Martin has reported a little friend that has followed him around in recent months.
The little robin came and went regularly this morning, surveying our Gardener Plus
continuing to remove unwanted materials to the skip, and levelling the patio preparation.
Today he concentrated on preparing the ground for the sleeper wall.
After each trip of Martin’s this undoubted descendent of Nugget hopped down and investigated the supply of wriggly things exposed.
Where is Nugget Junior? Can you spot him on the edge of the gravel?
This evening we dined on tempura and hot and spicy prawns with Jackie’s flavoursome savoury rice with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Gran Selone.
Today’s plan was, after an early lunch, to visit as many as possible of the 21 gardens in the village of Sway that were open to the public.
In the event I seem to be experiencing a reaction to yesterday’s Covid booster vaccination so I didn’t trust myself to go wandering about. The ladies therefore left me dozing over a book and
lunched at Rosie Lea while chatting to
a friendly robin. The first gallery of pictures was provided by Jackie, who also took the first two robin shots, while Flo took the third, and all the garden images which are to follow.
They walked around five of the gardens.
The first set are from Tarna on Brighton Road;
then came 4 Buldowne Walk;
followed by Holmlea;
15 Oakenbrow was next;
and finally Ashen Bank in Adlams Lane, where the camera battery expired.
As usual each picture is titled in the galleries.
This evening we dined on the excellent fare of Hordle Chinese Take Away with which Jackie drank Tsing Tao beer and Flo and I didn’t.
After lunch we took advantage of a spell of sunshine and drove into the forest.
At the Roger Penny Way end of Cadnam Lane
we stopped to converse with the pair of Gloucester Old Spots we often see there; and a robin that we don’t.
Reflections rippled over the stream spanned by the road bridge.
Jackie’s photographs are the last two in this woodland gallery incorporating a large decaying stump.
Further along ponies chomped on hay against the backdrop of a sheep field.
The ford fence that I had reported in a state of collapse on a recent visit has now been repaired; a trio of sows and a solitary pony will now be safe to cross.
On the lane to Bramshaw we kept meeting and passing a friendly equestrienne until I finally called out of the window “We’ll leave you alone now.”
This afternoon’s Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and Wales failed to record, so later I watched the game between France and Ireland.
We then dined on Jackie’s wholesome chicken and vegetable stewp with fresh crusty bread.
Martin spent the morning tidying the back drive beds. He applied his painstaking effort to cutting back excessive growth and cleaning the brick edging. He chopped the refuse and added it to the compost.
Two robins who we think are a grandson of Nugget and his female partner have been attracted by the work. Longer term readers will be familiar with our late tame robin and the occasional challenges to find him. Hopefully we are starting a new “Where’s Nugget’s grandson?” with these two, the first being No. 1 and the other No. 2. You may need to enlarge the images.
While all this activity was going on a big bumble bee slept away the morning on a blooming bergenia.
Hellebores and violas are also in bloom.
Owls and burnished Lanarth White hydrangea basked in the warm sunlight.
Snowdrops are now in flower throughout the garden
and on the kitchen table.
Another flower arrangement of Jackie’s consisted of a clutch of hard boiled eggs which took us back to our youth when most eggshells were white. Even in our early adulthood it was the brown shell that was unusual. Until someone decided that brown ones were considered more healthy. It seems that Tesco is in the vanguard of reversing the trend.
At mid afternoon we purchased a few items at Ferndene Farm Shop then took a short forest drive.
Sunlight picked out distant slopes beyond Burley Road and its moorland. The ponies in these landscapes showed interest when I disembarked from the Modus, but turned their backs when they realised I was not carrying food for them.
On the approach to Bisterne Close a field horse looked wistfully across the lane at a pair of
pony cousins enjoying their freedom.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s wholesome cottage pie; crunchy carrots and cauliflower; firm Brussels sprouts; and tasty gravy, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank Azinhaga de Ouro Reserva 2019.
At lunchtime Martin showed us the completed raised bed he finished this morning. He has concreted in the galvanised pins, put additional brackets on the corners, sifted and replaced some of the removed soil, and saved the plants that have been dug up.
These primroses may go back in, with a number of bulbs.
The activity aroused the interest of a pair of robins.
We have now agreed that Martin will help us on a regular basis.
On another decidedly dingy afternoon we visited Elizabeth who hasn’t been too well.
The sheep field opposite her home in Burnt House Lane, Pilley was well stocked.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s flavoursome liver and bacon casserole; creamy mashed potatoes; crunchy carrots and cauliflower, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Douro.
While the overnight gale continued to rant, rave, and spatter our windows we spent the morning continuing the decluttering prompted by our domestic refurbishment. I made considerable headway in dispensing with decades of paperwork.
