Ooh, what a scorcher!

Is anyone else praying for rain? Now, I like a sunny day as well as the next person; our skies can be predominantly grey in the UK, so a nice bit of blue and some sunshine works wonders for my feelgood factor. What I dislike are hot, humid nights. I don't sleep brilliantly at the best of times, so recently I've been feeling more than a little sleep deprived. Windows wide open, curtains drawn during the daytime, loft hatch open to facilitate heat loss, all to no avail; we're still sweltering. Yesterday, we were having dinner in the garden and, for all of a minute, there were a few rain drops pattering down. It wasn't even enough to send us inside, just enough to tantalize. The same goes for the barometer which swung hopefully round to rain earlier in the week, only to swing back again rather irritatingly. The garden is parched, Hamish is moulting like he has some awful vitamin deficiency, I'm watering the greenhouse twice a day and the river is the lowest I've seen it since we moved in 20 years ago. Enough is enough, this is the UK for goodness sake, rain is what we do best. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, and I don't want weeks of relentless rain, making Wimbledon a washout and ruining the summer holidays for the children, just one good, heavy downpour to cool everything down and revive my plants is all I ask. There, rant over! Sorry. :0)

Here then are some photos from the last few weeks:

Cutting out fabric for a pinafore dress. I'd actually booked a workshop to make one of these, but sadly it was cancelled, so I thought I'd give it a whirl by myself. It has been sitting in the dining room for over a week as I can't face getting all hot and bothered over a sewing machine at the moment:

 A play at The Watermill. This was a bit of a disaster of an evening.  On the spur of the moment, we bought a couple of last minute tickets for a play that we knew nothing about. Apparently, it is a modern classic with pupils studying it for A levels. We were completely ignorant of the plot, but enjoyed Act one, had an interval and then were a little bemused by the end of Act 2. The car park at the Watermill sometimes gets a bit choked up, so we made a speedy exit and drove home chatting about the strange, inconclusive ending to the play. It was only after a while that a thought hit me ............. the cast hadn't come out to take a bow! You guessed it - there was actually a second interval before the 3rd and final act! Still, I always like to pay to see 2/3 of a play!

Taking Bridget to a local Classic Car Show. Most cars there seemed to be in pristine condition ....and then there was Bridget, all dusty and well used. R bought an old AA badge for her front grille - we told her that it was an award for the most beautiful car!

 

 My Antwerp socks are off the needles, although I think it may be a while before I need them!

 A  trip to Bristol to see E. She showed me the archives where she is doing her summer internship and then we walked along the harbourside before having lunch at 'Root':

 Playing with mosaics:

 A walk at Boar's Hill trying to see the famous view of Oxford - it may be better in the winter!

 Lunch at The Nag's Head in Abingdon: 

The Medieval Abbey:

 

Finding one of 'Islastones' in the Abbey Gardens. Read all about it here. We plan to take the stone to Stockholm when we go on holiday:

 The view from the roof of the county hall museum:

Well, that's all for this week. Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts. I'm just off into the garden to do a little rain dance!
Toodle pip for now. x