Ramblings
This morning I recovered two pictures for the post: https://derrickjknight.com/2019/11/19/the-dental-riskits/
After lunch I carried out a weeding and dead heading task before
photographing a few flowers, each image of which bears a title in the gallery. Scented roses are now coming into their own.
This evening we all dined on Jackie’s tangy lemon chicken and colourful savoury rice with which she drank Dellie Venezie Pinot Grigio 2022 and I drank more of the Rioja.
The wind picked up speed today; the rain kept away; sometimes the clouds allowed the sun to put in an appearance.
While Jackie continued planting I carried out a token tidy and dead-heading diurnal poppies.
Here the Head Gardener carries her camera because Nugget had dived into the hole she was digging so she left the arbour to pick up her device and when she returned her perverse little robin had disappeared, but she lived in hope that he might return before she put it down.
This windblown pink climber attempting to enter through the window beside my desk encouraged me to wander around with my camera photographing
a range of flowers, details of which can be found in the gallery, accessed by clicking on any image.
Jackie may not have managed to photograph Nugget, but she did produce the above trio which again are explained in the gallery.
Unbeknown to either of us we collaborated on the production of the Wedding Day bouquet by each taking a range of shots of this rose which will soon be fully veiling the Agriframes Arch. Individual authorship will be revealed by accessing the gallery in the normal way.
Concerned readers may have noticed a little dead heading of roses was overdue. Have no fear, this was rectified later this afternoon.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s succulent sausages in red wine; creamy mashed potatoes; and firm carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli, with which I drank more of the Carles. Jackie had drunk her Becks on the patio beforehand.
With the aid of a printout of “Don’t Panic!”, SueW, Weekly Prompts superb First Guide to the Blocks Editor printed two days ago, I spent some time this morning trying to understand rather than stumble through WP’s new scourge. Sue likens it to a modern washing machine which has loads of options that most of us will never use – rather like a mobile phone really.
I then took a few garden views from upstairs. In this one “Where’s Jackie?” (2)
The rest of these are further explained by accessing the gallery with a click on any one. Two portray Jackie drying her hair. To save anyone asking, it is all natural. Paul’s Scarlet is the red climbing rose.
susurrus has also been providing useful help on the particular theme I have managed to activate. Between these two blogging friends I hope to recover displaying my About page. I continued the struggle this afternoon.
Eventually I contacted WordPress Support. Their response was immediate and a chat was opened. I was pursuing this when I received a call from our heating engineer to say he was on his way. Consequently I had to close the chat intending to pick it up again tomorrow.
I haven’t mentioned it before, but we ran out of fuel oil last week, so we haven’t had any heating for a week. Oil was delivered yesterday but the boiler refused to reset, so Ronan from Tom Sutton Heating visited to do it for us.
Life was so much simpler in the 1940s – apart from bombs and stuff.
Before dinner we sat for a while on the Westbrook Arbour bench watching
the sprinkler spray clematis Dr Ruppel, and
light leave Florence sculpture.
Our meal consisted chicken biriani created from fried chicken breasts added to leftover chicken and rice from last night; mine enhanced by the hotter jalfrezi sauce. Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Shiraz.
Today’s brisk north east wind carried a much cooler breeze than the sunshine promised. Fooled by this deception we took a circuitous route taking in
Keyhaven Harbour at low tide on our way home.
Some moored boats sat on dry land;
others, with buoys bobbed
on the rippling shallow surfaces while winds whistled through their bristling masts.
A lone oyster catcher picked its way among the drying weed,
like this black headed gull
quite unfazed by a black crow’s attempts at menace.
Several of the walkers who stepped out along the open freezer that was the sea wall commented on the tingling temperature.
There was not much activity at the end of Saltgrass Lane with its bridge to Hurst Spit over which
gulls swooped no doubt wondering why two gentlemen kept their prescribed distance.
One of the black headed birds rested on a rock contemplating
a cluster of yellow wild flowers on the opposite bank.
It is always risky for me to disembark with a camera while Jackie stops along a narrow winding lane like the one named
Agarton, because if any other vehicle comes along she will have to drive off and wait for me at the next available spot. Today we were lucky. Until we ventured into Lymore Valley.
There a most unpleasant stench beset our nostrils.
Rounding a bend we came nose to tail with a waste disposal tanker draining a domestic septic tank.
There was no way round it and Jackie was forced to back up until she found a place to turn. Difficult to do when you are holding your hooter.
Later this afternoon Jackie embarked upon a necessary watering session in the garden, where Nugget was having difficulty taking a bath in the somewhat reduced water feature. She refilled it and turned to her tray of potted plants. Her familiar followed her and indicated that he would rather swish around in that while keeping her company.
Looking rather tatty after his bath,
he was determined to hide. “Where’s Nugget?” (77) and
eventually emerged a little drier
to gather provender
for his offspring.
In addition to these pictures of her resident robin Jackie photographed the rose Paul’s Scarlet now scaling the wisteria arbour.
Fortunately The Culinary Queen prepares plenty of her delicious pasta arrabbiata for us to enjoy a repeat sitting today and other days. She drank Hoegaarden with her helping and I drank more of the El Zumbido Garnacha Syrah with mine.