Venetia

@venetiajm

We pass through this day but once

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Venetia@venetiajm· 10d

I’m about half way through “The Last Englishman: The Life of J.L.Carr” by Byron Rogers and to sum up so far, Carr is an unusual man having an unusual life. Fascinating to see how he put that life into his books. 📚

Then he got commissioned into intelligence. He told me about that. Apparently some chap on the board asked how many frontline aircraft Germany had left, and [italics for emphasis] he told them."
'Yes, that was Dad, said Bob Carr. 'He was very proud of that interview. He said 358 planes or some such figure, something so exact it astonished them. He had no idea what it was, but he knew they hadn't either. He used to recommend that as an interview technique whenever you got asked some totally absurd question.'

Venetia@venetiajm· 12d

Guide of Dunkirk, built 1940 and immediately becoming one of the Little Ships of Dunkirk. Restored completely and beautifully by Abbey Boat Builder of Reedham in Norfolk.

Guide of Dunkirk at St Katharine’s Dock in London alongside several other Little Ships of Dunkirk. The main sail is original. Abbey Boat Builder https://abbeyboatbuilder.com/ have done a fine fine job.

Venetia@venetiajm· 19d

Great crested grebe with one of its two tiny black and white striped humbug chicks just visible among its feathers.

Venetia@venetiajm· 22d

Early evening light doing nice things in Hyde Park last weekend

View down a broad path, lined on both sides by an avenue of big trees mostly in shade. Dry brown grass. At the end of the path, the Albert Memorial, and the Royal Albert Hall behind it partly in view. Sunshine on the hall. Sunshine filtering through the trees onto patches of the path and the memorial. People walking away from this photographer. Benches invitingly empty.

Venetia@venetiajm· Jul 15

There are moths and then there are tiger moths

A Jersey Tiger moth. Triangular. Black with bold white stripy markings. You can just see the red underwings.

Venetia@venetiajm· Jul 12

Summer finally cool enough to be out enjoying it this evening

Wheatfield, looking pretty ripe. Trees in the distance. Deep blue cloudless sky

Venetia@venetiajm· Jul 5

Tinder dry

A line made by walking through a field of dry grasses.

Venetia@venetiajm· Jul 5

A whole field of chicory #wildflowerhour

Field full of chicory - the flowers a beautiful pale purple-blue.

Venetia@venetiajm· Jul 4

Revarnished some old slate today. Makes me think of Turner paintings

A rectangle of slate. Swirls of colour - browns, beiges, a smudge of dark grey-blue. A stormy sea / sky / mountains / whatever else you may see in it.

Venetia@venetiajm· Jul 1

Today the latest starling fledglings turned up. Here are two queuing for (more) food.

Two young starlings and a parent bird. The fledglings are waiting while the parent digs about for suet crumbs. They are noisy and into everything and will go far.

Venetia@venetiajm· Jun 29

New fledgling sparrow in the garden. My first thought was - congratulations on surviving last week

Baby sparrow on the right. Fluffy and trembling for food. Parent on the left pushing suet crumbs in as fast as he can.

Venetia@venetiajm· Jun 29

The end of the heatwave couldn’t have arrived too soon

Kew Gardens. Blue sky with some white clouds. A lake with a pair of mute swans on it. Trees fringing the lake. There was a breeze. There were dragonflies. It was warm but not hot. There were also planes on final approach to Heathrow every 30 seconds or so but thankfully not spoiling this picture.

Venetia@venetiajm· Jun 27

Sunday solstice sunset last weekend

View from Hammersmith bridge in London just before sunset, around 9pm. Fiery orb and sky aflame etc. There were sailing boats and rowers earlier on the water: at this point just some kayaks and geese. River curving left (south) in the distance. There were lots of people outside the pubs along the riverbank on the north side, but it’s in deep shadow by this point. Trees silhouetted on the south side. A few vapour trails in the sky, and a plane that had just taken off from Heathrow heading upwards.

Venetia@venetiajm· Jun 26

I am re-reading Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban. It’s so lovely. This bit made me laugh. I would like to think I’ll remember to say “nations do not ascend on such tomatoes” next time I eat a disappointing one.

I had a salad. If I were to say that today's tomatoes are an index of the decline of Western man I should be thought a crank but nations do not, I think, ascend on such tomatoes.
The bookshop man had fried eggs with sausages, chips, grease and Mother's Pride sliced bread and butter. He put ketchup on the chips. No wonder he looks hopeless I thought.

