Daisies, Rain and a Small Tortoiseshell

I was curled up on the sofa demolishing a mini packet of Oreos (got to love little treats offered with love by the man-shape) as I flicked through some photos I took in Devon last weekend - daisies and rain seemed to be the theme, whole carpets of daisies everywhere - when something winged fluttered right into my temple. Once the initial wasp-panic subsided I realised it was a butterfly who seemed quite enamoured with my shirt! My usual bug herding technique of guiding to the window with a magazine was an epic fail and for once I was glad of T's small collection of empty glasses and papers carefully curated on the coffee table and by the side of the sofa. When she landed on the bookcase I gently trapped her in a glass, slipped paper underneath and admired her prettiness for a moment before taking her outside to set her free. Turns out she wasn't too eager to leave and landed on me a few more times before making her way over the laurel hedge and into a neighbours garden, presumably in search of a nectary hit. 

My inner nerd took over and I sought out my bug book to identify her as a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly. All I can say is that her portrait didn't do her justice and she was so much more magical in real life and had me feeling like Snow White attracting all the woodland animals! Always find myself smiling when simple things make my day.

Rainy Day Play

Today the weather is like this, the view over our little courtyard from the bathroom skylight is decidedly wet so I've been busying myself indoors and remembering childhood rainy days spent cutting and sticking, breaking out the colouring books and making a mess of my room pretending the floor was molten lava.

P.S My very first attempt at a gif, think I'll be needing more practice at this moving picture malarkey!

April Snow

Drip, drip, drop little April showers? Forget it. This morning I was woken by a very excited Tristan 'You will not actually believe this' he said, yanking the curtains open. In a way I didn't, there were snowflakes kissing the window pane rather than raindrops and the courtyard was thoroughly dusted in the white stuff. The wind had been so fierce in the early hours that the window in my little office had blown open and there was snow on my desk! I tweeted a few minutes ago that although I may be in the minority I absolutely love the British weather, to my mind snow in April is a little bit magical, admittedly we currently have horizontal snow due to the wind so it isn't too pedestrian friendly round these parts - but still.

I'm sure the sun will come out to play later on and we'll be left with puddles but for now I'm going to enjoy this little snowy spell, how is the weather where you are?