love those cupcakes: Lately in verbs

Marvelling at the profusion of butterflies attracted to the garden of perpetual autumn by the buddleias. There have been so many years with few, if any, sightings of the colourful visitors and then, this summer, butterflies in droves. A veritable snowstorm on a daily basis.

Supervising Bea Cat who had also clocked the preponderance of butterflies.

Tending a bee which couldn't fly but, for two days, traversed a vast (for a bee) area in the garden before eventually giving up the ghost. He was given a decent burial. No, you're a crybaby.

Baking a batch of jammy coconutty madeleines, a blast from the past, for my cousin's son who'd mentioned he just fancied some. I don't possess dariole moulds so used paper cupcake liners and then simply upturned the cakes to decorate.

Viewing (several times) the Knife Angel in the town centre. Here for a month as part of a nationwide tour, the statue, constructed from 100,000 knives which had been seized or handed in at knife banks established in every police authority across the country, is a "monument against violence and aggression".

Spending an afternoon with the family, complete with picnic, at Mount Grace Priory, just 20 minutes up the road. Boasting the best preserved Carthusian monastery in England (it was founded in 1398 and functioned until 1539 when Henry VIII stuck his oar in), with manor house, gardens and reconstructed monk's cell, the site has been significantly developed since our last visit. Whilst there, I bought plants and a book and took out a membership of English Heritage, so there's no excuse for not returning soonish.

Sensing change in the woods, noticing, despite record breaking temperatures, signs of summer on the wane and a new season waiting in the wings. Nope, cannot lie, I can't wait for that moment, that first, unmistakable whiff of autumn in the air.