A nice (handmade) reminder of kindness and community spirit, heavily reinforced by a very generous scattering of green confetti.

The flowers in the local park had shrivelled in the heat, so the nearby primary school stepped in to try and brighten things up (the sign reads that they wanted to create a positive and fun energy)

…and we found the local river looking less like a flowing waterway and gradually becoming more like a stationary exhibit of summer foliage.

Edward the woolly elephant – surviving the heat – had his thinking glasses on (I’m told he’s a very intellectual assistant with crosswords)

I never knew just how many different types of German sausage there are (its well over 1000 – and some very odd Bavarian varieties)

A butterfly that braved the heat was doing some excellent camouflage amongst the leaves – it’s a bit it hard to tell where the foliage ends and the wings begin!

I thought I might’ve spotted a masterclass in garden diplomacy happening on a lavender stalk here…

Another local park – now baked to almost bare earth – after 2 months of drought…

…but some clouds finally remembered how to rain — and the sky threw in a massive rainbow just to make sure we noticed.

And after those two months of watching the dust build up, it felt incredibly satisfying to finally locate a proper muddy puddle for the wellies.