days clearing of a writhing ants’ nest all benefited.
While I was working in the Rose Garden a sharp droning noise alerted me to the fact that its solar powered water fountain was bone dry and screaming out for water.
The Head Gardener fixed that before serving lunch.
Waterboy tips his water into the container on the Pond Bed, where the Wonderful Grandparents rose blooms again.
Red sweet peas appear in the third picture in the Rose Garden gallery,
whereas white ones grace the arch at the corner of the Oval Path and
the Weeping Birch Bed.
Blue agapanthus stretches over the Gazebo Path from the Palm Bed,
seen here from the lawn,
while solanum hangs over the Brick Path.
This evening we watched the Olympic men’s doubles tennis matches between Rafael Nadal partnering Carlos Alcaraz and Tallon Griekspoor with Wesley Koolhof; then Andy Murray and Dan Evans against Sander Gille with Joran Vliegen; the first while dining from tables in front of the TV on roast pork, apple sauce, boiled new potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding, fried onions and mushrooms, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli stems; the second after our meal was over. I drank more of the Tempranillo.
Our Head Gardener this morning toured the garden making
a pictorial record of its current condition now the full force of the heatwave seems to have subsided somewhat. Some may consider that the task which fell to me – loading the pictures into the computer, making the tiled gallery and titling the individual images with some additional information – was rather easier.
This evening we dined on succulent roast chicken; crisp Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes; crunchy carrots; firm cauliflower and broccoli; tender runner beans, and flavoursome gravy, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden, I drank more of the Bordeaux, and Flo and Dillon drank Ribena.
The method proved useful once again today. I couldn’t walk, but I could hop from seat to seat around the garden for a photoshoot. So this is what I did.
These images were produced from a seat in the patio;
these from the Wisteria Arbour;
the Gardener’s Rest yielded just two;
then came the decking;
one from the bench at Fiveways;
a good range from the four various viewpoints in the Rose Garden;
two from the concrete patio;
four from the Heligan Path bench;
two from the Westbrook Arbour;
three from the Nottingham Castle bench;
and finally, petunias in a chimney pot on the lawn seen from its own bench. All the other titles will be available from accessing the galleries.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s succulent beef and onion pie; boiled new potatoes; firm carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli, with meaty gravy. The Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden, Flo and Dillon drank Ribena, and I finished the Côtes-du-Rhône.
After lunch I bagged up the last of the debris from the Rose Garden and watered the raised bed at at the end of the Back Drive. Flo had watered the containers last night.
As can be seen from these photographs I produced later this afternoon the container watering has kept the garden glowing.
Super Elfin rose stretches from the Gothic arch which spans the Brick Path.
The Rose Garden had been opened up again.
Jackie was working in there for a while longer.
The lilies to the top left of this garden view reach above the potting shed.
This evening we dined on more of the Papa John’s pizzas with which Jackie and I repeated our beverages while Flo drank Mango J20
Yesterday evening Jackie finished weeding the rest of the Brick Path, and today tackled the circular set of bricks around the filled in well.
Not only has Flo added considerably to the Head Gardener’s planting in pots, urns, and hanging baskets, but she has kept them all flourishing during our recent dry spell by constant canned irrigation.
This is merely a selection. I had to stop somewhere, even if she hasn’t.
I spent the afternoon finishing my reading of Alison Lurie’s ‘Foreign Affairs’ which I will report on tomorrow, because we are just leaving to enjoy a Fathers’ Day dinner.
This is the second delicately wind-chiming owl that Jackie has found smashed to smithereens by gale force winds. She wasn’t about to buy another so she carefully super-glued the pieces together late yesterday. She has since managed to prise her fingers apart.
The broken borage stems resting on the back of a dragon were about to be snipped.
Many of the hanging baskets placed on the ground were tipped over and lost their trailing elements. Some, happily, survived – others are in the process of being refilled.
Dahlias and clematises are among the many survivors.
Here Jackie makes apparent her feelings about those that were not so fortunate, although she did raise a smile when she realised that this phlox stem has a root and she will be able to make a cutting from it.
A few more images demonstrate that the efforts of Hurricane Evert were not as punishing as expected.
Light showers fell this afternoon, when I embarked upon research for the great aunts’ section of A Knight’s Tale. There is far too much material for a blog, so it will need to be well condensed.
