ALL SORTS

About 4 weeks ago there was a water problem at the end of my lane. It was 'repaired' and promptly began running again. It's not the first time, it happened some 9 or 10 years ago and we knew

then that it was not what the gang were 'mending' each time, but further back along the system. People phoned, emailed, spoke to workmen wherever they saw them and I even spoke to Bucks Highways citing the damage to the road, all to no avail. The only response was a variety of excuses - the contractor's men were called away to see to a large burst main elsewhere - and still water was running down the road by the thousands of gallons. This may look as if water is draining away but it's really water bubbling through the lid of Thames Water's plate in the road.

This shows the way water was running down the road at the bottom of my lane for four weeks.

But the mini lake came in useful for this pair of dogs on their way home after their exercise.

At last the next-door-but-two neighbour has had his huge walnut tree lopped. This is how it looked before the tree loppers arrived with their chain saws and the huge shredder, left in the field at the back of our properties.

The orange blob near the top of the tree is the young man with the chain saw -' what a way to earn a living' as Dolly Parton sang. At least the weather was OK.

 This is how it looks now and even minus a bit more today - the lower left branch stump has gone. It's made such a difference with being able to see into the distance and the general feeling of light.

 It seems to be a good year for magnolias, there are so many trees in full bloom without being frosted. I spotted this on my home from another visit to the dentist.

And a lovely blue sky for the background.

It seems to be a good year for these, too - there are hundreds of them on the sides of the road, cheerful mini suns. Also known, of course, as wet-the-bed so perhaps they're a diuretic. Does anyone know? Lion's Tooth from its name - one of my German teachers used to call it Dan-Day-Lee-On. Children like to tell the time by puffing at the seed heads sending them off on a journey. It's also used for wine-making though gardeners aren't very fond of them. Can't be loved by everyone...

Now for something completely different! Sarah, my youngest granddaughter, was 22 yesterday and when the photo above, of brother James, was taken in a bluebell wood in Prestwood she was a couple of days old and still in hospital. One thing about his ginger hair is it glows in the sunshine. Now he's grown up he works with Formula 1 Force India racing team as an engineer after trying to get into Red Bull for a couple of years. His degree in Sports Car Engineering has paid off at last.
 I've looked for bluebells this year, especially in the woods round Chequers, but haven't seen that haze of blue yet.

Let us hope that this fine weather isn't our summer....

BITS AND BOBS

I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks - doesn't it drive you mad when the blog doesn't behave? Where have my Followers gone, though from the outcry on Help it seems to be a Google problem. And why does it decide to do its own paragraphing? I didn't lay out the last blog in the way it appeared!

Anyway, this collection of neatly cut out epimedium leaves is the work of leaf cutter bees but I've never seen one - as far as I know! The cut out pieces are rolled into cylinders and placed in a tunnel (says the AA book of the British Countryside). One end is sealed with a piece of leaf and a store of honey and pollen placed against it. One egg is laid on the food then the cell is sealed. Other cells are made along the tunnel and when the tunnel is full the bee dies. The following spring the new bees emerge.

On to other things now. The long-hexie lap quilt I was making from Kath's template is well on the way to completion.

I didn't want to have a lot of material on my lap while sewing one square in place. I followed the idea of sewing in sections, the yellow squares at the bottom being attached to the piece underneath, in due course.
A couple of days ago I put the 'sandwich' together.

Under this layer of fleece is the backing, which I forgot to photo but it wouldn't show you anything exciting, just a piece of Laura Ashley material I was given ages ago. It's the colour of anemones, red, hyacinth blue, white and green, and densely patterned with flowers. I bought a roll of upholsterers wadding years ago and I've always used this as the batting for quilts and the later offcuts are used for toy stuffing. Once these two layers were wrinkle free I laid the top over the two layers, making sure there was plenty of extra material underneath spread equally on all sides. I've not decided yet whether to do a 'wraparound' binding or a separate one.
Then I had to pin the 'sandwich' every 4" or so but I can't do that on the floor now, so put in half a dozen pins to hold it and then lifted it onto my dining table where I completed the pinning section. So far I've managed to quilt 1/4" in from the seams in half a dozen of the yellow squares using a new roll of tape, bought at the amazing new Hobbycraft store in Aylesbury. My quilting frame has been reassembled and is waiting for me to start work again today. The quilt has to be finished by the end of August if it's to go into Haddenham Horticultural Show's Handicrafts section.
Just one more thing now. Do you remember seeing this photo of a mullein in the garden? It was taken on the 2nd June.Look at it now!!
I asked Sarah to stand beside it to give an idea of the height to which it's grown! (She's about 5'6"). Blue tits were hopping up and down it this morning....

SPAM

Do you look in your Spam box? I don't, I don't even think about. I went there the other day and was annoyed to find comments there which you've left and were perfectly valid to go in the post they referred to. Something makes a decision and opts out comments 'it' thinks are spam. I wish it would let me make the decision about whether I want to keep it or cancel it!

One of the comments was from my granddaughter, Sarah, who is at Uni taking Costume Design and Photography, who sent a message to remind me - on the Twenties blog - that she'll be 20 this year. Ah! my youngest grandchild!

She's more interested in the photography side of the course and these are a couple of sample covers for the Vogue assignment which is this term's subject. I have her permission to post these.

But, at the moment I can't even get into the spam page, I just keep getting 'information' which doesn't help. How do you retrieve comments from the spam box to put them into the blog they were intended for? Does anyone know???