#1970s wife did laundry BEFORE painter arrived; has run up/downstairs with coffee, lunch etc; other errands in between. Meanwhile 1970s spouse sat trapped upstairs - fear of falling over the paint-aerobics. But - calamity! - I have now mislaid His fave mug. It's vanished! The world might end.

#BurnsNight coming up. I have too many books, so here's an old piece of nostalgia that many emigrants must have packed in their trunk when going abroad:- 220 Popular Scottish Songs (Mozart Allan, early C20th) in #SolFa tinyurl.com/220PopScotSo...

#BurnsNight coming up. I have too many books and am having to slim down my collection, so here's 'Performing Robert Burns: Enactments and Representations of the National Bard', great price www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20599012...

These aren't wet paint footprints - it hoovers up. (I call it paint dust; sanding makes dust.) He Who Knows, says it’s NOT paint dust, as 'paint doesn't make dust'. Am I *imagining* what we're treading through the house - or being gaslit? @shadowsofcontrol.bsky.social

Out today! And up on my website now as both printed books and PDFs! Haiku On the Shore - a suite of 3 compositions for harp starting with The Grey Heron Stands which was Harps North West JaNEWary offering www.karenmarshalsay.com/haiku-on-the...

Annoyingly, my hybrid #Fiat500 stopped hybridding last weekend. Was she just feeling the cold? But today, a rainy Friday, she woke up & decided she'd like to hybrid after all. #HalfheartedHybrid? I suppose I have to cancel the diagnostic test to avoid paying to find nothing?

Apparently, *I* am to blame for the decorating delays... (there are other reasons too) karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2026/01/16/b...

Schlau wie ein Fuchs. 🦊

Tried to talk to Himself about the carnyx, but it didn't go well. 'You know that carnyx ..? 'What?! Cornet?' 'No, carnyx. In Norfolk.' 'Oh, that horn!' 'No, it's a CARnyx.' I showed Him your model. A look of understanding stole across His face ...

Does your church have an issue with dogs wandering in? Get yourself some LAZY TONGS.

Remember we got the house rewired, and had to move out? Now the decorating, whilst we remain in it. And it's a living hell! #HowToLoseYourMind karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2026/01/15/s...

To anyone #wfh working in a chaotic home (whatever the chaos) - I commiserate! karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2026/01/15/s...

No decorators today; no idea why. Meanwhile, my workspace = 2 coffee-tables + settee surrounded by packed boxes + piles of books. And no TV for anyone else. Moreover, I'm trying not to upset Himself (always an impossible task), who is more stressed than usual because of the above. #SeekingPeace

The fellowship I've always coveted, but circumstances have never been right! Someone is in for a treat - what an opportunity. #Bibliography

A particularly unsatisfactory decorating project. Stuff, and mess on an unprecedented scale. So, ready meals are appropriate. Still, Himself demands, 'What took so long?' Even ready meals have to get from frozen to cooked! #Understanding #Tolerance

My employer expects me to bring in £150,000 in research funding every year so the collapse of the funding model is my responsibility to solve.

Incredible article which points out that it often collectively costs more to apply for scarce research funding than the funds awarded to the successful proposals. What an absurd system we've built in the service of efficiency and competition. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

This is rather lovely - Siobhan Miller sings, 'Green grow the rashes, O' youtu.be/44bhiviUs1M?...

I wrote a thing. Rather pleased with it, I must admit! karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2026/01/12/p...

Just been informed I am lucky that the hand-vac saves ME lugging the hoover up/down countless times a day during our miserable redecorating project. #Cinderella

Proud Addition to my Published Output: 'Women Pursuing Musical Careers: Finding Opportunities in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Scottish Music Publishing Circles', new article! #RMAResearchChronicle #PortfolioCareers karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2026/01/12/p...

Really sorry to learn that epic trumpeter and former @rcsofficial.bsky.social Principal #JohnWallace has died. www.rcs.ac.uk/news-stories...

