Well, I have amused myself this Christmas. I'm not a very experienced embroiderer, but it kept me occupied!

'You've definitely lost weight', says he. Unexpected 😲 praise. 'I wouldn't say you're slim yet,though.' Always the dig!

I dust my house. My AI robot watches. "It should be you doing this." "Can't. I'm writing a novel for Primark." "That's not why you were invented." "These 153,000 fan letters say otherwise." "They're all from upcycled toasters. And you programmed them." "Literary snobbery will get you nowhere."

Insomnia for a little over 3 hours. Long enough to justify creeping downstairs, making a cuppa, and checking out British Newspaper Archive and Ancestry (which had caused the insomnia in the first place). Even if I didn't find the answer! Ah well, never mind. Zzzzz.

#OTD 202 years ago, our friend Wm Motherwell received Smith's urgent letter and replied immediately. Which I suppose confirms he wasn't completely blotto ... #Hogmanay + 1 karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2026/01/02/m...

You want to try entering your late 60s! Friends' letters begin to report health problems, and you wonder whose turn it will be next ...

On this day #OTD in 1824, R.A. Smith wrote to William Motherwell, who was taking his time with a promised preface ... karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2026/01/01/2...

On this year (I can't remember the day) thirty years ago, a @peoplesfriendmag.bsky.social paperback story came out, having started life as a serial. My writing career predates my academic one by quite a bit! Narrative and readability were certainly useful outcomes.

What a year! Truly, what a year! karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/12/31/t...

And @bhfpolicy.bsky.social magazine nudges me in the ribs to get back on track! #cholesterol

You want plans? Oh, I have plans. I have an Athenaeum Award from @rcsofficial.bsky.social for a forthcoming project in Dundee. We haven’t gone public with the details yet, but it's assuredly #education and #history related!

And I got it wrong again. I threw out a flyer from a local bed company, which the postie is delivering to *everyone* on his rounds. How DARE I throw out 'post' without asking Himself first? How thoughtless and inconsiderate I am! @shadowsofcontrol.bsky.social

#Hogmanay #OTD 1855 or 1873, take your pick! karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog

And 152 years ago #OTD in #Greenock - it was Hogmanay and our ancestor was out (presumably) revelling ... when tragedy struck. karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/12/31/a... #OnThisDay

170 years ago #OTD, a letter from Aberdeen to Dundee:- karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/12/31/s... #OnThisDay #ScottishMusic

Third of four embroidered pieces. 'Silent Night' and 'Holy Night' now followed by 'All is Calm'. (Tomorrow I'll work out how to portray 'All is Bright '!)

Every time.

In the New Year, I will need someone who is skilled at making an artful map for a project that I am working on. If this is you, please reach out in January - [email protected] I need a visual representation of the circulation of a historical pamphlet.

It's cold. My feet (in tights and socks) now sit on a hot water bottle, and are covered with four layers of a scarf. I dispute the assurance that there's nothing wrong with my circulation!!

This is the time of year when I usually take to my desk to write something for pure enjoyment. This year? I'm at a loss for what I feel like #writing about. Might as well turn to my current #embroidery project! 'All is calm' is progressing slowly ...

A teaser for today's seasonal #OTS ##OnThisDay. (I'm still trying to acquire copies of books 1 and 3 of Nelson's Scots Song Book for my own collection!) karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/12/30/n...

I've got an article about four female Scottish musicians forthcoming in the next @royalmusical.bsky.social Research Chronicle - I'll certainly share details when it's published.

If you think I'm a writer of recipes for @weightwatchers.bsky.social, please think again. I might try cooking them, but that's it!

My latest #OTD #OnThisDay in the history of Scottish music publishing ... karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/12/30/n...

To my shame, as a child on holiday in Broadstairs, my mother produced MY autograph book out of her handbag at the beach and made me go and get Ted Heath's autograph...

Can't get it out of my mind. Paternoster Row was obliterated in the Blitz, 85 years ago tonight. #OTD #OnThisDay karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/12/29/t...

