sunset – Page 4 – derrickjknight

This Last Afternoon Of November

David Chesworth, who understands the degrees of family relationships, and knows he is my second cousin once removed, this morning sent me his version of yesterday’s

sunset that he named Le Dragon.

I really do think I finished with the paperwork today as I emptied the second little cabinet that stood beside my desk, and Jackie and I carried it to the shed to await disposal.

After lunch I wandered around the garden, once more in a temperature warm enough for shirtsleeves, and photographed

the garden just as it is on this last afternoon of November. Each image in the gallery bears a title.

Later, I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2021/11/30/a-knights-tale-73-mine-was-bent/

This evening we dined on more of Jackie’s tasty sausages in red wine with fresh vegetables. The Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Merlot.

Sunset Is For The Birds

This morning I emptied a small cabinet of drawers which stood beside my desk. Some of the contents needed shredding, some were binned, and some found homes in our new cupboards. I then tackled two public bodies who I can only reach on line. I won’t bore you with the details of these, save to say that after nearly an hour on the phone with BT I wound up learning that I must pay £7.50 a month to retain my e-mail address. VAT wasn’t mentioned, but I bet that will be added.

Jackie and I moved the empty cabinet to the garden shed, and I calmed myself down this afternoon by posting https://derrickjknight.com/2021/11/29/a-knights-tale-72-upstaged/

At the end of the afternoon we took a drive on which, over Beaulieu Road we noticed that

sunset was on its way.

Hatchet Pond rose up to meet it as we watched the gentle pink skies set ablaze reflecting on the surface among swans, gulls, and ducks, some of which each of us photographed

away from the the flaming areas. In mine gulls create ripples on the surface which Jackie’s sailing swans do not disturb. The Assistant Photographer has also captured reflecting gulls with wings raised and lowered in flight.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s succulent sausages in red wine; creamy mashed potatoes; crunchy carrots; firm broccoli; and tender red cabbage, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Merlot.

Last Hours Of The Day

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.

Windblown Flames

After a full day of tidying and clearing we took a quick trip to catch the sunset at Mudeford.

Jackie managed to transport a carpet upstairs, one step and a time; we then moved a computing desk from the days when the devices all had towers downstairs to extend the long wooden desk I bought 34 years ago from the previous owner when I bought Lindum House. This enabled me to arrange iMac, scanner, and printer in a less cluttered manner, prompting me to tidy out the drawers on the basis that if anything inside them related to equipment I no longer used it was binned. I also continued disposing of ancient paperwork.

We drove though a dramatic shower and a range of moody skies which, by the time we reached our goal were quietly smouldering until

the flickering flames of a bonfire blew across the skies.

A stately cavalcade of swans and cygnets sailed past a row of mallards

A woman pushing a pram, and perching gulls provided picturesque silhouettes.

A dashing dog scattered other birds.

On our return, I published https://derrickjknight.com/2021/11/26/a-knights-tale-70-earning-the-gratitude-of-neighbours/

Later, we dined on Jackie’s wholesome winter stewp with fresh crusty rolls with which she drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Fleurie.

From Moonrise To Sunset

While I scrapped more archived papers Jackie added them to continued burning of garden refuse this morning. As I had better luck uploading pictures today, I have used this one that I had given up on yesterday.

Richard and Alan fitted the doors to the entrance lobby and to the airing cupboard. The chest of drawers shown beside the airing cupboard is to go.

Early this afternoon Helen and Bill visited and enjoyed coffee and inspecting the work of Kitchen Makers.

Towards twilight we took a drive into the forest.

The moon rose to grace the pastel canopy over Paul’s Lane, Coombe Lane and the Burley Road from Norleywood. A murder of crows assembled on telegraph wires, and trees wore their autumn clothing.

We were back home in time for sunset.

This evening we dined on oven fish and chips, peas, pickled onions and chilli cornichons with which we both drank Val di Salis Chardonnay 2020.

A Pony For GP

On returning from our trip yesterday, we admired the progress that Richard and Alan from Kitchen Makers had made during our absence.

The frame for the internal front door was well under way, and the new vestibule cupboard in position.

Today Richard completed the architraves for the entrance door and the new sitting room upstairs; and fitted the wardrobe drawers – all to an immaculate standard.

Afterwards, Jackie announced that she would like to find a pony for GP.

Off we went into the forest, where, just outside Burley, we found

the very creature.

We stopped on Hordle Lane to admire the sunset.

Afterwards the Assistant Photographer pictured

violas in the iron urn with bidens beside their container; and the blooming white chrysanthemum that she had grown by rooting in water one of the flowers from Becky’s Mother’s Day bouquet.

