Waning Summer

[alt_poppy]

I've been busy, packing much into these last days before the academic term begins. Pembrokeshire. Berkshire. Cumbria. Bucks. Dorset. All quick stops for this and that item. I've collected respectable numbers of gall wasps, stiletto flies, wormwood moonshiners, and cockchafer beetles, plus more late-season plants than I could list in a reasonable space. I'm on my way back to the castle by a circuitous route, but I'll arrive there well ahead of the Hogwarts Express.

I trust that all of the young people preparing for their return to school have had as lovely a long vacation as I have had--and I hope each and every one of them is taking all precautions to return to us in good health.


I wish you all fair fortune until we meet again.