Outwith my natural environment

outwith (pronounced out-with) Outwith means outside or beyond: parts of Edinburgh outwith the city centre; alcohol would not be served outwith existing licensing hours; beetles from the garden sometimes find themselves outwith their natural habitat and land on the workings of an editor, distracting the editor from her work in order to take a photo

This didn't strike me as a particularly Scottish word for my Dictionary Project, but there you go - I learned something new today.

The beetle was nice and shiny in a green and coppery kind of way. It's a garden chafer, I think.

The weather's finally broken, and it was very muggy here today, though with powerful sun for a good few hours. I fear the strong sun has killed the infant tomatoes... I hope I've managed to revive the plants, but it looked grim earlier. On the plus side, the cucumber and radish plants are in excellent health.

The guinea pig trio were flat out with the heat so I cooled the grass with some water and ordered them to mow the lawn. Whisky acted like a Mediterranean cat and took to lying on the concrete floor of the kitchen. This is unusual behaviour. We're now waiting for the storm to happen, but I think the coast is experiencing it rather than the city, much to Fred's disappointment.