Wonderful JUMP! magazine has just published the second in my series of Curious Creatures...

The visitor in our garden 

Read it here: THE STAG BEETLE

Finally watched this gorgeous gem of a film -  magical despite hyperbolic ending. Hypnotic soundtrack - addictive title song. Beautiful performances led by magical Eloise Lawrence and anchored by gentle, understated turn from Tim Roth.

OKIDO 25 GIRLS & BOYS!

Hooray! The latest OKIDO has arrived and I know I say this every single time, but it really IS the best one yet! My daughter read through the entire magazine this morning; we laughed out loud at Squirrel Boy's adventures with Squirrel Girl, coo-ed over Messy Monster's tiny new pal "Yellow Mellow" and all joined-in with reading the different voices in: ROBOT'S FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL.

The Zim Zam Zoom pages were particularly entertaining/informative in this issue (esp. holding the page up to the light - always magic) and I believe will genuinely help some parents explain the tricky questions kids have about growing up.

My poem went down well, too...

We are, however, being driven slowly mad by the number of times daughter is asking us all to do the chatterbox. You CAN have too much of a good thing, it seems...

URBAN ART 2013 in Josephine Avenue, Brixton, really got urban this year...

A specially-commissioned tube train (which will be exhibited in Windrush Square, Brixton next week) and loads of giant hoardings were transformed by a crew of top graffiti artists: read more about them... 

here

This guy is surely an Essex boy? (Braintree)

THIS is what I LOVE about Brixton! If you're intrigued, match the images to the artists

If you happen upon this post, you may not know who Michael is.

It doesn't matter - he's a bloke on a bike cycling a long way for a great kid and a great cause. 

No money required, just your vote please...

Click on: MICHAEL'S ANTI-BOB CYCLE FOR SILAS & GOSH and VOTE for him!

Thank you xx

(The kid being Silas and GOSH being Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, specifically the potentially life-saving Immunotherapy Trials it runs. Your vote could mean he'll win an extra £5,000 for these woefully under-funded trials and research)