Thursday 10th August - shh, don't say it too loud

 but Summer may have arrived. I joined friends for tea at a local tea room and we ended up moving our heavy picnic table into the shade...

I read that wasps go away if you ask them nicely; we tried it and it seemed to work, apart from one wasp which was determined to share in a jam and cream scone. We trapped it in a nearly empty jam dish by upending another emptied jam dish over the top. I guess the wasp may have been happy enough if jam is what it wanted, and we were happy enough because wasps were not what we wanted.

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A remarkably fat envelope arrived today - what could it be? - 163 assorted stamps!

84 First Class, 59 Second Class, 17 First Class Large Letter, 2 20p stamps and a single 1p stamp. I my have missed the penny stamp. 

I sent off my father's old-style, non-bar-coded stamps for replacement. He always bought stamps in quantity, to defeat the price rises that occur from time to time. I discovered he had £147 worth. 'No, I don't think I want any stamps anymore,' he said, so I doubt I will be buying stamps in the near future.

(Why did the penny stamp? Because the threepenny bit. Ba-doom-tish. The old ones are the best)

I said I would take a picture of the oak tree with its raised canopy this morning, and here it is;

 I reckon about 6-9 feet has gone from the lower canopy on this side; the other side is untouched. That bench has not seen the sun since the leave came out!

Up until now we haven't had much opportunity to make use of the shade under the apple tree- but if Summer has come... we can dream, we can hope...