pumpkinstrokemarrow

On July 20 I reported emergency repairs to the umbrella on the beach at Yaverland. Not having done anything about it, the emergency repair finally gave way a couple of days ago, and to make matters worse the black plastic widget at the end of the rib in question got lost. After a short conference, BH and I decided on a more substantial repair, rather than sourcing a new-to-us umbrella. So I make a new widget, the second time I have done such a thing, from a bit of recycled oak from the carcase of a sideboard which used to live in north London. Maybe 20mm by 6mm by 3mm. Two holes in the end to take the two prongs of the rib and one transverse hole to take the thread. BH takes over at this point, neatly mending the tear in the fabric and attaching the mend to the mended rib. The point of attachment can be seen to the right of the widget. Rather late in the day she points out that the whole mend would have been a lot smarter had I stained the new widget before she did her bit. We decided not to retrace our steps and will have to live with an unstained widget which, as a result, does not match the other 7 widgets in any of size, shape, colour or material.