moth – derrickjknight

Find The Moth

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE. REPEAT IF REQUIRED.

Today was overcast and unseasonably hot and humid. I cut the grass and had a wander around the garden. Many of our plants linger on, refusing to accept the advent of autumn.

We still have blooming clematises.

Although the leaves of the weeping birch are beginning to colour the Heligan Path,the beds bordering it remain colourful.

The new rudbeckias stand in a tub as they are having to await the demise of the nicotiana sylvestris which they are intended to replace.

We have white begonias.

Bees continue to plunder the sedums into which they merge;

but the prize for camouflage goes to this moth posing as a dying begonia leaf.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s powerful chilli con carne with rice and peas, followed by Victoria sponge and lemon meringue pie ice cream. I drank Croix des Célestins Fleurie 2014, and the Culinary Queen didn’t.

Eyes Peeled

As I attempted, last night, to photograph an interesting moth in the Print Room, the creature flew off. This afternoon, Becky produced this image. When I confessed my failure, a certain amount of hilarity ensued. There is, you see, a family myth that whenever I attempt to photograph anything possessing wings, it disappears.

Once more the rain hammered down all day. I retreated to my slide files and scanned more of those from the May 2004 Barbados trip.

There was great excitement when the day of Sam’s arrival dawned. Jessica, Louisa, Chris, Frances, Fiona, and I boarded the splendid yacht belonging to Stein and Diana. After 59 days alone at sea, our son was coming in ahead of the field. all he had to do was hug the northern tip of Barbados, not too tightly, so he neither crashed on the rocks, nor sped out to Cuba on the prevailing current. Not as simple as it sounds.

As we reached the open waters of the Caribbean Sea, Jessica, Louisa, and Diana dived overboard for an invigorating swim. Although bright blue and bracing, I am told the water was somewhat colder than it looked.

Soon, Stein scaled his rigging and took up the role of advance scout, as he scanned the horizon for the small red speck that would be Sam’s boat, Pacific Pete.

Suddenly a sighting was announced, and, eyes peeled, we all peered into the distance. This, as it emerged, is what we saw. Sam is in each picture. Getting nearer all the time.

Could the heightened emotions on our boat possibly have matched those of our son?

As he approached, only the long camera lens could discern details which escaped the naked eye.

Eventually, as Sam reached the island, alongside which he had more rowing to do to arrive at the quay at Port St Charles, we could greet each other across the waves.

This evening we dined on Mr Pink’s fish and chips, mushy peas, pickled onions, and gherkins. Becky and I finished the white Cotes du Rhone, Ian drank San miguel, and Jackie drank Hoegaarden.

A First Class Service

First thing this morning I photographed a moth conveniently spread out on the kitchen work surface. When I showed the picture to Jackie she said ‘you know it’s dead, don’t you?’ She had picked it up from the floor and laid it to rest so that I would be able to photograph it. Possibly she has me sussed.

For at least a week now the car has been throwing a spanner in the dashboard. At intervals it has elaborated on this warning sign with the message Change Oil Service Required. The vehicle was booked in today. Despite really struggling with Shingles Jackie was determined to take it in. So off we went to Ringwood. Wells garage is just outside the town. Whenever we go there we wander to the shops and await a call from Tony to say the car is ready. Today, before shopping, we had brunch in the Aroma Bistro where the excellent food and friendly service is as good as it was when discovered in December last year.

Shopping included more photographic material from Wessex Photographic, among which were the Red and the Green Canon Series 8 inks. So accustomed am I to no-one, especially Jessops, where I bought the printer, ever having these in stock, that I told the assistant I expected to have to order them. She went straight to them and pulled them off the rack. Most of the other six different inks required to make the printer work can be obtained somewhere or other, with the notable exception of the original supplier. They are exhausted very quickly. The red and green varieties can last a year, which is maybe why they are not usually on the shelves.

It really took quite a long time for us to walk back to Wells garage. The way is along very pleasant lanes and footpaths, except for the underpass that takes us to the requisite side of the A31. Some civic authority decided to brighten up this route with art works. Quite reasonable representations of well known paintings adorn the well-lit tunnel. Given that these are usually pretty dispiriting thoroughfares I thought this an excellent idea. One would have hoped it could have deterred the graffiti wits. Unfortunately not. It even seems to have encouraged them. The tunnel is named ‘A Walk Of Art’. There is someone after my own ‘eart in an influential position in the town.

We had not received the usual phone call, but Jackie really needed to sit down, so we decided to return and wait at Wells’s, taking several rests en route. Tony warned us that we would still have to wait for an hour and a half. We settled down to wait, during which time we got talking to Hazel, the Managing Director of this long-established family firm. I had been amused by her telling the others that she had been correct about an unnecessary bank query. NatWest had corrected her addition of cheques paid in by machine. She knew she was right and was able to prove it. The amount in question was 20p. Well, it was the principle that mattered.

Service at Wessex Photographic had been startling. Service at the Bistro had been friendly and welcoming. The car had been booked in for a short service, but what follows was extensive service. As we spoke with Hazel, Tony appeared clutching a piece of broken front suspension spring. Things were going to take a bit longer. Not even knowing of Jackie’s illness, Hazel arranged for Peter to drive us home in one of the firm’s cars. This friendly local man did so willingly. Having known the deceased owner for more than fifty years, Peter has a three morning a week job in retirement, doing any driving around that needs to be done.

Back home, it was down to work in the ‘factory’. After a lie-down Jackie was raring to go and getting me to produce cropped versions of pictures we had already used in toto. The frozen brambles is one example. The benefit for her is that she doesn’t have to chop them up, just breathe down my neck whilst I play on the screen.

Today’s tally was 29 cards, bringing the total to 182. After this Jackie was still able to produce our evening meal of keema, certainly not korma, curry; tandoori chicken and special fried rice. My drink was Roc des Cevaliers Bordeaux superieur 2011; hers was Hoegaarden.