A Tale Of Two Hunting Lodges

Captivated by this morning's mist, I cast aside my domestic duties and went to Lodge Farm. At first it was white-out but then I discerned a woman and a dog approaching. She was upset because the three terriers with a man, who was now coming into view, had spooked her pooch.

I advised her to continue on her way and greeted terrier man. I usually hold out my hand to dogs but didn't in this case, thinking of airedaleknitter's bad luck. A woman with two flat-coated retrievers came from the opposite direction.  She held out her hand to the terriers and was bitten.

"I've taken a bite" she said and that was it. I commend her for not making a fuss. Turns out she is a Police dog-handling trainer.

I went home and did my chores and then to Epping Forest. The sun was slanting through the mist and illuminating the autumn leaves beautifully. I'd read that an event about Black History was on at Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge. "Five Africans visited London in the 1550s. Parish registers show a scattering of black Londoners setting up home in the Elizabethan period. By 1601 royal proclamations suggest that there was a sizeable black community. "Imagine yourself back in time by trying on our Tudor costumes and taking photographs or sketching friends and family to show the diversity of the Tudor community."

I went touting for people to dress up so that I could photograph them. I asked a black couple but they declined. Two nice-looking women from Denmark posed for me and I had another black woman lined up when a blonde woman approached me and said her black friend would like to be photographed. I had seen him earlier but thought he was too cool to ask. I think he makes a great Henry VIII. :) See extras.

After shooting noisy ring-necked parakeets in the forest I returned to Lodge Farm, the site of a former hunting lodge, and shot the above just before the mist descended and blocked out the sun.