My daughter Ella is raising £500 for Thornton Rose RDA. Help her provide life-changing therapy for riders with disabilities. Every bit helps! Please consider donating, and if you can't, please share the fundraiser wherever you can. gofund.me/47b5dd50c

“Grandpa, what does ‘awesome’ mean?” “Well, back at one point, it was a word used to describe the planet’s great unfathomable wonders, although now it generally means ‘Thanks for emailing me that PDF’.”

I can’t recommend these two books highly enough. Jules Brown aka @rexburke.bsky.social writes cracking good travel books. Try these for size and you’ll want the rest as well! www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQXDWZ5S

Life afloat is always an adventure. Join me on two of mine and travel the canals of the Netherlands, Belgium and France! Vereeniging Fares South: azonlinks.com/B0DPJDHXS7 Sidesteps to the Somme: azonlinks.com/B0CW1GLVQT #welovememoirs #boatlife #travel #bookstoread

Looks timely

Some interdimensional portals I found on walks yesterday and today.

All I am really saying is that EVERY coffee you ever order should come with a tiny Toblerone chocolate. Bravo France! #travel #france #chocolate

Photo of the Day - Beverley buildings.

Woohoo!! Quite chuffed to find this in my postbox this morning. @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social

#ShoutOut for #BlueSkyAuthors @jeannerolandwrites.bsky.social @jodiebeckford.bsky.social @jonadcock.bsky.social @jordanagreene.bsky.social @kenstark.bsky.social @kimbersilver.bsky.social #PleaseShare #PleaseVisit #PleaseSupport

If you want inspiration for hiking in wonderful scenery, take a look at @uphilldowndalew.bsky.social’s beautiful walks here: uphilldowndaleart.substack.com/p/index-of-w...

Was just discussing with a writer friend the weird headspace of leaving a piece to compost for a bit. Not working on a thing to make it better is often a necessary but odd part of the creative process. You gotta let it sit so you can come back with fresh eyes.

#ShoutOut for #BlueSkyAuthors @sallycronin.bsky.social @harmonykent.bsky.social @jeannerolandwrites.bsky.social @sandymcintosh.bsky.social @derekrking2.bsky.social @jodiebeckford.bsky.social @crackopenthesky.bsky.social #PleaseShare #PleaseVisit #PleaseSupport

I’ve just finished this wonderful book by @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social Thank you @jodiebeckford.bsky.social for giving it to me as a paperback! I’ll definitely read it again! a.co/d/5VB5QBO m.media-amazon.com/images/I/917...

Part 2 of my written travelogue is up on the Stack: #hiking #scotland #isleofskye

The second of my Skye Walker videos 😄 In which Lucy channels her inner goat and I have a rant about TP. #hiking #scotland #isleofskye

Book Spotlight ~Sceptred Isle: A new history of the fourteenth century, by Helen Carr tonyriches.blogspot.com/2025/05/book... @helencarr.bsky.social #Booksky 💙📚

Iggy Pop, deer, impossibly hot curry, the Dorset landscape, book dealers, record dealers, the sea, antiques and a cat who eats human ear wax... An excerpt from my upcoming novel (and an inexpensive internationally-friendly way to pre-ordered a signed copy of it): tomcox.substack.com/p/the-reason...

Write the book you would like to see someone pull from a higgledy piggledy pile in a secondhand shop 63 years after your death and say, "This looks fucking weird. I think I will buy it for Joan."

First part of my Skye travelogue is up on Substack. Grab a cup of tea and watch out for feral goats!

While I'm on a bit of an editing roll, here's the first of my walks on the Isle of Skye with my dog Lucy. Oh how I long to be back amongst those hills! youtu.be/zhzZy-kAhts

June: in Old English, Ærra Līþa "Before Midsummer". Also a month for murders... Read about the killing of young Wigstan, and the curious death of a later king... anniewhitehead2.blogspot.com/2025/05/mont...

Taking Mum's old Dutch barge back to her mooring after she's been on the slipway is always a fun experience. This time I filmed it! youtu.be/lszzy_H_jHE?...

