Koi carp – derrickjknight

Prehistoric Monsters From The Deep

This post was written yesterday, and I forgot to send it.

This morning we visited Maidenhead Aquatics where Jackie purchased

a replacement pump for the Waterboy feature which she fitted this afternoon.

Stewarts Garden Centre is nearby, so she was compelled to forage for plants in there while I watched

the Koi carp in their pool outside the aquatics supplier. They really do look like prehistoric monsters from the deep.

We took a pretty route back home.

I disembarked at the top of Burley Road in order to take in the gorse laden landscape dotted with ponies.

Just one pony had the energy to graze the woodland beside Bisterne Close;

Others lolled about in the unaccustomed warm sunshine.

White wood anemones accompanied vivid violets, dried autumn leaves, golden celandines, and half buried fallen branches on the forest floor.

This evening we dined on Mr Chan’s excellent Hordle Chinese Take Away fare, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Côtes du Rhône.

Fishy Business

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE. REPEAT IF REQUIRED.

This morning, Jackie went hunting for pond liner to mend a leak in the Waterboy fountain

whilst Aaron cleared wind-battered plants and cut back others encroaching on the paths,

and I dead-headed in the rose garden and beyond. In the first of the above two pictures, the paler Alan Titchmarsh stands beside Love Knot; in the second, Little Rambler’s label stands out.

The bright pink Rosa Gallica is beautifully striated;

Winchester Cathedral bears new buds ready to take over from the mature bloom;

and a bee lingered on Absolutely Fabulous long enough for me to get two shots in.

In fact bees busy themselves everywhere. This one takes itself into a pink foxglove;

another boards an aquilegia;

another a heuchera;

and, is that a shield bug sharing a berth with one in a Bottle Brush plant?

Elsewhere we have suspended petunias;

ascending clematises like this Star of India;

soaring Rosa Glauca;

white campanulas;

delicate rose campion;

tiny sisyrinchium striatum;

luscious lilies;

hardy fuchsias;

two different philadelphuses;

another pink rose Dearest;

and Wedding Day

joining the clematis on the Agriframes Arch.

After lunch we motored to Stewart’s Garden Centre just outside Christchurch where, at Maidenhead Aquatics, we found the liner.

Outside this outlet there is a large pool around which koi carp, some looking prehistoric, glide, fins flapping, or swoop, tails flipping, fins tucked into their sides, whirling interminably.

We also noticed that Broomhill Garden Buildings had a Spring Sale, where a rather good greenhouse was available at half price. Back home we sped to take measurements of the place where it would go. It fitted. Back we sped and ordered it.

This evening we dined on haddock fishcakes topped with Cheddar cheese; spinach (for the forearms); boiled potatoes, carrots, and green beans.with which I drank Louis Chamandiet Cairanne 2015.

Camouflage

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. REPEAT IF NECESSARY.

This morning I posted my fourth photograph in the Filling Facebook with Nature project.

This is it. It first featured in A Squabble of Seagulls on 14th March 2014.

Throughout the night torrential rain fell on the South East of England bringing widespread flash floods, especially to the London area. This put the trains out of action and prevented my journeying to Waterloo to meet Norman. The rain, which was to return later, left off this morning, which we spent tidying up, including staking up sodden roses.

Many of our plants, like these poppies, were so heavily waterlogged that their stems were broken and their heads drooped.

Sweet peas

and the white climber on the Gothic Arch were able to cling to their supports;

and this shield bug took shelter on a half-closed clematis.

This afternoon we visited our polling station in Milford on Sea to place our votes in the EU Referendum. All Saints Church, which dates from Norman times, was next door, so

we walked through the churchyard

to visit the place of worship.

I was not the only visitor wandering among the ancient tombs.

Do you see my camouflaged young companion?

Here he is.

Afterwards we travelled to Lidl where we loaded up what seemed like half a ton of compost and the inevitable couple of hanging baskets.

Jackie served her incredibly creamy mashed potato with the last of the beef stew this evening. This was followed by sticky toffee pudding and custard for me, with cream for her. She drank sparkling water and I drank Bordeaux Supérieur appellation controlée, 2014.