This cheeky Gatekeeper ....

.. photobombed the Black briony that I noticed had clusters of FOUR berries along the twisting stems. The tiny flowers & glossy leaves are also quite beautiful. So the Gatekeeper has 2 spots per fore wing, & 2 spots per hind wing. Spoilt for choice today. Thanks to JZ for hosting Mono Monday.

A very industrious day - 2 loads of laundry on the whirlygig, showered, cleaned the bathroom. Hubby had'nt slept well due to very itchy skin so out of bed. I took advantage of that & vacuumed the bedroom, what should have been a quick clean turned into a "deep clean". Bed moved, fabric bedhead vacuumed, skirting boards wiped down, furniture replaced.
Drove up to town, grabbed the newspaper, dropped it home, then drove down to CK. Mum was colouring in .. Once I'd established she had'nt had breakfast, I laid the table, made her porridge,  toast, & coffee. Then walked Indie, keeping my eyes peeled for FOURS of anything. Tormentil ( Potentilla erecta) has four bright yellow petals. Plenty creeping all over the heath. The Black briony I first spotted along one of the paths skirting the heath. I was also looking for dragons & damsels but cut short our walk down to the river as the bracken & brambles had grown too tall. Walking up Acorn tree lane I spotted this Black briony, trying to get a good angle of the fruits when The Gatekeeper honoured me with it's presence. Thank you! I picked & ate my first wild blackberries of 2024 on my way home.

On our return home, I stripped Mum's bed, put the laundry on, then gave Mum her shower. Mum & I then made the bed up, had coffee before making Mum's lunch. The wash programme was taking so long so I drove out to Bovey Tracey Health Centre to hand in Johns blood pressure readings from the past week. When I returned the flipping machine was still on the spin cycle. Grh!!!  I could'nt wait any longer. Stopped the machine. Pegged her laundry out on the line. Headed home.
Made lunch, picked in the washing, started making the chicken musaman, tonight's dinner, before dropping hubby up to the pub, then I headed for the allotment. Today has turned out a lot warmer than I thought predicted so gave many of the crops water on my arrival. I picked the first French beans of 2024. I lifted a row of potatoes. The row of rainbow chard I sowed were looking strong enough to lift & transplant so that's what I did next. There will be a lot of rainbow chard if it all grows on. Hey ho! The Community Fridge will benefit if so. I faffed about with 2 garden forks & 2 spades to snap FOUR handles, a coupe of the pics worked but I saw that BikerBear had had the same idea so I settled for the butterfly.
I picked hubby up from the pub at 6.15 on the way home. Finished off making dinner while enjoying a glass of well earned, even if I say so myself, cider.