derrickjknight

History Reading And Path Clearance

Today I made enough progress with reading ‘England in the Age of Improvement’ to be on the brink of the last 100 pages.

Jackie continued her path clearance, completing the Shady Path and making a start on the Gazebo Path.

Elizabeth came for Easter dinner this evening. This consisted of roast lamb, roast potatoes and parsnips; sage and onion stuffing; mint and redcurrant sauce; carrots, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts, with meaty gravy with which my sister drank Fre-Dam non-alcoholic beer, Jackie drank alcohol free Tempranillo rosé brought by Elizabeth, and I finished the alcoholic Merlot.

Reading History, 100% Culling, And A Brief Drive

After reading more of ‘England in the Age of Improvement’, I deleted all the pictures in my iPhotos file appearing in

Not A Bad Start

and in

Lovelocks

As usual, these pictures remain in the posts.

Late this afternoon we took a brief forest drive where

a pony grazed in the woodland along Bisterne Close, and

along Mill Lane a Belted Galloway sported an unusual marking.

This evening we dined on cottage pie, cauliflower cheese, carrots and Brussels sprouts followed by strawberries and evaporated milk with which Jackie drank more of the non-alcoholic Pinot Grigio and I drank more of the Merlot.

Good Friday Easter Egg Hunt

We began today finishing preparations for the day’s event.

A splendid lunch of cold meats, quiche, salads, cheeses, bread and butter, cakes, coffee and Diet Pepsi just about kept Ella and Jack from dragging Jackie and me, Elizabeth and Danni into the garden to begin the Easter Egg Hunt.

On account of the threatened overnight rain that desisted during the morning Jackie had wrapped all the eggs and clues in colour coded plastic bags: green for Ella and blue for Jack. When searching each child was enjoined to collect only their own colour and not tell their sibling where theirs were.

Jackie photographed a token hiding place showing one of Jack’s

bags, and what was inside one bag of each of them.

They each received one starting clue leading them to their first eggs and the pointer to the next one.

I did my best to keep up with the chasing around the garden in search of treasures.

I sat on the Fiveways bench waiting for Ella to find the last bag carried by Florence sculpture. She hadn’t done so by the time I was

scheduled to repair inside in time for the children’s instruction to go to me for a last surprise.

This was two more plastic bags, each carrying a Robo Fish.

Here is an easter decoration we have had for a while and a pot of tete-a-tetes Danni gave us today, around which we enjoyed a relaxed conversation from which the children periodically escaped for another dash around the garden. Jackie provided a bowl of water in which the fish could swim.

The family returned home early this evening and Jackie and I enjoyed a Chicago Town Takeaway Stuffed Crust pizza with added pepperoni and salad; she drank more of the non-alcoholic Pinot Grigio and I drank Chilean Merlot Reserva Privada, 2024.

Clue Factory

Much of today was spent preparing for tomorrow’s Easter Egg Hunt.

Jackie produced 24 photographs as pictorial clues for Ella and Jack to be placed around the garden. I printed the images while Great Auntie Jackie settled on their text and where they will be positioned.

These are the sites. What Jackie has done with the clues will be revealed on Good Friday.

This evening we dined on smoked haddock and basa fillets; mashed sweet and white potatoes; cauliflower cheese with leeks; carrots and cabbage, with which we each drank the same wines as yesterday.

Walking On Water

On this grizzly day we drove to Boots in New Milton for an eye test for Jackie and the ordering of a new pair of glasses, then took a forest drive. While held up along Christchurch Road on account of traffic lights in operation for construction works it was easy to photograph

blackthorn blossom which currently lines most verges.

A pair of ponies grazing woodland at East Boldre suddenly dashed off as a tractor rounded the corner of St Leonards Road. We have noticed before that they don’t like tractors, perhaps because of their noise.

Further along others were happily protected in a field.

We passed a very attractive planting in a green triangle at the junction between Woodside Road and Ridgeway Lane.

Down Lower Pennington Lane Canada geese appeared to be walking

on water while ponies were screened by the ubiquitous blackthorn.

This evening we dined on Ferndene Farm Shop sausages; mashed sweet and white potatoes; boiled carrots, cauliflower, and cabbage, with meaty gravy. Jackie drank Zero Regrets non alcoholic Pinot Grigio and I drank more of the Garnacha.

Reading History And Today

Much of the day was spent on Reading ‘England in the Age of Improvement’.

I also removed one picture from my iPhotos file appearing in

The Melisende Psalter

In a walk round the garden after lunch I noticed that

Tulipa Lilac Wonder was at its fully opened peak of the day, as the day warmed up enough for us to have drinks on the patio.

This was our view from across the table.

This evening we dined on pork spare ribs in barbecue sauce, savoury rice and ratatouille, with which Jackie drank more of the non-alcoholic Cabernet Sauvignon and I drank Panorama Garnacha Old Vine 2023.

Reduction Of Hair, Ironing, And Photographs

Just before lunch Jackie interrupted her catching up with the ironing pile to drive me to Sears Barbers in Milford on Sea for a haircut which had become more pressing.

This afternoon I undertook a little more diminishing of the stack, then read more of ‘England in the Age of Improvement’ before failing to delete any of my iPhotos file pictures appearing in

Fred

I made up for this by removing all those appearing in

We Only Wanted Egg And Chips

This evening we dined on Vegetable Wontons and Tempura prawns on Jackie’s savoury rice and ratatouille, with which we each drank more of our yesterday’s wines.

Pit Props

On New Forest History and Heritage Facebook site this morning Jackie found this picture of the “Denny sawmill crew, date unknow but they operated during the war making pit props and railway sleepers, any names?”

I have printed a copy to show Roy (91 years old) in East Boldre and discuss it with him. He has told me that he planted trees for pit props when working in the forest.

I then made more progress on reading ‘England in the Age of Improvement’

This evening we dined on cod and parsley fish cakes; ratatouille; boiled new potatoes; Brussels sprouts; carrots, cauliflower and runner beans, with which Jackie drank Blush non alcoholic Cabernet Sauvignon and I drank La P’tite Pierre red wine 2024.

Alice And Alfred O’Connell

These are photographs we already had of Jackie’s maternal grandparents. The glass contains Alice’s bouquet.

Ron has just sent us prints of Alfred and Alice’s portraits and the

wedding group. I doubt that any of the rest of us will look as well preserved after 114 years.

Jackie continued her work on clearing the Shady Path until the clattering of icy hailstones on the windows presaged her hurried flight from the very cold albeit sunny afternoon.

I have been making a very slow start over the last few days on reading ‘England in the Age of Improvement’ by Asa Briggs. This afternoon I upped the pace.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s beef and mushroom pie; carrots, cauliflower with it’s chopped leaves, runner beans, and Brussels sprouts with meaty gravy. We both finished our wines from yesterday.

No Deletions

Jessie returned home late this morning, and phoned when she had arrived at her London flat, having made very good time.

I could bring myself to delete none of the pictures appearing in my iPhotos file from

Holly

We dined early this evening on roast rolled breast of lamb; boiled new potatoes, sage, onion and chestnut stuffing, carrots, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and meaty gravy, with which Jackie drank Not Guilty alcohol free Pinot Grigio, brought by Jessie, and I drank more of the Fleurie.