Summer!

Summer has finally arrived in Devon and with it has come the wildlife. This week has been amazing. 1 baby and 2 adult slow worms, the emperor dragonfly, gatekeepers, whites, blues, speckled woods, a comma and numerous other smaller insects that I have not had time to identify. I expect that it won't be long before the grasshoppers start to appear - I look forward to hearing them chirrup. Already the front garden is filled with the sound of buzzing bees and wasps as our lavender is now in full bloom.

Why is it that I can learn to spell a couple of Japanese words a day and yet some English ones catch me every time. For some reason I really struggle with the endings of lavender and calendar (my instinct being to spell them as I say them - lavander and calander, though I admit the latter looks wrong). This year I have managed to get to grips with emperor, but only by remembering to switch the o and the e from the way round that I say them. If anyone can come up with a way to remember these endings I'd greatly appreciate it.

One day I may tire of uploading photos of slow worms, but not yet!