BLIND DATE

We didn't quite wear red roses in our buttonholes, but having mobile phones certainly helped - today I managed to meet up with Anne's ex neighbour in Geraldine ... what a lovely lady.

We managed to talk for an hour and a half without any breaks and could cheerfully have continued but Maureen had another appointment and I was due to leave after lunch, to have final farewells with the Kemps before travelling on to Wales.

Maureen has been back in the UK for 18 months after 20 years in NZ, mostly in Geraldine.  We talked about the difficulties of  'slotting back in' after such a long period and she told me that she had joined the local golf club and, having been quite involved in Geraldine, the local patchwork group.

Now there's a reason for all this - and here you were, just about to dismiss this blog without giving me a chance... read on!

Evidently all the UK patchwork groups have been invited to make a pendant to be used at the Olympic Games next year.  They were given a variety of designs on a website and Maureen decided to do one with a English Oak leaf and an acorn.   She is not entirely certain what they are going to be used for but it may be for the opening (or closing) ceremony - or something that will be given out with the medals.

However (the whole reason for this exciting chapter), before making her pendant, Maureen decided she would do some research and was amazed to read that the English oak is the only tree whose leaves have no stalks but are attached directly to the twig, and whose acorns have stalks on them.  All other oak trees have leaves and acorns the other way around.

Now be honest - I bet you didn't know THAT before did you??   (OK well you might have - but I certainly didn't)  And won't we all now be interested to see what those pendants are eventually used for?

Remember - you heard it here first!!!