We're all set up at #Wirksworth Farmers Market #Derbyshire DE4 4DS. Here until 2pm! #Art #photography #nature #wildlife #landscape #cards #coasters #canvas #prints #greetingcards

This week's @artukdotorg #OnlineArtExchange is all about Landscapes to celebrate Armitt’s Alfred Wainwright exhibition Armitt Museum We love this painting by Orcadian artist Stanley Cursiter (1887–1976) The Hall of Tankerness from the collection at Orkney Museum

#OnlineArtExchange This week's theme is landscapes. How beautiful does this lake look? Look closely for the swans 🦢 Warnham Lake, Sussex by Alfred East @artukdotorg.bsky.social

Alexandra Buckle, contemporary printmaker known for her woodland scenes created via linocuts #WomensArt

Funded PhD studentship of €25,000/year for 4 years plus fees available @tcddublin.bsky.social to work with me on Irish women's life writing from the long 18th century! Please spread the word! @ecfjournal.bsky.social @cecs-york.bsky.social @clhlwr.bsky.social @oxfordlifewriting.bsky.social

It’s Landscape week for @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange so we’re sharing this beautiful, sunny painting of the River Don 🏞️ 🖼️River Don at Wardsend, Sheffield 👨‍🎨William James Stevenson (1835–1905) 📸Sheffield Museums

In case anyone wants to take advantage of this offer today I’ll also be adding a postcard of this fabulous painting by my dad to each package, gratis.

Printing Prices Increase! What that means for Indie authors. @beemweeksauthor.bsky.social Story Empire storyempire.com/2025/05/13/p...

"I asked ChatGPT, and--" ...the ghost of Ada Lovelace appeared and punched you in the face, I hope.

HOTEL OBSCURE: A Collection of Short Stories 🌆 🚖 "We are transported into a land of desperate and despondent souls... yet we want to be there! The writing embraces us tight and triggers our emotions. From sadness to rage." mybook.to/HotelObscure 📙 #LitFic 🔶 #KindleUnlimited

Trying to improve my portraits. These are quick charcoals. Models are from @drawonline.bsky.social Models are Jenni Mac, Andrea’s and Sofia, they are all brilliant!

Landscape study of Ladybower Reservoir in the Hope Valley, from a ref photo on Unsplash by Zhi Xuan Hew. Completed for my Uncle on his birthday. He loves riding his motorcycle and has crossed the bridge over this reservoir many times. #landscape #gouache #neocolor2 #ladybower #peakdistrict

A quick 45 min acrylic study of Adrian during this evening's portrait session at @drawonline.bsky.social with @jakespicerart.bsky.social

"Factory". One of a series of poems responding to the paintings of Emmy Klinker (1891-1969). A German artist, born in what is now Belgium, she was declared a degenerate artist by the Nazis. #poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #emmyklinker #klinker

Jaune Quick-To-See Smith Sky People, 2011, Four-color lithograph with collage, Native American artist and one of many indigenous artists using printmaking as part of imperative expresson #WomensArt

Jenni Mac the brilliant model from the Valentines Day photoset @drawonline.bsky.social , call this one 'The Reader'

Beatrice, from @drawonline.bsky.social - a set of overlapping oil paintings

Charcoal Head

Completed this A2 drawing on gessoed paper with charcoal powder, charcoal pencil, graphite, chalk, a bit of coloured pencil and using water and oil for the smooshy bits. Reference is my photo of the end of Loch Slapin between Torrin and Elgol. #drawing #landscape #landscapedrawing #charcoaldrawing

A little digital collage scene :) Made the shapes using selection tool!! #art #illustration

New pieces from my easel today. A scene in acrylics from Glenbrittle Bay that I took a photo of, and a drawing in conte crayon and safflower oil of a still life set up from objects in my living room. #painting #drawing #landscape #stilllife

Only a few hours of hunting for portals in south west France and I’m overwhelmed. You cannot MOVE for them.

Just noting here that I found it much easier to write satirical political fantasy about the UK electing an ancient Lovecraftian horror from beyond spacetime as Prime Minister with a mandate to eat everyone's brain before the real-world USA basically said "hold my beer ..."

A digital doodle of my favourite model, my dog Lucy, who lives to strike a dramatic pose. #petportrait #procreateart #art

Our most recent hike through the Flemish Ardennes - an 18km trundle through woods and hills and cute little Belgian villages. youtu.be/Z08ZNX4KDXE?... #hiking #vlog

‪#photography #nature #eastcoastkin #art #scape #travel #landscape #railway #HighPeakTrail #Derbyshire #Industry #History