Today I scanned Charles Keeping’s next seven illustrations to ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’ by Charles Dickens.
‘ ‘Go, sir,’ returned Dick, leaning against a post and waving his hand’. He is quite clearly drunk.
‘The boy threw his wasted arms around the schoolmaster’s neck’ is a typically tender scene.
‘They drew up there for the night, near to another caravan’
‘The game commenced’ leaves us in no doubt that these are three rogues and the un-pictured gentleman facing them will lose his money.
‘One young lady sprung forward and put the handkerchief in her hand’ pictures a rare act of kindness.
‘Miss Brass went scratching on, working like a steam engine’
‘ ‘Hallo there! Hallo, hallo!’ ‘ faithfully depicts the author’s description of a scene in which two characters are now clearly recognisable.
This afternoon we drove to Everton Garden Centre the where we purchased a garden water feature which we hope to set up tomorrow, and continued with a short trip to the east of Lymington.
We stopped at Saint John the Baptist Boldre Parish Church, in order to photograph
the clusters of daffodils on the bank and around the grounds. The first two of these images are mine; the rest Jackie’s.
While I was wandering around the side my Assistant Photographer featured in her third picture,
a horse, protected against our currently cold nights by a rug, trotted over to the fence between the field and the church. I thought perhaps it was interested in me.
No such luck. I had noticed a gentleman take up a seat in the churchyard. His equine friend had found a way to get to the church fence where her gentleman friend was waiting to continue the conversation that ensued. It was clearly a regular occurrence.
I comforted myself over the rejection by communing with a bay pony on the verge further along the road.
My next conversation was with a family of donkeys;
then alpacas at East End where stands
one of the three mimosa trees was saw blooming today, and numerous gnarled oaks awaiting their own plumage;
a lone thatcher exercised his craft.
Variously coloured crocuses are bursting through the soil before the war memorial on South Baddersley Road.
Jackie’s final offering is a rook she photographed from Hightown Lane yesterday.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s savoury egg fried rice; tempura prawns; and a rack of pork ribs in barbecue sauce with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2020. This was followed by Bakewell tart and New Forest Rhubarb and Ginger ice cream.
