First cup of tea: the sun rises, stylishly.

Old lady cat. Think she's 17 now. Maybe even 18.

February morning. An enchanted light falls through the window. Playful, bright, full of hope. For a better day. #vss365

Good door...

In each room. I look for you. Not you, but pieces of who you once were. Watch for the shadows, the reflections, the miniscule moments. The ripples of a life. Left behind. #vss365

First cup of tea: this, I really have to say, is the life.

February sun bright today, a faint kiss of frost on the window. Snowdrops blossom in the garden, a robin hops along the broken fence. I hold onto my tea, soak in the light. Breathe in warmer days. #vss365

I pick up cups, move laundry, run my hand over the kitchen surfaces. Touch the echoes of where you once were. Think of all the little things we won't do again. #vss365

Rain falls. Mud slips. The scent of moss fills the woods. I reach for the next branch, the wood moans, aches. Bends under my weight. My heart skips. I keep climbing. Up and up. Through the canopy. Break through. As birds fly. Soaring into the light. #vss365

The rain has finally stopped. A scent in the air. A memory in each puddle. A pale light through the clouds. Pushing back the grey. I breathe in the morning. Fill my lungs with the day. #vss365

The absence of you, a wound that won't heal. A cut that still stings. #vss365

Excited to have booked some events for this year's festival. @yorklitfest.bsky.social

Very pleased with my new Lego friends...

We know. It's coming. It's nearly done. We're on the cusp of the end. We talk slower, hold each other lighter, forget to make it matter. Anymore. #vss365

As light pours in, I see the room change. Sun casts, shadows move, mesmerised I watch as patterns form, pictures dance, you slip into my mind. Like a familiar hand. Entwined. #vss365

In kitchen cupboards they lie. Books I haven't opened in years. In-between the pages, a hand written recipe for your Lemon drizzle cake. I lick my lips, swallow, and taste the sweetness of yesterday. #vss365

Colour missing from the garden. Pencil lines, like a charcoal sketch of what used to be. Bare branches bend and stretch to the sky. Reaching out to touch something, anything. Grasping for hope. This day. #vss365

I think back to when we were young. Running through empty houses, dancing in dapples of light, making claim to rooms that weren't yet ours. I think of you, as the rain pours, the windows stream, as the grey fills my day. #vss365

You tell me the news. And I can't breathe, can't take it in. Stare at the wall, straighten the wonky picture, the colours once bright now faded. #vss365

I listen for you In the songs that I hear, the notes that play between #haiku

Tucked up in a corner of the cafe, plants at the window, rain falling down. I love the kooky pictures, the blankets in the bay seat, the warmth of the coffee on a cold, miserable day. I feel like me, as I sit here. Even for an hour. Just a little time. To finally be. #vss365

Frost on a blade of grass. The skies like a spilled pallet of paint. A bird sits on the fence. The world glimmers with hope. An unmissable morning. Another January that you didn't see. #vss365

Through rain drops lights stretch in the night. Long monsters standing guard. Watching over people as they walk past, under, through. The wind rattles, I'm not spooked, yet hold myself closer, breathe a little shorter, reach out a hand in the dark. #vss365

Throughout the years. A look, a nod, a small acknowledgement. We gather together, quite by accident. The quiet ones, the oddballs, the different, the unwanted. Laugh, cry, cling on. In the corners, the crevices, the shadows of the day. Hold on to me. Keep me close. So I can breathe. #vss365

My cats...

These days move slowly, and yet all at once. Rushing into each other with an abstraction of time. Tea simmers. Cats yawn. The back window steams. Out there, bright skies, cold frosts, the feeling that anything is possible. For a while. #vss365

A clock ticked. A switch flicked. We lay hardly breathing. Waiting for the lights to go out. The top step to creak. The house to go quiet. Under our duvets, illicit reading, laughing, sharing of secrets. How I long for those safe days. When we weren't alone. #vss365

I collect confetti. Moments that used to matter. Gathered from the holes in the floor, the back row of pews in the church, the bits left between the pages of a book. The forgotten, disregarded, the ones that hurt too much. That sting like a nettle, as I slowly make tea. #vss365

Leaves fall, a bitter wind creeps, autumn colours gather in the cold sun. I watch out the window. Wonder how the day is almost over, yet still not done. Lingering on. This day. This feeling. The shadow you left behind, growing. #vss365