This evening we dined on roast chicken; roast potatoes; crisp Yorkshire pudding; sage and onion stuffing; crunchy carrots and cauliflower; and a melange od fried onions, mushrooms, and peppers, with which Jackie drank Terre Siciliane Carricante 2019 and I drank Vendemmia Barolo 2016, a rather fine birthday present from Danni and Andy.
Yesterday evening, the first of the new Covid lockdown relaxations, we dined alfresco at the Lamb Inn in Nomansland.
Outside the pub John, the owner of a coach and horses, and his friends had stopped for refreshment. Our timing was perfect. We may have been somewhat early for our booking, but, had that not been the case we would have missed a treat,
and I would not have had this photo opportunity.
This remarkably disciplined team, at the quietest commands from their driver, executed a perfect turning circle and trotted off round the bend in the direction of Landford.
Jackie also photographed the scene outside the pub, the departure of the team;
and ponies on the green;
as did I, with the war memorial in the top right hand corner.
As we were early we drove to Fritham to watch the clouds breaking up over the landscape.
By the time we were seated the sun was in full view, and the temperature 10C, which is the warmest it has been for several days.
Jackie enjoyed focussing on the hanging baskets, cherry blossom, magnolia, hand sanitiser, the invitation to use the patio door for toilets;
and of course our choices of meal, of which hers was extremely good chicken madras, accompanied by flavoursome rice, mint yoghurt, and mango chutney. I am averse to pub curries because I don’t expect them to taste like the real thing. I could tell from the aromas that I was wrong about this one, which was as good as my Culinary Queen said it was. My well filled steak and ale pie, chips, and peas were equally good. We both chose choice ice cream sundae for dessert. I drank Doom Bar and Jackie drank Carlsberg. As will be seen by all my undone buttons I did not need the layers with which I had come prepared.
On our return home through Bramshaw we needed to wait for a peacock to leave the tarmac and wander across the green in the direction of a confusion of Guinea fowl. Nearby a leather-lipped pony chomped on blackthorn.
We reached Hordle Lane in time to watch the sun subside in the west.
Elizabeth joined us for dinner this evening, which consisted of Jackie’s scrumptious cottage pie with a cheese topping; crunchy carrots; tender cabbage; firm cauliflower, and meaty gravy. Mrs Knight drank Hoegaarden and my sister and I drank Mendoza Malbec 2019.
On this further dully overcast and windy morning we virtually finished the front garden pruning.
I photographed a few hanging baskets in the rest of this area, involving bacopas, lobelias, diascia, begonias, petunias, pelargoniums, and gladiolus. These have all regenerated well after the recent heavy winds.
Here are the bags of woody clippings which we will need to take to the recycling centre. Unfortunately we now have to register our vehicle and make an appointment to dump this material.
On my way through the garden I photographed more views which are each identified in the gallery. The second-flush kniphofia in the last picture is proliferating.
The first apples Jackie picked polished up nicely.
This afternoon we visited Mudeford harbour where, now the area has been left to the locals, I was able to wander across the green and photograph a sailboarder whizzing among moored boats;
gulls, including a preener;
and a low-flying murmuration of starlings for whom the race was on for dropped morsels of food.
As is her wont, Jackie photographed the photographer against the backdrop of his subject.
This evening we dined on lamb chops in mint and rosemary gravy; boiled new potatoes; crunchy carrots and broccoli; and swede and carrot mash, with which Jackie drank Beck’s and I drank more of the Malbec.
Early this sultry morning, before setting off to meet her sisters for lunch, Jackie carried out necessary garden irrigation which I continued after enjoying the lunch she had left prepared for me. After giving pots a fresh-water- and myself a sudorific-drenching I proceeded to a little dead heading that I had failed to ignore.
Aaron, working at Mistletoe Cottage, dropped in for a chat.
Later, my clammy shirt now cold, like James Joyce’s wet bed sheet (“When you wet the bed first it is warm then it gets cold.” – ‘A Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man” ),
I wandered around with my camera.
The random photographic results are all labelled in the gallery that can be accessed by clicking on any image each of which may be enlarged in the usual manner.
This evening we completed the watering and I cut off a few more heads before dining on spicy pepperoni pizza and plentiful fresh salad with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Carles.
