After days of moving little and eating too much I got out for a nice 3.5 mile wander from home yesterday. Across Hanging Hill for lovely views of the Lakeland fells, then down to the canal. Fantastic light as the Sun began to set. Had the company of a robin for most of the canal stretch of the walk.

A ‘stile leading to steps’ combo on today’s Burton-in-Kendal Fellwalkers ‘mince pie walk’ on rather slippy local paths - ahead of a ‘Jacob’s Join’ gathering in the village hall. Bringing our 2025 walking season to a close. 🥾🥾🥾 @lakesstiles.bsky.social #stiles

‘Team Jamie!’ was set up to raise funds in memory of the wonderful human @movingslowly.bsky.social & to sustain his legacy of helping others. Great news that it has reached 55% of target. Hope we can keep the momentum going to reach 100% If you can help see www.justgiving.com/team/teamjam...

The end of a moving & emotional day. Saying our last farewells to Alister. My wonderful step-dad. Lovely services at Perth crematorium & Little Dunkeld Kirk honouring a good man who lived a good life. He’ll long be remembered by all who knew him. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💕💔💕🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Alister V McLean Dec 1926 - Nov 2025

We are nearing midwinter, the time the Lightbringers guard and return the light to us If you are in need for a gift for someone who struggles in winter or a secret Santa gift, then consider one of my books. Story books for adults, gentle seasonal hope. Signed on my website or ask lovely bookshop

Popping back for something important… This is for those of you who knew & loved that golden human, Jamie Normington @movingslowly.bsky.social – and those who never met him but were amused, enlightened, touched by his gift for communication and compassion here and on Twitter.

No finer team to support than Team Jamie

I’m pretty sure most if not all my connections will already have seen this; but just in case 👇🏼 Please help honour Jamie’s memory if you can. 💚💔💚

I keep thinking about a day I shared with my step-dad Alister who died on Tuesday. 5 years ago. He was 93 & wanted to re-visit Loch Coruisk on Skye, so we took a boat trip from Elgol. He did brilliantly. I hope I can do the same in my 70’s let alone my 90’s. 💕💔💕 #memories #family

Always a good day when my copy of @slightlyfoxed.bsky.social ‘Slightly Foxed’ arrives. Looking forward to each & every item, especially ‘The Secret Life of Second-hand Books’ 📚📚📚 #slightlyfoxed #bibliophile

Duelling Coal Tits in the apple tree this morning. Lovely to sit for 20 minutes watching the birds and enjoying the brief sunshine.

My best attempts at photographing the full Moon from our garden in South Cumbria last night. Had to grab glimpses of it through quite heavy, fast moving, cloud cover. #FullMoon #BeaverMoon #Nightsky #Moon #Cumbria

Blessed to meet up with my lovely school-friends Paul Norris Vic Dewhurst Antony Gareth Mugford & Andy Farrer tonight in Preston. Last met up 6+ months with 2 of them, 6 years or so for one, and 41 years for Andy. Treasured friends. 🙏🏻🙂

Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness (if we’re talking fiction)

Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness

Awake very early thanks to an annoying cough.Coral cat & I have been gazing at the Moon and the extraordinary clouds lit by it. Simply amazing. 🌕 Can’t help but be grateful for my good fortune to be alive & happy. To be able to see such beauty.

This was a rather wonderful conversation.

The (zoom) view from our 'gin bench' - taken on 24 September 2025.

Three attempts to capture the light from the Moon peeking through stormy clouds last night, from our back garden. #moonphotography #nightsky #moonlight #cumbria

6 years ago OTD I had the privilege & fortune to meet Jamie Normington @movingslowly.bsky.social & his wife Bea for the 1st time. Jamie, generous & friendly, invited me to his talk only 3 weeks after I moved to Cumbria. How blessed I was to know him & to have been given the gift of his friendship. 🙏

“When I approach the pearly gates, I'd like to hear a champagne cork popping, an orchestra tuning up, and the sound of my mother laughing” Patricia Routledge 17th Feb 1929 - 3rd October 2025 May your wishes come true, you wonderful woman and thank you x

Good. Glad assets have already been frozen. But time to remove Mone’s peerage and bring proper consequences to the politicians who helped grifters & profiteers.

Today’s minute of peace. Another lovely morning. Jackdaws swooping and the sound of robin ‘morse code’ clicking all around the garden. The meadow had its 1st cut yesterday. Ready for a closer crop before the rain arrives next week.

@bbcbreaking-bot.bsky.social @channel4news.bsky.social @skynewsrss.bsky.social I hope the government & journalists are asking Jaguar Landrover whether it has cyber attack insurance cover that should reimburse costs of staff wages & system recovery? If not, why not? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The International Space Station high above Burton-in-Kendal just now. 3 second photo with my iPhone showing the movement of the Station in orbit. It’ll be visible again in Cumbria at 19:42 tomorrow.

