1. My cousin Amy brings me an intricate cut-out butterfly birthday card.
2. The aphids are now all gone, and the ladybird nymphs have turned themselves on their heads and wriggled out of their spiked skins. They are gradually becoming shinier and smoother and glossier and redder and spottier. More and more often I see a fully grown ladybird scuttling under a leaf. The tree is right by the front door, and I can't help telling everyone about them, even people who are not as fascinated as me. When I tell Janey, she's out there with her camera almost before I've finished.
3. Alec is still amusing himself and us by putting his feet in his mouth during nappy changes. He does it so comically that I laugh just thinking about it. I'd love a record -- a picture, I mean, because it's hard to capture the particular expression on his face in words. But give the circumstances (he won't do it with a nappy on) it's hard to get a tasteful image. His great aunt, however, deploys her magic camera with pleasing results.
