<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/GarybeesMay18.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5011" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/GarybeesMay18-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a>I spent a few days with Gary and Caroline in Oxfordshire. I used to work with Gary and we have maintained our friendship since I retired.

A recent hobby is bee keeping. The hive is only four weeks old so at this early stage Gary needs to monitor it every week to make sure the bees are bringing in honey and the queen is laying eggs in the cells.

He was in the full bee keepers suit and I was standing the other side of a mesh he had placed around the hive to encourage the bees to head out in a particular direction avoiding the neighbours' gardens.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/beesMay18.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-5010" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/beesMay18-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>As each rack was removed Gary looked to see if there were cells closed off which indicates the queen has laid an egg and the workers have sealed it. There was also evidence of bees cleaning out some of the cells where grubs had left and turned into more bees. It all looked very promising.

The photographs are not clear because I wasn't dressed for beekeeping and was taking the photos through the mesh.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Upton-HallMay18.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5012" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Upton-HallMay18-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>We visited <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/upton-house-and-gardens" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upton Hall</a>, a National Trust property, for a walk around the house and grounds.

The house has quite a history and the National Trust has presented the building in two guises - how it would have been before alterations in 1939 and how it was afterwards. One room which had been converted from a squash court into an art gallery had the red line from when it was a  court on the wall.

We also visited Oxford and toured an exhibition of <a href="https://www.ashmolean.org/americascoolmodernism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American artists at the Ashmolean</a>. Gary and I walked up to the <a href="https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pitt Rivers museum</a>. It is similar in style to London's Natural History museum. The museum hasn't changed since its inception so the information cards are part of the history which is fascinating.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/VineyardMay18.jpg"><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-5008" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/VineyardMay18-200x150.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="150" /></a>On my way back home I stopped off at a vineyard that was holding an open day. The sun shone throughout the afternoon. I didn't try any wines because I was driving and I support zero tolerance when it comes to drink driving.

The journey to Oxfordshire and back in the MX5 was brilliant although I might have picked up a speeding ticket.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/almond-tree-bedMay18.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-5009" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/almond-tree-bedMay18-200x150.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="150" /></a>Home and garden continues to occupy my time. Sometimes it is difficult to make a decision as to what to do with a failing plant and I tend to err on the side of saving it especially if it was something Jane had planted. Today I tackled the border plot by the almond tree. It has been neglected and the nectarine tree, once again, was suffering from peach leaf curl despite me treating it twice a year for the last two years so I decided to dig it up and get rid of it. The border is now cleared apart from a clematis and I can start again.

I've grown some zinnias, cosmos and lupins from seed so I shall transplant them into this border after I've added some decent compost to the soil.

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