At last the rain has stopped. A minute of peace in our garden, with Sun shine. Robins singing & butterflies still visiting the remaining flowers. There are plenty of jobs to do, including a ladder climb to unblock a gutter and more tree branches to cut back. But not today. 💚

@thamesvalleypolice.bsky.social explain who told you that projecting this image = either a) malicious or indeed b) communication under the terms of the 1988 Act Are you saying a real photo of Trump is ‘indecent’ or ‘grossly offensive’? 🤔 Light projection = ‘electronic form”?🤔 #TrumpedUpCharges

4 shots of the #nightsky at 1am or so this morning (UK time). Cassiopeia and the Andromeda Galaxy, and the 'Summer Triangle' with the darker centre of our own galaxy running through it. #astronomyphotographs. Not brillant, but my best effort.

Well, Starmer at the ‘summit’ was a shambling, waffling, twat. Also, why did he try to pretend the UK is not part of the continent of Europe? Europe is NOT the same as the EU! @primeministeruk.bsky.social - what an f’ing embarrassment 🤬🤬🤬

❤️

We know the stones as engines of story, but they are also generators of awe. Within their boundaries a sense of the persisting ancient, our shared continuity with the long dead. They are lithic time machines, living in both the then and the evolving now. – Dr. K. Brophy #StandingStoneSunday

Another visit to Kendal Library - really like that they still have a proper date stamp by the self-service computers. Did I stamp my latest loans, of course! Takes me right back to working in the school library 50 years ago 🙂😂 #librariesmatter

Wild Folk has been visiting the stones.

Home from a wonderful evening talk about ‘Wild Folk’ by Jackie Morris & @tamsintheshed.bsky.social This book is a magically beautiful triumph in every way. Stories, illuminations, font, paper, design. If you don’t have a copy order it from your nearest indie bookshop #wildfolkbook

Furthest I’ve been: N: Oslo (just beats Birsay on Orkney I think) E: Singapore S: Cape of Good Hope S Africa W: Vancouver Island

A giant has fallen. 😞 ‘Ad Astra’ - Captain James (‘Jim’) Arthur Lovell Jr. Legendary astronaut; Gemini 7 Gemini 12 Apollo 8 Apollo 13 The only human to have flown twice to the Moon without landing. We will remember you Sir. Blue skies & bright stars. 💔 #JimLovell

The swifts have left Burton for another year. Numbers slightly down on previous years sadly. Fare well sky dwellers. Hope to see you next year.

If you see this post a TV ident.

A lovely day yesterday. Climbed 2 Wainwrights (Arnison Crag & Birks) in the company of dear friend Bea. Means I've 'bagged' 33% of the Wainwrights now. More importantly we remembered Bea's husband Jamie @movingslowly.bsky.social & all the ripples he left in the world. We toasted him on each summit 💚

My great-niece Emma has asked this 👇🏼 “ Does anyone know of anyone with two Coldplay tickets for Wembley on Monday 8th September who would want to exchange for two tickets for Wembley Sunday 7th September?” Please DM me if you could swap, and I’ll pass your details on to her.

Peeking into the hawthorn hedge in our garden yesterday. A Wren fledgling about to be fed an insect by its parent.

Chippy Tea! All the tourists want to try a chippy tea! And yes I did make a tiny newspaper with actual stories in it! The creatures in the collection will come wrapped in a bigger copy so you can read it. International Visitors collection is coming 23rd August

Happy Kate Bush Day Glorious silly fun at Folkestone Harbour. Good work everyone! share.google/YBtNw7tOqEhD...

Windermere Sunset. #windermere #lakedistrict

The Big Butterfly Count starts today! Really easy to do whatever garden you have or wherever you may walk. There's a really useful phone app too. Full details on the post below. #bigbutterflycount

Glad to get a snap of this young song thrush visiting the garden early this morning. Often heard in the surrounding trees but not often seen. #songthrush #ukgardenbirds

Feeding time.......... #blackbirds #gardenbirds #nature #ukgardenbirds

Zoom lens shots of the Lake District mountains against the post Sun-set twilight - from our front bedroom window. More info in alt text #lakedistrictuk #thelakedistrict #cumbria

Excellent circular walk in the #YorkshireDales with my Uni friend Philip today. Conistone up to Capplestone Gate. Tried to explain the popularity of stiles on social media to Philip @lakesstiles.bsky.social & then he used the flippin’ gate! 😂

Find myself pointlessly annoyed & distracted by the opening pages of this Edward Marston (Keith Miles) book. Set in ‘The Lake District’ it refers to Kendal & Windermere in 1861 & says they are in Cumberland, not Westmorland. Why, when Kendal census population is quoted correctly? 🤦🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️🤪