Venetia@venetiajm· Jun 22

10pm back door hedgehog, just after some heavy rain, roaming around and shaking off the drops 🦔

Venetia@venetiajm· Jun 20

Today at the Test

View of The Oval cricket ground from opposite the pavilion. England are batting. The score is 17 for 2 and they need 446 to win. I know! But it was a good day nonetheless.

Venetia@venetiajm· Jun 7

Loads of sand martins and a gazillion ox-eyes. Juuune

View of a lake. The bank in the foreground is covered in ox-eye daisies. Pale blue sky with clouds. Trees on the far side are all the greens. There were sand martins zipping about, but too fast to be caught on camera.

Venetia@venetiajm· Jun 6

Now close to the Channel Islands! atlantic-explorer.com/FAQ

Venetia@venetiajm· May 29

Nice moon rising. Birds shuffling around inside the hedge. 10pm goodness.

View through an almost silhouetted tangle of hedge and trees to a rising moon. Moon seems fairly full. Sky is darkening blue.

Venetia@venetiajm· May 20

Baby robins in the garden. Grumpy demanding speckled little fluffballs. Parent birds dashing about. I am enslaved #birds

Young robin. Still quite fluffy in front. Still quite plump. Still got that downturned yellow gape that makes it look grumpy. Still being fed regularly, although it was having a stab at testing out suet crumbs / daises / pebbles by itself, just in case they were food.

Venetia@venetiajm· May 6

Breakfast with peonies

Some peonies, great soft tumbles of apricot petals, and a smaller flower not quite so advanced and still a bright pink. Sunshine is lighting up the larger, older flower and making it glow.

Venetia@venetiajm· May 2

It is peony time and so I cannot pass by the florist. I have to go in

A peony flower. Bright pink. Cerise? Many silky layers of petals. Yellow stamens peeping out from the middle. Vivid deep green narrow tapering leaves. The tablecloth is mustard-yellow and blue so this picture is all a bit saturated with colour.

Venetia@venetiajm· Apr 28

Tonight on #älgvandringen, reindeer chilling in the forest, a fox springing around the water’s edge, and an eagle made an appearance. Plus, you know, elk/moose. 37 have swum across now

Reindeer having a snoozy rest in the forest.

A fox in the shallows. It had a drink and sprang onto the rocks before trotting away

Venetia@venetiajm· Apr 26

An #älgvandringen update. Lots of elk/moose swimming across: 32 now. And two special birds doing special things - Cranes bugling and Grouse lekking.

The fabulous silhouette of a swimming moose (if you’re in the US)/elk (if you’re in the UK). Their ears are swivelling the whole time

A curlew in the foreground. Two cranes behind (one sitting)

Two cranes bugling. Standing at full heights, heads thrown back. A high pitched trumpety sound

Grouse lekking. Wings out to the sides, white tail feathers displayed, they charge at each other like little enraged bulls

Venetia@venetiajm· Apr 23

Cherry moon 5.15pm

Some branches of cherry blossom and new leaves. Deep blue sky. Moon just visible in the centre

Venetia@venetiajm· Apr 22

Some scenery from #älgvandringen today. Daily highlights for about half an hour at roughly 9pm.

River in sunny weather. A shallow part with many rocks in the water. For trees on the land. Ice in the water. Blue sky.

A view over part of the forest. Miles of pines. The river in the background. Blue sky

At the point where the ice has melted ok the river. Water sparkling in sunlight. One of the trees is leaning heavily towards the river

Late in the day, the sun sets over the forest. Yellow tone to the sky. The trees are becoming dark.

Venetia@venetiajm· Apr 22

Den stora älgvandringen is back on STV. Slow TV at its best. Moose migrating through a Swedish forest. All day every day until May 8. #älgvandringen www.svtplay.se/kategori/alg...

A moose (älg) sitting quietly in the forest. Sun on its nose. It sniffs the air from time to time and it is listening carefully. The screen counter bottom left shows two moose have swum across the river so far this series.

Venetia@venetiajm· Apr 20

I mean, really

More cherry blossom busy-ness. Sun shining through one of the gaps. A bit more blue sky.

Venetia@venetiajm· Apr 20

The cherry tree has done its annual explosion and as usual I am surprised and amazed. Pink froth, pink snow

A mass of cherry blossom. Collections of pink pom-poms. Some new leaves, still brownish in places. Bits of blue sky in between the froth.

Venetia@venetiajm· Apr 14

Waiting for a train. A collared dove lands on an overhead wire next to me and edges away along it verrry slowly in a way that attracts my attention before ducking under the canopy of the platform building. And there is the nest. Two sizeable chicks. Hope no one else sees them and disturbs them. 🪶