Roses & Raindrops, From our garden.

Who is open for poetry submissions? I have a packet of three good poems looking for a home.

Life is a

Thrift, Armeria maritima, on the Chesil Beach #WildflowerHour

Worth a listen! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Photo of the blue moon reflected in an upstairs mirror where it actually did look blue! 🧞‍♂️

Grass Vetchling for #WildflowerHour Is this the one known as scarlet shoe or somesuch…

Yellow Vetchling for #WildflowerHour

Meadow Vetchling for #WildflowerHour

Possibly a Willughby’s leaf cutter bee smushing their head into a perennial pea. #WildflowerHour

So many poppies this week, dancing in any much welcomed breeze like Kate Bush in their red dresses. #WildflowerHour

Just saw two more painted ladies. Or maybe they were potato chips.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man judging the Bridport prize must be in want of my silly little poems.

Grateful to the ever wise and fresh Obsessed with Pipework for including my poem! Subscribe to this gem of a mag if you care about poetry indies and poetry itself.

My #poetry submissions shout out today is for Obsessed With Pipework magazine. Eclectic, wise, fresh, and usually a reasonably quick response from @catbloke.bsky.social and @blossoms21.bsky.social obsessedwithpipeworkblog.wordpress.com

‘I am very serious about being silly’: children’s illustrators on the art of storytelling

Off to volunteer in the tearoom at Darfield Museum later. I’ll be installing our panel of the UK AIDS quilt too. So proud to have it at the home of Maurice and Fred! See you all there; we’re open from 10.00-14.00.

Please donate if you feel comfortably able able to www.justgiving.com/page/susan-y...

I love footpaths and walking routes - love that they exist, love the Wainwright books as physical objects and the spirit of adventure they express. I've walked the coast to coast across the north of England, & I've twice run - once over 5 days, once over 4 - www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/...

I don’t think they knew or cared that either me or one of their bredren were watching. Swollen thigh beetles in a pink poppy.

aaaaaah thank you @poetrydaily.bsky.social !!!! 🪽♥️🪽♥️🪽

Grateful to the ever wise and fresh Obsessed with Pipework for including my poem! Subscribe to this gem of a mag if you care about poetry indies and poetry itself.

We are profoundly saddened to share that our Honorary President, Maureen Duffy, has passed away. Maureen was extraordinary: a novelist, poet, playwright and critic of incredible range, and one of the founding figures of ALCS. Learn more about her legacy and impact: https://ow.ly/yHWs50Z52Ye

This is my Mary Delany climbing rose by our front door in the evening light, opening up in her own sweet time.

34° no breeze: ughhhh 24° nice breeze: kiss me out of the bearded barley

Margery Kempe (c. 1373–after 1438) was an English Christian mystic and author. She was born Margery Burnham or Brunham around 1373 in Bishop's Lynn (now King's Lynn). Her father, John Brunham, was a merchant in Lynn, mayor of the town and Member of Parliament. #CelebratingWomen

Thrift on Achill with the Atlantic wind #wildflowerhour

The so very pink cutleaf cranesbill is on tour right now with its #WildflowerShow for #WildflowerHour

Lentil vetch putting on a tiny #WildflowerShow for #WildflowerHour

The bluebells have moved over to let this lovely red (pink!) campion have its own #WildflowerShow for #WildflowerHour

Holly blue butterfly on goats rue leaves today.

Today I went to take a photo of a a peacock butterfly on the ground. It was as big as my hand so when it flew up maybe subconsciously I held out my hand. Instead it chose to settle on my arm for a few seconds before flying off into the bushes in embarrassment because I was not a flower.

Petition to allow my disrobedness.

When Beth Gibbons said “Just…” on Glory Box and when Carly Simon whispered “Son of a gun” on You’re so Vain, that’s the sort of thing I’m aiming for in poetry. Apparently I am failing but hey.

Saw this angel today.

britainsfavouritebutterfly.co.uk/butterfly/es... Essex Skipper

We welcome news that City Hall has blocked a deal between the Metropolitan Police and Palantir. The government and local authorities must go further and completely remove Palantir from our NHS and public services.

Aardvark calf born at Chester zoo is ‘doing brilliantly’ after bottle-feeding

🐝Given it’s World Bee Day, I thought #RecipeOfTheDay just had to be this Honey Chocolate Cake! www.nigella.com/recipes/hone...

I do love a red tailed bumblebee so I was happy to see one today on #WorldBeeDay. Like a soot sprite from Studio Ghibli if they had sat in some orangey red paint.

@bethosmond.bsky.social’s Hatchery arrived. Highly recommended. Contributing to a rich tradition of physician creatives, apothecary Keats, doctors Bulgakov & Chekhov, the poetry’s controlled mix of historicism, professional observation & personal engagement reaches beyond memoir towards universality

Autism defined by Autistic people:

Booked in on yet another Stav Poleg Poetry School course because apparently I am obsessed.

I’m not sure about this Strictly, no more of Johannes dancing? Still processing give me time.

this crown of sonnets could've been a limerick

Today is the birthday of the poet @hanvanderhart.bsky.social . Please read every single one of their poems. They are gorgeously-wrought, clear-eyed poems of breathtaking longing, and they make a kind of magic that reminds me what poems are for. Happy birthday, Taurus! 🌱🪻🫛🌻💙

Latest poetry rejection: "Dear Laura McKee you try your best gerl"

My camel looks so tired It's hardly worth my while #Later It’s dawning on me that when I met Glenn Tilbrook because he came up to the upstairs soul counter I ran in Our Price Lewisham we were both in our twenties ffs

At this point I'm not sure if this was sheep or common sorrel, but it does have tiny flowers for #TinyPlants #WildflowerHour

Musk storksbill in one of the bursts of sunshine between bursts of giant hailstones this week. #WildflowerHour