0. The coolness washes over us as the rain takes the heat out of the night.

1. Underneath the tall, spindly trees, the heavy leaves trap clouds of moisture – you can see the steam circling from the house. It’s exactly this weather condition that causes people to say our gardens are like the rainforest.

1b. We find the source of the bad smell and eliminate it.

2. We sit on the footstool together – me and John and Lily and Strange.

2b. Soaked in the rainstorm then fresh from the shower, Lily wriggles and grunts on John’s pillow.

3. The windows frame the blood red crocosmia.

3b. Like with my Wayne’s World cap earlier in the week, I sporadically wear my Hello Kitten penguin mask during the evening.

1. The magical moment when the colours appear.

1b. I’ve been worried about how to glaze my bowls but it turns out my hand is forced: I glaze the insides and leave the outsides to the reduction, aside from a few accidental/deliberate spatters for interest. I love how they turn out.

1c. There is a thorn in my heel as I walk back from the bakery – each step is agony. Afterwards, after I remove it, there is a pleasant echo of the pain whenever I put my weight on it – pleasant because it’s a relief that’s all there is.

1d. I turn the bowls to make curves and feet. The clay peels off in curls.

1e. My favourite Minoan bull cracks before I get any good photos of it but, like with the cracked bird feeder, it’s fantastic to be able to look inside: to see how far the carbon penetrates the clay body.

2. ‘Summertime’ (not the Gershwin one) is on the radio. It hasn’t dated as much as I would have thought for a song from a) 1991, b) by people called DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. (The song has aged better than their names, that’s for sure.)

3. My pillow is a wonderful place. Why did I not visit it sooner?

1. I make myself laugh with some ridiculous hyperbole.

1b. Satisfying callbacks make a piece hang together better than it should.

1c. I “kill my darlings”. The resulting post is much cleaner and coherent as a result – and I can save the jokes for another time.

2. We don’t usually have magnums at home – they’re a “at the theatre only” thing – so these are a delicious, special treat.

3. Their ears stand up as he calls their names. I release them and they run down the stairs side by side.

1. We compose jingles for the things we see.

2. I make this observation to John and he laughs.

3. We meet two shy dogs in quick succession – the collie sticks to the undergrowth to protect her stick while the afghan waits until we step out of the way, then zooms down the path to catch up with his mum, his long locks flowing as he runs.

3b. The woods are humid and I’m very sticky – then a welcome rain shower starts. (The leaf canopy protects me from most of it, so I end up pleasantly cooled rather than soaked.)

3c. I lie on the living room floor. A breeze drifts in from the door, from the window. The air slowly becomes fresher.

1. So many of the early interactions between the dog and cats were fraught with confusion – a wagging tail means one thing to one and the opposite to the others – but thankfully they quickly learnt there is overlap between Lily-dog’s desire to sniff the cats when they come and their desire to rub their scents on her.

2. The biggest dandelion tap roots I’ve ever seen – it’s beautiful that they’re out of the ground and hopefully won’t steal any more nutrients from my blueberry bush.

2b. The little girl and Lily see each other at the same time. Lily watches the girl play with the ball then I hear the girl run into the house and tell her grandma that there is a pretty doggy outside.

2c. It’s ever so cute when John comes to meet me at the allotment: today it’s on his way home from the office and he brings us ice lollies. He takes Lily for a run in the park while I clear up then we walk home together.

3. John has bought me some presents – well, the main two are to share (a bluray player and the three seasons of Game of Thrones boxset) but the third one is all mine. (It’s perfect because it’s nerdy but also something we joked about in passing a few weeks ago.)

4. Strange has a habit of cutting across into the dining room without saying hello but if we call to her, she comes back into the living room as the friendliest cat in the world.