red deer – derrickjknight

Masks

Yesterday’s dinner consisted of Jackie’s superb shepherd’s pie; crisp carrots, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Rioja.

We will have more of this this evening, including the same beverages. The vegetables may be different. I am just going to prepare whatever the Culinary Queen bought in Tesco this morning, where she was very much in the minority wearing a face mask.

This was not the case with field horses on South Sway Lane when we began a brief foray into the forest. Readers will be aware that the masks are for the animals’ protection against flies.

We had not been here since the beginning of the lockdown when the trees were bare;

buttercups had not arrived, dandelion clocks were young blooms;

and moon daisies

and cow parsley were simply seeds that had not yet germinated.

Horseshoe Bottom was quite crowded with grazing ponies having no need to maintain social distance

and walkers who did.

A group of red deer outside Sway seem to have relaxed their timidity during the months without humans.

Haze

Soon after 6 a.m. this morning a mist was rapidly rising from the garden. Jackie made these photographs, while

I descended the stairs. On the way down I am supposed to lead with the foot on the recently operated right leg. In fact it is far less painful than the left one which received its replacement knee last May. Never mind, I do as I am told.

This afternoon we drove to Brockenhurst to collect the tap fitments from Streets ironmongers. Again we took the leisurely route home.

On the moorland at Shirley Holms a young lady galloped in circles astride a frisky horse. By the time I had the camera ready she was trotting alongside her companions.

On the approach to Burley, a cloudy vapour draped distant landscapes. A pair of walkers entered the forest as a runner emerged from the blue layered backcloth. Working horses occupied a farmyard and its fields.

Bending to graze, a troupe of red deer tripped elegantly across the Burley Manor lawns.

More haze lingered on the layered landscape visible from Holmesley Passage.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s superb steak and mushroom pie; boiled potatoes; firm Brussels sprouts; crunchy carrots and cauliflower; with tasty onion gravy. This was followed by treacle tart and ice cream. The Culinary Queen finished The Quintet wine and I drank more of the pinot noir.

From Mist To Sunshine And Back

CLICK ON CLUSTERS TO ACCESS GALLERIES THAT CAN BE VIEWED FULL SIZE. THE SINGLE IMAGES JUST NEED TO BE CLICKED FOR ENLARGEMENT IF REQUIRED.

The mist that shrouded the garden never left Downton today.

Motoring further away from the coast into the forest in the mid-afternoon, Jackie and I left the fog behind us and were treated to bright sunshine sending splayed shafts through the trees alongside

Holmsley Passage.

The few leaves that still clung to the slender branches became dancing will-o-the-wisps flirting with autumn’s bronzed ferns;

and individual trunks were spotlit pillars.

Haze surrounded a solitary pony on the roadside approaching Burley, where

pools of recent precipitation reflected housing, trees, and sky.

The herd of red deer that had not been in evidence on our last visit to that village had today, as is their wont, invaded the field in front of the Manor House, where they rendered lawn mowers redundant.

By the time we returned home via Hordle Lane the mist had (in)visibly thickened.

This evening we dined with Becky and Matthew on Jackie’s tasty cottage pie, tender beef in red wine, and piquant cauliflower cheese. I drank Languedoc rouge 2015.