Very sad news indeed. #JohnWallace #trumpet

Who remembers the old song sung at Guiding campfires, 'Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, going down the garden to eat worms'? Well, I've apparently been so annoying of late that I'm strongly tempted to go down the garden right now! #Weary @shadowsofcontrol.bsky.social

Deliberately misunderstanding, I said, 'See? I'll stand for no intolerance at this table.' 'Quite right, no-one should be intolerant in a restaurant', replied our literally-minded one ...

'Better Wisdom than Weapons of War' Cambridge Alumnae Suffrage Banner (1908) designed by UK artist Mary Lowndes. Handmade from silk, velvet, with embroidery and silver paint, the huge banner was carried by a Cambridge contingent of 400 women in the great suffrage procession, 1908 #WomensArt

This is going to be Quite a Weekend! The #MagnoliaAndWhite project has begun ... #Painting #Decorating (not DIY) karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2026/01/09/r...

I half-packed the house prior to rewiring last year. Himself agitated until I put most of it BACK afterwards (notwithstanding that we needed painters next) because it unsettled him. He physically can't help me. Now I'm boxing it all up again, for the painters. Beginning to feel sorry for myself ..

And I'm in trouble again. I work until 5 pm. I've been ticked off for not starting cooking dinner by 16.55 ...

"Ever since our Paleolithic ancestors began painting caves, carving figurines, dancing and singing, engaging in the arts has been interwoven with health and healing." "when we engage in the arts, we give our brains what they want to be happy". (Thus, I add, art is about doing, not slop-grifting.)

@sequinworld.bsky.social did I show you my Christmas embroidery efforts?

Given today’s very exciting news of the discovery of an intact Carnyx (Iron Age war-horn) in Thetford, Norfolk, here’s what they might have sounded like:

Archaeologists find an Iron Age carnyx which is the most complete found in Europe & the first ever boar's head flag standard to be found in Britain in a hoard found near Thetford, Norfolk. 👇 BBC News - Thetford dig unearths Iron Age war trumpet and boar standard www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

9 pm tonight. Definitely worth remembering!

There has been performance research into the #carnyx. I remember cataloguing these CDs:- Results of search for 'Carnyx' › Royal Conservatoire of Scotland catalog share.google/dbBUzmDZ7aVj... (See, if I wasn't a former librarian, I wouldn't know this!)

'The bronze trumpet or carnyx is only the third ever found in Britain, and the most complete example discovered anywhere in the world. Fashioned in the shape of a snarling wild animal, the object would have been mounted on a long mouthpiece high above the heads of warriors'. 1/3

#TravelRant It would be impolite to offer a snuffly sniffer a tissue, but I wish you had a tissue with you!

Have recorded tunes for the choir. It's 11.30 am, and even that activity didn't rouse #TestosteroneTowers! But I feel virtuous (at least until someone asks what on earth I was doing...)

Can't be going out without your hat.

Mr @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social is a genius!

Tempting!

Christmas decorations all away, apart from the wreath which got forgotten last night. Quick poll: did you get help from other family members? Or were you left to organise the dismantling (like the arrangement) of Christmas all by yourself? Did they sit and watch you 😳? #Cinderella

So my innocent idea of a quick trip to Hillhead becomes less of a good idea? Let's check buses ... parking is too difficult.

Here's my new mantra in such cases, which might be helpful:- 'It's not about me, it's about them. It says more about them than it does about me.' Repeat. And repeat again. (I'm well versed in the antics of such types.)

I have a 'new' piece of music (from 1908) by my latest research interest. (He only plays a minor role, but he's interesting all the same.) I'm ITCHING to try it out. However, The Critic will demand to know 'what that rubbish is', if I play a second-rate March and Two-Step, so I must bide my time ...

So, I sit down to arrange a simple piece for the choir. Critic appears. 'That's WRONG!' It isn't. Critic asks Alexa to play it. She plays it my way (aka, the right way). Critic mutters, 'Alexa, stop.' And changes subject rapidly ... Never a good idea to disagree with the expert!

As sons go, truly I have The Best! #WFH desk drawer.

Moreover, even my perfectionist self is quietly satisfied with only having gained 2 lb over the festive season. Now back to the #diet!