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!

Home

Beautiful Clutter has been oh so quiet this past week - I disappeared back home to Lincolnshire and spent time with my family for a few days. The rainy train journey home on Friday was a taster of the weather in store but being a rain-loving sort of girl I didn't mind too much. I'm always grateful my parents are fellow magpies; so much time was spent either in antique/vintage/charity shops or having good, long chats over a cuppa - that or being mauled by one of three four-legged furries about the place. The split second 'Where am I?' feeling of waking up in a different bed was pretty swift to evaporate once I'd felt the two feline alarm clocks purring away on top of me. 

Being in the kitchen at home is the best feeling, I could do an entire post on that alone - I won't, but I could. The picture of the copper kettle on the slate windowsill with a view of the woods around the house sums up fairly well; so much tea is made in that kitchen! Home is such an interesting concept to me because I feel as though I have two; wherever I live with T and the place I'm from where my roots go deep - where my family are. When I think about that I feel very lucky, where do you call 'home'?