That day before the grey, before the rain, the cold, the change. Leaves sing, sunlight spots the stage. October shines, with an undertone of summer. We linger, loiter, bask in the warmth of this last hurrah. #vss365

October. A garden in the rain. Spiders curl up on their web. Birds shelter in the hedge. Leaves drip, gutters run. The shed doorway, an oasis from the downpour. The cat watches, waiting for a gap. A pause. A moment. To make their move. #vss365

Autumn leaves race in September wind. Rushing along the roadside as trees cheer, rains dance, the dark sky full of catastrophe. Windscreen wipers keep time as I drive along. Listening to songs from yesterday. #vss365

Thursday. Or Friday. I'm not quite sure. I count the circles on the tablecloth. Trace my finger along the lines. Take stock as I drink the first tea of the day. The rain already pouring. #vss365

We laugh, joke, put on a smile. That's just our way, our style, how we get through. How we survive the days without you. #vss365

The house echoes as I potter around. Reminding me of those days when you're home from school. That echo of something, the potential for anything. The usually familiar suddenly all so strange. #vss365

Rain, always rain. Drumming in the background. Pulling at the skies. A song on the radio and I'm struck with a smile. Swapped into a kitchen from long ago, sitting, chatting, getting to know friends. That time. Those years. Faces that made it all bearable for a moment. #vss365

Sunday morning. Laying in bed. Staring out the window. Sipping tea. Listening to a song. Not just music, but a doorway, a portal, a way to visit another version of myself. To remember all the people I've been. Each scene, each sadness, each laugh. I smile today. #vss365

Two columns, 500 words. That's all there was. To say who you were. What you achieved. An article to summarise your life. Not the choices, the feelings, the hurt. The way you closed your eyes when you laughed. Just black on white. Ink that fades. #vss365

The skies bright tonight. Even with the street lights pouring. The cars passing. The houses not in slumber. In those hours when everything looks different. Sleep eludes me again. So I watch, I listen, I hope. For dreams. #vss365

In the stars that feeling lies. A wish for tomorrow, a ghost from the past, a lingering hope that it will be ok. Someday. #vss365

The band played. The tears fell. She sat in front of the speaker. Reaching out for the bass. It was that feeling. The thrumming inside. The vibration that ran through from her toes. The connection. That saw through the mask, the loneliness, the hurt, that filled her. #vss365

Five more minutes. That's all. I want. Just enough for goodbye. A mundane chat, or cup of tea. To touch your arm, breathe you in, to see your face again. #vss365

We huddle in the doorway of the lighthouse. Cocoon ourselves into one. I breathe in your warmth, strength, security. You were always my comfort in the grey. Rains pelt. Waves crash. Seas seethe. And we hold on. #vss365

Rain streams, grey skies rumble. I tuck my feet up, pull the blanket tight, take a bite of brownie I'd baked earlier. From that recipe you'd passed down. Hand written, covered in stains, years of memories. I close my eyes. Listen for your voice. Low thunder growls. #vss365

August tomorrow. The heat like a blanket, weighing us down. Skin prickles, lawnmowers hum, that taste of summer in the air. Like the ache of too strong squash, long grass on bare legs, salt from the sea. As the sun dims, the butterflies slow, the days drift into one. #vss365

Too hot for days. Clothes stick, skin rubs, sleep a distant memory. Afternoon thunder rolls in, cracks, the clouds open. I take off my socks, wriggle my toes in the grass. Lift my head to the skies. As spiritual rain pours, cleanses, lifts me. Raises me up again. #vss365

Summers nearly here again. Those long stretching days, that run and run. Ice clinks in too sweet squash, teeth ache with that first swallow. Grass cold in between our toes, butterflies dance in glowing skies. A time of innocence remembered. Yet, lost long ago. #vss365

Hot sun, dry air, a masala of spices in piles on the ground. Colours bright, aromas strong, chatter echoes as the market rhythm sings it's own song. Weaves in the breeze, through the throat of an elder, the eyes of a young one. Tells a story like no other. Every day. #vss365

A heavy day, claustrophobic, close. I watch out the window, as the skies fall, think of you. Wonder if it rained. When you walked heel to toe, each step hard and slow, each one a pain to your heart. Did you feel the drops on your skin as you got closer to saying goodbye. #vss365