'The gonads are considered a delicacy'....not not Beloved's - we're talking sea cucumbers here; one of which - 'stichopus regalis' - is lurking in our kitchen rock pool thanks to very productive expedition to salt marsh yesterday, at exceptionally low tide. This one we thought dead at first. He looked like a smooth red gourd - long - with knobs on. But came to life when we put him in the tank, and much more knubbly, wrapping himself round rocks. Now, though, he's buried himself somewhere behind these rocks which look exactly like him ?(her) so is hard to see: a weird, weird monster. We also got green anenomes - so now have all three anenome types to be found here, pink, green and the deep red blobs both of which came unbeknown with rocks and have survived many months. (They move house from time to time, too, never viewed by us.) Beloved almost caught a green crab too, but it was too nimble for him. While granny saw a tern and (she thinks) a cormorant, neither more than in passing here, and got endless mini hermits. A good afternoon.

Another beautiful day, though the wind is cooler now. On Thursday when granny went down to see Attic Woman it was windier and more grey than up here; unusual. Attic Woman much more cheerful - even produced sentences unprompted. Denied she was happy though, only a bit less unhappy. Mrs Handsome was with them, in low cut leopard-skin pattern dress - flirtatious as ever. Says Handsome is 'trying hard' - though she is less euphoric than Handsome who claims marriage 'better than for years'. She and Granny are going to give AW a swim in the Handsomes' pool next week.

Feline Houdini caught a mouse last night. There was a cockroach in the bowl cupboard. And talking live -or dead-stock, a rabbit on the land. Very dead. Rigor mortis long set in. Beloved was afraid it might have been poisoned and left for our dogs by angry hunters (the kind of thing people do here) but on examination concluded it had been wounded and died of that; fur in its mouth, little shit balls oozing from its anus. Granny and Beautiful Wimp, incidentally, chased off hunters and dogs very successfully on Thursday evening. Good. They're getting the message.

Nice evening alone last night. Granny and Beloved watched not very impressive sunset from the upstairs room, once again all theirs. Grannyp