Late this afternoon, when the wind and the rain desisted, we rewarded ourselves with a forest drive.
At the corner of Brock Hill Car Park serving the Rhinefield ornamental drive a victim of the recent winds, ripped from its rooting place and tossed onto picnic tables lay ready to join
others having earlier suffered similar fates to return to the soil from which they sprang.
A bitter wind made the temperature feel colder than the 3 degrees Centigrade that was recorded. The walkers lending scale to the giant redwoods around them were wrapped up well.
We have learned that robins abandon gardens for the forest during winter. They were much in evidence. This one dropped onto a fungus-bearing post.
From Rhinefield we progressed to pass Burley Manor where two groups of walkers caught the last of the sunlight as they crossed the lawn and its dying trees.
The skies were adopting gentle pastel shades, which strengthened by the time we reached
Picket Post, blessed with Jesus beams on the approach to sunset, more apparent across the moors alongside
Holmsley Passage.
This evening we dined on moist roast lamb; boiled new potatoes and the sweet variety roasted with parsnips; firm broccoli; tasty red cabbage; and tender runner beans; with mint sauce and meaty gravy. Jackie drank Hoegaarden while I drank Duck Point Merlot 2019.
For lunch, we visited Elizabeth, Jacqueline. and Frances, at our younger sister’s home in Pilley and naturally continued reminiscing for most of the afternoon.
Later, I scanned or photographed the last of the presents that Mum had labelled for us.
Jackie photographed this Heal’s battery operated carriage clock which I must have bought for our mother more than 40 years ago. My post, “Lymington Quay” details how I managed to persuade Martin Fairhurst of Dials Antique Clocks to repair it 6 years ago.
It was nearer 50 years ago that I gave her these four bird paintings by, as far as I can decipher the signatures, P. Colbert. Each is individually titled in the gallery.
This hollyhock photograph I produced in September 1981.
Destined for Becky are this photograph by Noel Manchee of me running the Windsor Great Park half marathon in 1983;
and this painting she herself made on silk of one of the five stained glass panels from the porch in Lindum House sometime in the 1990s.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s spicy pasta arrabiata with tender green beans, peppers and onions. She drank Hoegaarden and I drank Patrick Chodot Fleurie 2019.
Although the skies were to brighten later, when we drove into the forest this morning light flakes of fluffy snow had already evaporated to integrate with liquid precipitation.
Jackie parked the Modus at Crockford Clump and I squelched across
waterlogged moorland and clambered over undulating slopes the basins of which became their own
reflecting, rippling, reservoirs refilled by pattering raindrops dripping from twigs above into the otherwise silent streams below.
Lichen layered arboreal limbs lay shattered among soggy autumn leaves; a perky robin roamed from tree to tree.
A friendly woman walking her dogs told me about the snow and a herd of deer she had seen earlier. Paddy, one of her dogs, lolloped over to me in search of treats and took no for an answer.
Ponies occupied the tarmac at East Boldre whilst communing with a couple of field horses.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s lemon chicken and savoury rice with which she drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Cotes du Rhone.
Pink sky streaks sent me out in the bright, chill, morning with my camera,
and perhaps led me to the hues of gladiolus, Dr Ruppel, Mamma Mia, Lady Emma Hamilton, this particular climbing rose, pelargonium, and carpet rose.
High up in the copper beech I think it was a blackbird serenading.
We took an early drive into the forest, and, enabling me to wander around the banks of Ibsley Water, Jackie parked her modus near the ford.
Angled sunlight cast long reflections on the rippling surface and penetrated the clear water to the shingle bed.
The gnarled oaks beneath Rockford Sand Pit have almost shed their foliate canopies.
While Jackie sat in the car an inquisitive jackdaw eavesdropped on her
animated conversation with a friendly robin. Our red-breasted friends do seem to be lingering in the woodlands.
Elizabeth visited us this evening and stayed for dinner which consisted of Jackie’s wholesome shepherd’s pie; crunchy carrots; firm Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower, with meaty gravy, followed by apple and gooseberry crumble and custard. The Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and my sister and I drank Adam Mason South African Merlot 2019.
where a robin drew our attention to the parking restrictions.
As we passed Beaulieu Mill Pond I spotted a pair of long necked log peacocks on the far bank.
Jackie parked and I walked back past the border of reeds to photograph them.
On the way there I managed to get all my ducks in a row.
Down a bank along Lymington Road a solitary donkey enjoyed a breakfast of spiky thistles.
Ponies preferred grass
or languorous cogitation of the thawing frost in the hazy sunshine.
In her Modus Jackie aroused the attention of an inquisitive field horse which she photographed along with
golden silver birches and glistening white terrain.
This evening we dined on Mr Chan’s Hordle Chinese Take Away’s fine fare with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Coonawarra which involved opening another bottle.
