Good things and bad things

I have a wonderful view of this shrub from my kitchen window - it is a graptophyllum, but I am not sure which one as I bought it from a nursery and have managed to lose the tag. Two of our neighbours have cut down mango trees letting much more light into our garden and this is the result. You can see just a bit of the cloud of yellow from the bella paronis (prawn plant) which is taking over the garden bed as well. I have a feeling the name of that plant has been changed, but that is what I have always known it by, it lowers all through the winter months, giving a lovely splash of colour.

This centradenia is flowering beautifully this year. Hawkmoth caterpillars love it and usually manage to defoliate almost the whole plant before we get any flowers, but I haven't seen any around for months - can't say I am sorry, I like my flowers!

Then the bad things - I have had a (hopefully) mini disaster with the book. When I glued the signatures and end papers to the cover, I didn't get the alignment right - although I had pored over the instructions, I still made a mistake. After everything had dried and I tried to open the book, horror of horrors, it wouldn't open properly. Sooooooo, after I almost dissolved into tears and went away for a long while to think (including half the night) I carefully cut down beside the spine, removed the signatures from the cover, painted a new end paper, stitched the signatures in again, then with Bill's help, we have glued just the spine section at this stage and have it firmly clamped to hold it in place. Tomorrow, I hope to be able to glue the rest of the end paper to the cover and with luck it will pivot in the right place. Whew! I don't think I will tackle another book till I have an expert sitting beside me to guide my every step!