On this fine spring morning we took a trip to Mudeford.
Gulls lined up to welcome us as Jackie drove towards the quay.
A pair of serene cygnets sailed across the calm harbour, while a hunched egret tried to pass itself off as a gull.
Currents meeting on the open sea created spray-tipped turbulence
towards which a speedboat motored.
A silhouetted group was breaking up on the quayside,
with its usual stacks of crab pots, buoys, and ropes.
Along the coast at Avon Beach solitary walker ignored the spray, while, try as it might, by kicking up sand, a dog was unable to distract its owner from her mobile phone.
We continued into the forest where, in the vicinity of Burley, grey ponies dotted the landscape.
Having laboured up a steep hill, a trio of cyclists seemed relieved to coast down the other side.
When we returned home I ventured out into the garden for the first time since my surgery. During my tour I was delighted with the array of hellebores, cyclamens, and snowdrops that have proliferated in the last month.
This evening we dined on pork chops baked with English mustard and almonds from elsewhere; roast potatoes and parsnips; crunchy carrots and cauliflower; and tender runner beans with tasty gravy.