Tempting opportunities here, historians. (And oh, I do covet that teapot!)

85 years ago today, #ThomasNelson's London staff went to work in Paternoster Row as usual. 85 years tomorrow, they didn't ... #OTD ##OnThisDay karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/12/29/t...

I stand with a tray, one hand 2 cm away from the light switch. 'I'LL do that!' 'But I'm right here!', I protest feebly. 'WHY DO YOU THINK I'M STANDING HERE? But you WON'T BE HELPED!' For me, 'helping' is a bit more practical than this! @shadowsofcontrol.bsky.social

Abusers try to tell you what you believe, what you think, and what your intentions are, as though they could possibly know what is inside your head. #gaslighting #manipulation #emotionalabuse #coercivecontrol

Glasgow City Council is trialling free public transport with 1000 random people. I told my resident transport enthusiast. 'Where?' 'Glasgow.' 'You *didn't* say Glasgow.' Tiny, inconsequential repetitions of #gaslighting, reinterpreting thoughts, making me doubt myself @shadowsofcontrol.bsky.social

I laughed, proud how quickly *I'd* turned it round. 'Just look at that pile of clean laundry!' 'What did you expect? You knew guests mean more washing. You wanted them here at Xmas, didn't you?' Suddenly I'm turned into a Grinch. I didn't mean ANY of that! #gaslighting? @shadowsofcontrol.bsky.social

Another significant #OnThisDay. Less than a mile from our house, actually. #AlasdairGray

@calthalas.bsky.social this has published date 2025, though I got my copy a couple of months earlier - so it just about counts!

Who else is posting #OnThisDay stories today, I wonder? An interesting mixture of stories so far with literary @wflibraries.bsky.social and legislative stories @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social

On this day 29th December 1975 “Radical new legislation” introducing a woman's right to equal pay and status came into force in the UK (Picture: A Second Picture Dictionary, artist: Eric Winter)

This week in Scottish publishing history ... 85 years ago tonight, Thomas Nelson's London offices in Paternoster Row were destroyed in the #Blitz. karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/12/29/t...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stated that the 1918 flu pandemic was caused by a lab virus from vaccine research, a defective influenza vaccine. Let’s analyze what a lie this is. First, in 1918, 107 years ago, virology was in its infancy

A forgotten birthday. Yes indeed! karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/12/28/q...

Okay, I'm playing with fabric. Last night's ''Silent night" is followed by "Holy night". I have yet to devise "All is calm" and "All is bright".

I overestimated how much coffee Mr 32 would get through in a week! Still unopened ... #Stocktaking after the family departed.

Pa's autoharp has found a new home. So pleased - much better than lying in a box in my own home! Enjoy your new future, little autoharp!

I should have done the alt text for that embroidered picture. Here:-

Can't wait to watch this later today!

Today's anniversary is of a guy who is hardly known today, but his Scottish song collection was the 'go-to' authority for many decades... #GeorgeFarquharGraham #SongsOfScotland karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/12/28/q...

Read the alt text

dreamt I did a detailed plan of an entire book chapter. didn't. thanks brain

Now mirk December’s dowie face Glowrs owr the rigs wi’ sour grimace, While, thro’ his minimum of space, The bleer-ee’d sun, Wi blinkin’ light, and stealing pace, His race doth run… —Robert Fergusson (1750–1774), “The Daft-Days” – the period between Christmas & New Year #BookWormSat #C18 #poetry

So, listen. If you buy a bed with drawers underneath, & it comes with strips of fabric holding them in place for shipping, don't throw them out. You just got a free gift for a sewing project! (Silvery-grey plush fabric here, enough for several pictures.) #Sustainability #ReUse #Repurpose #Embroidery

Can you help a local historian locate and map examples of historic Gaelic inscriptions on Scottish gravestones? Read the latest blog on our website here that explains more about this interesting project 👇 www.scotlandschurchestrust.org.uk/blog/in-sear...