This evening we dined on Red Chilli’s excellent takeaway fare. My main course was king prawn naga, Jackie’s was chicken sag. We shared tarka dal, mushroom rice, panir tikka, sag bahji, and plain naan. There is enough left over for tomorrow. Mrs Knight drank Hoegaarden while I drank Patrick Chodot Fleurie 2019.

Before And After Sunset

This morning I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2021/11/11/a-knights-tale-62-appendicitis/ then set about starting the vast shredding of paperwork going back almost two decades that clearance of the vestibule cupboard that is to be replaced has prompted. I may be some time.

We lunched and caught up with each other at Tyrell’s Ford with Helen, Shelly, Bill, and Ron. My choice was steak, chips, onion rings, mushrooms, tomatoes, and peas. I had no room for dessert. I drank Flack’s Double Drop bitter. Jackie’s main course was turkey escalope, salad, and chips, followed by syrup madeira cake and ice cream; accompanied by Diet Coke. I won’t speak for the others, save to say that all the meals were enjoyed.

Jackie and I had to leave the sisters and their spouses to their coffees while we dashed back to Milford on Sea for our flu vaccinations.

Afterwards we drove to Keyhaven where I walked along the sea wall and we both took photographs as sunset approached.

I produced the first two images of a couple of sailboarders; the other two were Jackie’s.

I photographed a swan trying to discern its reflection in rippling water; Jackie focussed on me at the far end of the wall with the bird fishing in the foreground.

A couple walked on ahead of me while I concentrated on grasses in the landscape, a louring skyscape, and a skein of geese honking overhead.

Jackie photographed boats in the harbour and Hurst lighthouse in the distance; and, of course,

me in action

We both caught the sunset. Jackie’s are the last two with the rows of masts.

We returned via Saltgrass Lane where I pictured a further sunset to which Jackie turned her back to photograph the moon beyond a grass curtain.

As the sun lowered its sights another photographer and watchers were silhouetted on Hurst Spit.

We needed no dinner this evening.

Planning A Wedding

We began the day with a trip to The British Heart Foundation Charity Shop in New Milton, where we delivered the clothes, various ornaments, and nicknacks that our renovations had prompted us to give away.

Richard finished building the shelves in the airing cupboard, then began

removing the internal vestibule door he is to replace. This will remove the trip hazard that the frame of this door, once an entrance, has become.

This afternoon we joined the planning meeting at Lymington Community Centre for the wedding of

Barry and Karen, whose wedding I will be photographing next year.

Sunset was descending as we left the building,

and Jackie drove us down Lower Pennington Lane in search of a clearer view.

Later we dined on Jackie’s spicy chicken jalfrezi with tasty mushroom rice and light plain paratha. The Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Douro.

A Sunset Seagull Squabble

We spent the morning packing up clothes and other items we won’t use again and storing them for charity shops or recycling outlets. One of Richard’s next projects is the entrance lobby. I also emptied a cupboard which is to be removed from there.

After lunch I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2021/11/07/a-knights-tale-60-i-come-a-cropper/

Later this afternoon we visited Mudeford for

the sunset.

Suddenly the air was rent by the screeching of squabbling seagulls, prompted

by a gentleman flinging food for them.

When satisfied, they soared towards the lowering sun or paddled at low tide.

Another photographer focused on the sunset, missing inland scenes.

Rows of masts stood out against the darkening skies while the rippling seas attempted to drive the light inland.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s spicy chicken jalfrezi and savoury rice, with onion bahji’s and a plain paratha, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I finished the zinfandel.

He Caught The Sun

As we ease off in the garden we are embarking on the next stage of the internal refurbishment of our house which was in a sorry state when we bought it in April 2014.

Our bedroom with ensuite bathroom drops down from the alleged dressing room through which it is accessed. A large chunk of this room has been sacrificed to a rather pointless extension of the airing cupboard. As with every other D.I.Y. effort throughout the house it has been a botched job.

Richard, of Kitchen Makers is to start work on various rooms, beginning with this on Tuesday.

For seven years this room has been only good for a dumping ground. When our craftsman removes the extension of the airing cupboard he will build a useful structure into the former chimney breast seen in the centre of this trio of pictures.

Although we still have to clear the clutter shown above, this morning we emptied the now obsolete extension.

The third picture in this second gallery shows the door frame to the inner original cupboard which will be reinstated. The variously textured walls will be refaced and eventually redecorated, removing

our predecessors’ stencils and the false wall oppressing my great great grandmother, Elizabeth Franks.

I have eschewed flash photography for many years. I didn’t use it for the pictures on this post, but I have a project coming up next year for which it may be necessary. It must have been some time in the ’90s when I bought a rather complicated flash gun with instructions for use with film. I have never used it. This afternoon I made an effort to understand it and eventually produced some passable images. Nevertheless I need to seek further advice before deciding whether to find a simpler device.

Later, Jackie drove me to Mudeford to have a look at the skies.