Cleared out our old chest freezer yesterday in preparation for our house move in January. Found an unidentified & unidentifiable piece of meat at the bottom. Decided to assume it was a little piece of pork. Rubbed salt & mustard powder on it, & added cloves. Roasted it. Good call! It was delicious!

Octopus Teapot by Japanese ceramic artist Keiko Masumoto #Womensart

Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round

Catherynne is wrong about one thing- this does make a big difference Hope and caring are what we all need to see elevated Human (and doggy) connections are vital to keep us afloat across the world Every reminder that we have the power to make a difference matters This is a great reminder 🙏❤️

This is what I finished recently for granddaughter 2, Hannah. The Mappa Mundi (c1300AD) is kept by Hereford Cathedral, showing the world as they saw it. It is filled with cities, real & mythical animals, monsters, & Bible stories. Adapted & designed by the wonderful Nicola Jarvis & stitched by me.

#crochet #embroidery

#embroidery Winnie the Pooh and his friends join the Bayeux Tapestry to fight the French at the Battle of Hastings. Embroidery made for my granddaughter Jessica. Design inspired by an original drawing by EH Shepard.

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

Love

My letter in today’s Times:

This makes me proud of my local town, Leominster in Herefordshire. The people here are not painting STOP THE BOATS on the wall. They're working hard to remove the slogan.

Good morning. Office day today.

The atoms within you once burned in the heart of stars, chaotic and lifeless, and yet here you are, after half a dozen or so billion years, arranging them into love, questions, and hope. You are a miracle, a thermodynamic miracle.

The thread of 'amazing things made by my amazing mum' was over on Twitter, so I can't add to it, but I am compelled to post another incredible piece by the inimitable @deborahjarman.bsky.social How incredible to have a granny who embroiders you into your very own Mappa Mundi❤️

Local women crochet/knit sweaters for rescued often sick and vulnerable elephants when night temperatures fall low, at the Elephant Conservation Care Center, India #UnravellingWomensArt

Much talk on here of Allan Ahlberg’s work as he’s died. I always adored Starting School and still think it’s the best book on the subject as it covers the repetitive nature of it. I’ve always loved this page 😍

Oh no. Tom Lehrer gone. At his great age, it’s not a tragedy, I know, but it just does feel bad not having his genius in the world.

Good morning Blue Sky

Good morning. Two hours is all it takes.

Moses at Wimborne Minster, Dorset

Dawn in our garden just before Easter, taken by our son Ben.

Imagine lying in a bed of your favorite snack. What luxury. Just floating on a cloud of lunch.

First coffee on the garden bench in 2025 this morning. While sitting there, I noticed these patterns in the green algae on top of an old white plastic stool left out in the garden all winter. What are they, and how were they made?

Another batch of homemade Seville orange marmalade. If everything goes tits up in the world at least scurvy won’t be the thing that fells us here in north London…🍊

Have never thought of Malmesbury as a haunt of tigers.....

And finally, a huge thank you to @bartscharity.bsky.social for funding this project. We've loved working on it, and we're delighted at the response from hospital staff and visitors. Next time you're at the Royal London, check these fabulous displays out! 5/5

An example to us all!

Let Denmark cook.

"Its missteps not only kill but dissolve the fragile fabric of trust in information we have left" - @seamas.bsky.social is bang on the mark

I stood there for over half an hour and nothing happened:

This makes me very happy on a grey morning!

You know you’ve reached peak grown-up when the only thing you can think about when being asked to admire your daughter’s new black and white top is whether you’d wash it on a dark or lights cycle.

Here are some nice mushrooms

#otd in 1890, a new Chaplain was appointed to the London Hospital (now known as the Royal London). Read our 👀new blog post👀 on Reverend James Mahomed, the man appointed to the job, and his fascinating family history www.bartshealth.nhs.uk/archives-blo...

I fear Feathers McGraw may be on the loose in Teignmouth...

"Have you heard of Rory Cellan Jones & #sophiefromromania? I'm a relative" she said."Yes!" we replied."We have followed Sophie since her behind the sofa days!" We smiled & said goodbye.Jordy is honoured to remind anyone of Sophie; happy new year to her, @rorycj.bsky.social & the prof from all of us!

Driving south yesterday from Cheshire to home in Herefordshire, my husband & I stopped for coffee at Cardingmill Valley in the Shropshire Hills. In the cafe, a lady with a small dog stopped to admire our rescue dog, Jordy. "He reminds me me of another rescue dog" she said. 1/

I was sad to read of the death of Olivia Hussey today. It brought memories of her and Leonard Whiting in Zeffirelli's 1968 film of Romeo & Juliet. I was 15, 2 years less than they were when I saw it. I have never seen a more beautiful portrayal of the sheer wonder and exhilaration of first love.....

This strange limbo between Christmas and New Year's feels weird, like seeing your boss at the gym: disorienting, awkward, and vaguely unsettling. Also you don’t know the date, you’re surviving on leftovers and chocolate, and your only purpose is to exist in a soft haze of regret, hope, and pyjamas.

You do not need to be an academic to visit an archive. You do not need a degree to visit an archive. There is no terrifying Don at the door grilling potential visitors. If it's your first time, a nice archivist will help you. It's our shared history, our preserved records. Go explore it.

On Friday night, at the penultimate 2024 concert presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason soared through Mendelssohn, Fauré, Poulenc, and a new work by Natalie Klouda. Then came two encores. This was the second one.

Breathtaking performances, the adaptation was perfection personified though I sat with my hands over my eyes during Cromwell’s last moments. BAFTA TV awards all round, I hope #TheMirrorAndTheLight

Can anyone identify this very handsome moth found snoozing on a box of Christmas decorations in our barn in rural Herefordshire?

This portrait by Joshua Reynolds shows Percivall Pott (1714-1788). Pott was surgeon to St Bartholomew's Hospital 1749-1787. One of his contributions to medicine was identifying the connection between cancer and chimney sweeps #ArchiveAdventCalendar #Chimney #HistMed [Portrait ref - SBHX7/16]

On a misty morning walk this week, I spent a long time trying to get a half decent photo of this amazing staghorn fungus in a graveyard. Not the best photo, but still worth the soggy knees. What a colour.