Kicking up a wasp's nest

So there I was, sitting in the back garden, doing a combination of mending, catching up on some writing, plotting out an article, when I heard some folks working on the pond next door, and then I heard a swarming noise...lo' - I turned around and there was a huge swarm over the pond (separated by the garden by a wall; that which used to keep horses in the rear yard of the stable). Yikes, thought I, I don't know anything about the behaviour of swarming, stinging creatures, so I best get inside and shut the doors. No sooner done than the swarm was right where I had been sitting! Good decision to make that quick move! They went to hovering in the back corner of the garden; a couple seem to have found their way into the conservatory, now bashing themselves against the conservatory glass in efforts to get out (...it seems like I could fly straight through, why can't I?...not very large brains, it seems.)

Planning to do a walk in country lanes this afternoon...over stiles and such.

Sunday Roast Meal at a pub or not? Decisions decisions...

A few shots from yesterday at Hinton Ampner. I found the juxtaposition of these two textiles within this huge estate interesting. The quilt is on the bed of the former owner, Ralph Stawell Dutton (1898–1985). The raised embroidery is on the altar cloth in the church on the estate. The curiousity of these pieces is that there is/was a very humble, simple and 'comfy' handstitched quilt in an otherwise sumptuous bedroom while across the drive in the the public venue of the church is gold couched embroidery and all sorts of other incredible pieces of stitchery. Given the magnificence of the house and other furnishings, this quilt was a complete surprise.





 







Here are the books I bought in Petersfield. The cookery selection, one from Glasgow, one from Edinburgh, and an interesting 1950s essay on the vagueries of understanding what accounts for body weight variation.


The sewing/needlework books are from 1930 to 1960s. 'Needlework and Crafts' being a WW2 era textbook complete with the never-used patterns in the back pocket along with a booklet of knitting patterns for the war effort (balaclavas and such). 'Church Needlework' was intriguing; a) not expensive, and b) I had just been in the Hinton church and was taken with the beauty of the embroidery and other needlework. Patterns for choir members robes...who knew this is where they came from?

 

And then, the 'piece de resistance', inside the 'Little Girls' Sewing Book' is this ad for Robinson's Barley...a substitute for artificial asses' milk which is a substitute for donkey's milk which is a substitute for breast milk. Worth every penny to get this book just for that ad!