Canopy appreciation post, courtesy of a weekend trip to Hawkshead/Coniston. If in doubt, look up 💚🌳🍃

Am having a lovely 2026 so far, with many close family milestones/celebrations/birthdays/engagements/anniversaries occurring. It's delightful and wonderful, but dear GOD I have spent an *unbelievable* amount of time on Etsy.

Here’s your quick explainer on how to use both Martha and Jess’ Rules if you ever need. Free post. www.patreon.com/posts/jesss-...

The world is often bad, so here is a good tree appreciation post, because it's Spring and I can 🌳

View from my desk today 🦚 it's been over a decade and the novelty still hasn't worn off. (It's actually mating season and the boys are starting to get noisy, but we will forgive them for this because they are still a delight to look at.)

Library takeover for @litfest.bsky.social Sunday 📚

Snapshots of a sunny Saturday with Lancaster @litfest.bsky.social . Off home for a sit down before we go again tomorrow!

Have you ever tried to eat a custard-filled croissant the size of your hand on a train? I do not recommend you try to eat a custard-filled croissant the size of your hand on a train. (I do however recommend Tuck's croissants in all other circumstances, and with extreme gusto) 🥐

It's time to reveal the programme cover for Litfest's 2026 Spring season, including our 47th Litfest (13th-22nd March)! Whilst you'll have to wait a little longer for the full release of our packed programme, you can grab early-bird in-person tickets for a selection of events! geni.us/LF26Spring

In case the January darkness is getting to you too, here is your Wednesday reminder that we are now a mere 27 DAYS from Pancake Day. And (bonus factoid): you can actually make pancakes whenever you want!!

All hail 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

I have been solidly Christmas shopping either in-person or online since roughly 3pm today, pleased to announce I am ✨losing the plot✨

Saw Del Toro's Frankenstein, and it has reaffirmed my absolute conviction that no film merits a 2.5h+ runtime. (Except, obviously, the first Wicked film, which whizzed by, and which I would still have watched if it was 500 hours long.)

‘The more local you are, the more global you are’: the ever-brilliant Sarah Hall on her new novel, ‘Helm’, place-writing, and the importance of positivity in environmental fictional writing at @litfest.bsky.social 📚🍃

Reasons to be cheerful, September edition: - Dog sitting on a rainy Sunday - The yellowest-yellow flowers - Seeing beautiful places, doing beautiful things

when driving on the highway it’s important to at all times have established an enemy

A thread of notes I've made in my notebook about my dad: 1. The Swimming Pool.

Loved learning all about the women of Lancaster today in the sunshine, brilliant guided walk by Eleanor Levin ☀️ @litfest.bsky.social

obviously still looking forward to it hugely but turns out there really is an age at which "getting ready for a massive boozy party to be attended by dozens of pals" stops feeling fully "weeeyyyyy" and starts feeling a bit more "Theoden minutes before the battle of Helm's Deep"

So loved hearing Amy kick off Lancaster Litfest this evening 💕

What makes Litfest...is you! Lancaster Litfest wouldn't exist without our volunteers. If you're interesting in taking part, and would like to learn more, drop us a email to [email protected] and/or join us at our volunteers meeting this Saturday, 10:30am at the Café in The Storey!

One month to go until Litfest comes back to Lancaster! You might have seen our programmes cropping up across the North West or popping through your letterbox if you're on our mailing list, but you can also browse the programme online and book your tickets here: geni.us/Litfest2025

A few years ago I had the unbelievably stupid idea of trying to watch every episode of Star Trek. I didn't really like Star Trek that much, and I had not looked up how many hours of Star Trek existed (I really, really wish I had)...

Welcome to Litfest 2025! Today, we’re delighted to launch the full programme for our 46th Lancaster Literature Festival —‘The World Into Words’. geni.us/Litfest2025 This year there are over 50 ways to get involved inc. activities, co-creation opportunities and workshops!

Fun fact: if you're buying from a creator on etsy, you can reduce their etsy selling fees from 6.5% to 2.5% by ordering via 'shopname.etsy.com' instead of 'etsy.com/shopname' or searching from the main site. It costs you the same but the creator makes more

It's barely 4 years since the UK had a British-Pakistani chancellor in Downing Street, calling out to his mum in Punjabi at the Tory Party conference "mum, did you ever think we'd make it here?" And now Jenrick is smearing the whole community from the Tory front bench www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-p...

God bless the Belgian food agency for providing me with one solitary news story this January that doesn't fill me with existential dread. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

We're one month into a new Spotify year, and I'm already very concerned that my Spotify 2025 is going to look like this:

My 26-30 Railcard runs out next year. Vague sense of dread at the thought of going out into the wild west of the railways without it by my side.

Me too, puffins, me too.

Another day at Bluesky, and it looks like growth is not slowing down! Welcome! We’d like to take a moment to share our stance on AI and user data:

I beg of you, please do not send me reels as a form of communication; the world is already too much about tiny videos and I don't want to invite gerilynnecooks505 into our friendship. I want your words, friend!

Today my *entire* brain has been taken over with the idea of swapping over Halloween and Harvest Festival. Keep Halloween in primary schools and let the kids have at it. Then let the grown ups have soup and nice bread, maybe sing a little song, an autumnal craft. It makes SO much sense.

PSA if you have a Twitter account still, even if it's dormant - Twitter collects your data to train its Grok AI, but you can turn it off in your privacy settings.

I burnt ALL the way out this weekend and spent about three quarters of it in bed (mostly asleep). Woke up tired this AM but broadly back on the level and capable of fun things like "loading the dishwasher" and "doing laundry and hanging it out on the same day". Rest is radical folks, take a nap x

I am largely a peaceable creature but I have very strong feelings about two-factor verification. I've verified once! Why must I do it twice!! Time is money!!! I have 30 thousand unread emails in my inbox and your 2FA nonsense is not helping!!!

Everyone around me is getting MARRIED but I've just made a banging TOFU BOWL so WHO'S LAUGHING NOW (it's me, I'm laughing because i love seeing my pals happy and also am eating a banging tofu bowl)

There is a non-zero chance that you will live to 100+ years old and become one of those old people who gets repeatedly asked about your "secret to a long life". It is VERY important to prepare for this, so please pick one weird thing now & start doing it daily.

The bit about The Jabberwock in this article has both tickled and charmed me deeply. www.theguardian.com/books/articl...

Leaving this here for no particular reason. #globalInternetOutage #Crowdstrike #xkcd

Impulse bought some expensive shampoo (£30 a bottle 🤮) and am FUMING to discover it is in fact, better

Take me to the moon cave, I will be the moon hermit.

Watching this on repeat to calm myself down from all the #euro2024 stress. Honestly think I might deploy it in any stressful situation from now on. ⚽ www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebqa...

My most ludicrous trait is engaging with international football, but only in a very stereotypical woman-in-her-thirties way. That is to say: with wine, occasionally distracted by laundry, feeling vaguely maternal towards Jude Bellingham.

I do think Brits wang on about the heat and our "Edwardian houses" too much, but for the record: I've just spent a week in 30-degree, extremely hilly, dry-heat Lisbon and not once did I feel as bad as I did walking up the hill home in humid 20-degree Lancaster.

I've spent 31 years pondering this, and I do honestly and truly believe I have the ideal birthday date (21st June): - Summer solstice (cool) - Halfway to Christmas - Weather broadly acceptable - Get to call yourself a solstice baby and feel like the title of a Lorde track Endless benefits!!

I'm not a gardener but I am growing sunflowers at the moment. I've had these for maybe a month and, mircaulously, they are still alive! A triumph! 🌻