Loopy for lupins

Seems these beetles (and some larger green cousins) are as keen on my lupins as I am. I'm told they eat petals, but there are plenty to spare so I guess I'll leave them to it.

This morning, inevitably, arrived far earlier than was welcome. The kids had to be levered out of bed with crowbars, or at least with the carrot/stick approach of breakfast/cross teachers. Conor failed to make it to school - his asthma-induced coughing causing him to lose what little amount of breakfast he'd managed so he was sent back to bed.

Happily he was well enough to go in in the afternoon, while I got on with painting and tidying the garden. We also managed the tedium of the VAT return and, rather more prettily, the final installation of our new terrace shade thingy. Which is much needed with the super-hot weather.

Painting always allows thinking time, and today (in the absence of Radio 4 to amuse me) I was wondering what the most common 'last words' are. "Oh s**t". Or perhaps more likely "I think I'll just have a nap now".

If I have my wits about me (unlikely) I hope I'll have the presence of mind to go for something like "The only thing you really need to know is..."

There are backblips from the weekend, if you care to click back:

Sat: Three Champagne lovelies
Sun: Wee model fella
Mon: Rubbish iPhone shot