Lymington Harbour – derrickjknight

Tall Cupboards

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE IN A GROUP TO ACCESS ITS GALLERY, EACH PHOTOGRAPH IN WHICH CAN BE VIEWED FULL SIZE BY SCROLLING DOWN ITS PAGE AND CHECKING THE BOX AT BOTTOM RIGHT. SOLITARY IMAGES CAN BE ENLARGED WITH A CLICK THAT CAN BE REPEATED

Early this morning, for the walls at Lal Quilla, I made A3+ prints of Raj’s chosen photographs, including Lymington High Street from 24.2.16;

Boats in Lymington Harbour from 31.12.15;

and Fishing on the Quay from 30.8.16.

Meanwhile, Lee was on hand to help Richard with the installation of tall cupboards.

Jackie and I lunched at Hockey’s Farm Shop at South Gorley, where warmth and comfort is available in the form of blankets, teddy bears; and meals such as my “hungry” breakfast and Jackie’s cheese and chutney toastie with plentiful salad.

On our return, a group of ponies attempted to deter us from passing Holmsley Camp Site.

Meanwhile, Richard, alone, had made considerable progress on the tall cupboards. He continued this throughout the afternoon. Just look at that join around the beam. The door, incidentally is one that had to be sacrificed, as our fridge freezer will be positioned in front of it. Note the clamps holding the sides in position. They have been pinned at the back and glued at the front. With a face mask protecting him from sawdust the carpenter cuts the sides to shape and fits them perfectly in place.

My choices of the assortment of instant soups and sandwiches on offer this evening were minestrone and egg mayonnaise, followed by donut.

Not A Dog’s Dinner

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE. REPEAT IF REQUIRED

After a boring morning’s admin, I helped The Head Gardener plant tulip and allium bulbs and flowering chrysanthemums. We then enjoyed a salad lunch and drove to

Lymington harbour,

where the rippling water reflected the boats and the blue sky with its attendant clouds

that had been depicted on the canvas above by a skilled painter.

Rowing boats were moored beside the jetty on the seaward side of which yachts were being berthed.

Squawking gulls landed hoping for titbits.

Other craft were coming and going all the time.

Emerging from the forest of masts, a small ferry boat chugged into harbour,

its master steered it to its mooring,

and the passengers disembarked.

The mother of one family returning to land told me that, on this afternoon of sunshine and showers, they had sailed through heavy rain, so it was only now that the junior pirate had been able to wear his Puffin hat.

Once she had fixed the trophy in place, he trotted off clutching his mother’s hand, while his Dad carried his sibling and everything else.

Walking into the first shot of the ferry boat is another photographer, who, when I showed him my portrait of him, smiled and said: “That’s what photography is for”.

Soon a working boat came into view and came to rest at the fishermen’s corner.

I wasn’t sure what was going on here, but a small terrier’s nose gave her a pretty good idea.

She needed some restraint to keep her away from

the slowly jerking crabs piled on top of each other in strong boxes.

One of these living creatures climbed over the lip of its container and landed on its back on the quayside. In my childhood I had often righted stag beetles in the same predicament, but I didn’t fancy providing a helping hand on this occasion.

Instead, I alerted the young man who had brought in his boat, mentioning that I wasn’t going to pick it up. Describing the crab as an escapee, he demonstrated that it couldn’t pinch because their claws were nipped when they were caught. This certainly wasn’t a dog’s dinner.

Before leaving, I walked along Quay Street

to the bottom of Quay Hill, feeling quite pleased that the car was parked by the waterside, so I wouldn’t have to follow the others scaling the heights. The little dog somewhat impeding the older woman’s progress was happy to continue once the younger woman carrying an infant had torn herself away from the shop windows.

On we travelled to the east of the forest. These ponies on the land along Thorneywood Road were soon to be spooked by a vehicle that turned round the bend towards us. This sent the animals running around in rather frantic circles.

Many others were grazing among the gorse. As so often, one smaller variety incongruously tagged onto the big boys.

Gwen and Yvonne may prefer to skip what follows.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s excellent liver and bacon casserole, mashed potato, carrots and green beans. Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank Reserve des Tuguets Madiran 2014.

Around The Harbour

This morning Jackie drove us to Lymington Quay where, after a short wait watching the harbour, we boarded Puffin Billy for a thirty minute tour.

Approaching midday in sultry weather, most visitors were taking a rest on the many available seats.

One of these watchers was prevailed upon to walk her little boy around the quay to see the ducks.

He became very excited when the Isle of Wight Ferry terminal train crossed the bridge over the untroubled water.

A colourful conversation took place on a moored boat.

Once started out on our trip in hazy midday sun, apart from one exception, shapes became more important than colour. A young family in the prow seats watched as we neared the yachts, moored at a cost of £10,000 per annum.

Our friendly guide pointed out the tallest ship, built in 1913, that is on the market for a cool £3,500,000.

We were rather too close for me to photograph the whole thing, so I had to be satisfied with a man up the mast.

On our return we skirted the opposite side of the harbour, so I took the shot then.

An interesting array of footwear was sported by our fellow passengers.

The exception to monochrome was the view of Lymington Marshes.

The Mallards hitching a lift on a dinghy insisted on being shown in all their glory.

Back home the sun continued burning, but, now no longer directly overhead, was more conducive to photography.

A scarlet climbing rose has now taken over the wisteria’s arbour.

Our more flamboyant poppies are now coming into bloom;

this one is reflected by a pink hydrangea in Elizabeth’s Bed.

This rose in The Oval Bed is labelled Pink Abundance. We are not sure about the colour description.

The Rose Garden received a good sprinkling.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s excellent chicken jalfrezi, vegetable rice and samosas; followed by her sponge cake. She drank Hoegaarden, I finished the Fleurie, and Sheila drank water.