Another picture of Hilda Trevelyan

We are on BlueSky! Follow @gem-heritage to stay updated about GEM's new training, opportunities and news! We look forward to building a welcoming online community here!

I have more or less finished the dreaded dissertation. Frankly, if I pass it will be a miracle, but having got there in the face of chronic fatigue and other fun health issues is an achievement in itself. I am now doing absolutely nothing. Not. A. Thing. Zilch. Diddly squat.

Briefly popping in to say how much I hate Harvard referencing. Or, in fact, every other flavour of the same. *departs. replaces nose on grindstone *

See BBC Springwatch 2024. I thought I had my numbers wrong BUT “one monthly flea treatment for a large dog can kill 25 million bees!”. I’m a dog owner BTW, luckily my boy has a tablet, not a droplet. Goes someway to explain some of our insect decline. 25 MILLION 😳 beevive.com/blogs/bee-bl...

So there’s a finite time you can spend editing your dissertation, isn’t there?!? Somebody crowbar me away from it, I have a bibliography to finish…

I (the queen) enjoyed meeting Morna and hearing about her book.

It was lovely to perform as Queen Victoria yesterday for the fabulous Heartwood Inns. The Royal Forest is absolutely stunning, fit for a Queen!

This. We don't get dying "right", right now. How will we manage assisted dying too? So many traumatic stories being shared about bad deaths, but if we got palliative care right, would they still be traumatic? My fear is it becomes either/or, when it needs to be sufficient funding & support for both.

I’m back from reformer pilates, in which I horrify myself anew at how my body doesn’t bend. I’m a rusty old bucket.

Wales this weekend – climate collapse happening before our very eyes . We need to get serious . It’s why I’m petitioning for a ban on fossil fuel ads . lovera.ge/ban-ffa 🧵

IT'S #WOLFHALL O'CLOCK.

My dear friend Ethel, looking up at the slowly appearing moon, asked me if I navigated by the stars.. Peng, she said, Peng, how do you know where you're going, under water, how do you know what bit of land you've landed on, it seems frightfully difficult. Well, said I, even a bird has a brain.

Is there a museum of emotions? Anyone know? #museums

For the short story lovers, these are the first few pages of my story, The Inheritance, which is featured in the @goldsborobooks.bsky.social anthology '25'. Can anyone guess the inspiration?

Is this really a BICYCLE THIEVES reference in Scorsese's HUGO? dcairns.wordpress.com/2024/11/22/t...

The advert for our Research Associate post in Victorian Cultural and Material History is now up on jobs.ac.uk - www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DKS158/r... Please spread the word!!!!

It’s been lovely to reward myself with Powell and Pressburger after a day of dissertation writing. Please can we have a Powell and Pressburger channel?

Leg warmers though. They’re great.

I decided I wasn’t going to go out today, so put on a pair of pyjama bottoms, leg warmers, thermals and a poncho. Then I went out. I’ve got to that age where I’m invisible anyway, so no one pointed and laughed.

I’ve got that point in my dissertation where it feels like I’m writing utter nonsense. I probably am writing utter nonsense. And I keep remembering Prof. Hunter, during my ill advised undergrad dalliance with philosophy, reading my first sentence out to the class as an excellent example of a fallacy

Where are all the #gardenhistorians? Would love to follow you!

*nods thoughtfully*

Scale of the problem: 'Children accounted for the biggest rise of any social group falling into poverty, the report found, with an extra 260,000 on the breadline since before the Covid pandemic, meaning a record 36%, or 5.2 million children, were in deprivation.' www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

A corset of white cotton sateen with corded sections across the bust. Made by Corset Parisien à la Sirène, a brand that must have been popular as many extant products of theirs from the late 19thc/early 20thc survive. 🗃️🪡

Good morning, as a small contribution to keeping this place cheerful here’s my robin

I’m here but I’m not here. I’m bumping right up against a ferocious deadline for my dissertation and am stranded somewhere between 1820 and 1857. I’d feel happier if my supervisions had been more positive! (Daft old bird doing a masters anyway…).

Abandoned steelworks at Redcar under a brooding sky, with fishermen’s huts from South Gare in the foreground.

I’m excited to share #EARTHTALK a course, community & a book that offers a rich set of tools for effective conversations & creative activities about the Earth Crisis. I'm inviting people to join to access: 1) A network of like-minded others to share practice and challenges, and find collaborators

Hm. Rather like humans in the Neolithic.

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, New York in 1957 by Richard Avedon. He knew that they were great dog lovers so during the portrait session told them a lie that on the way to meet them his taxi had run over a little dog. He took this famous photo as they reacted to the story.

"LOOK AT MEEEE!"

Ladies, gents, small mammals, have you eaten your daily 'succulent repast' yet? Serving suggestion

Good evening peoples. I hope you’re all chipper. It would appear there is a rat in our attic, which is fun. It chooses to stomp about in the wee small hours, so one is even more fatigued than usual. What’s going on in your neck of the woods?

Sir Galahad and the Pale Nun Julia Margaret Cameron, 1874

Hermione wishes you a very happy #Caturday.

Also, I shall be eating no more Brussels sprouts for the foreseeable future. Or, in fact, chestnuts.

Late to the party (as usual!): Happy New Year, Blue Sky! I am trying very hard to shake abject lethargy and get on with ‘stuff’. Tomorrow. Maybe it’ll happen tomorrow.

"Mary, posed by a small Christmas tree." Ca. 1935. www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Imag...

Christmas Fathers.

A butterfly! That’s jolly. I hope you’ve successfully foraged and are ready to feast. I’m exhausted already (but then I usually am). Last Christmas was horrific and flashbacks to that are not fun, but I expect I’ll get through it.

Update on the university debacle: apologies have been received and all has been rectified. I am, once again, a student. Stressful few days.

Ok, my tv viewing standards suitably lowered, Quality Street cracked open, I’m doing festive. I’m scheduling in a lot of sleeping.

just for the halibut (hell of it) (terrible old joke) (not even a joke) (what is wrong with my brain today?) here are three scissor-paper-cuts made by Lotte Nicklass, circa 1918, to illustrate an edition of A Thousand And One Nights

It’s a wild and woolly solstice hereabouts. Stay safe and hold fast for the return of the light as the wheel of the year turns. Image: Sarah Greenman.

Good night 🕊

Aggrieved. My university has withdrawn me from my course without telling me, or consulting my supervisor. It’s entirely their error, but they’re expecting me to sort it out. If they actually answered their phones or emails, it might help. So today, I emailed the boss.

Now I'm home I hope to quickly publish my latest novel, Mythily: "Oh my god it's brilliant!" "Sci-fi horror set in 1937, with Nazis, zombies & giant spider-crabs, along with aliens & lots of humour." "Bonkers, but it's fast paced & compelling too." Just for you lot, here's a preview of the cover: