Fascinating and wonderful last paragraph and I enjoy seeing ‘laggard’ in use! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Chelsea Flower Show: the good, the bad (and the forgettable) ft.trib.al/wbocW3q | opinion

Sarah Hosking's memoir on Art College exams: "... under the reformed system: the student was confined to a studio alone for six hours with a four-foot-square block of polystyrene and allowed no other tools than a potato peeler, while their reactions were observed, remotely"

Deep in Sarah Hosking's memoir. I expected art and books but not passion. "I met and fell madly in love with three young men. One of them gave me a scarlet enamel ladle and a pair of red knickers and while the knickers have long gone to the land of discarded clothing, I still have the ladle."

Archaeologists Find Egyptian Mummy Buried With the ‘Iliad’ www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/s...

Wow! What a perfect residency. collections.reading.ac.uk/news-and-vie...

When a tree decides to start turning into an elephant

Boulge Church, hidden across fields, through woods and wild flowers. Edward Fitzgerald, translator of the Rubayiat of Omar Khayyam, is buried here but not in the family vault. A cutting of a Rose from Khayyam’s tomb in Iran (then Persia) was brought here in 1883.

Masayo Fukuda, contemporary master of kirie, or Japanese paper-cutting, crafting hyper detailed creatures from single sheets of paper #womensart

Italian ceramics artist Clara Holt, who decorates her work with images of ancient myths #WomensArt

"As full of spirit as the month of May, and as gorgeous as the sun in Midsummer." ~ William Shakespeare

This is Ethel. She is vast. She contains multitudes. #birds

Charlottesville used bookstore’s got game

Teaching a weekend course in creative writing at C16 Madingley Hall, Cambridge. Perfect weather, lush grass, tender young leaves, wild spring flowers and gossamer clouds.

Not taken by me, but by a companion. I like the pink tongue #india #rajasthan

The early afternoon in Udaipur, Rajasthan. After a night flight, this bedroom ( only two days here!) is space and brilliant colours are the trees and flowers in the garden my room opens on to. Brilliant too, the feathers on birds I cannot name.

Carvings over 1000’s of years and many cultures. All in stone, even those that look like wood. Then marble inlaid with semi-precious stones and friezes of erotic and divine acts. Decoration of temples, mosques and palaces is brilliantly skilful.

Over Afghanistan on long flight from Delhi to London. Mountains tipped with snow, gorges, rocky plateau. But still lit up by my time in Rajasthan. The palaces, of course, and birds but I love the cheer of lorries too. The colours and the tassels hanging off the back of their bumpers.

Agra Fort, more monkeys, mynah birds, black kites. One side used by Indian army, the other a monument to history, Indian and from 1803 until Independence, the British.

The Taj Mahal at dawn. Far beyond what I imagined and far more peaceful. Almost translucent in misty dawn then the crystalline marble shimmering as the sun hit it.

Motherhood, everywhere. #rajasthan #india

Jaipur’s pink city and the Amber Fort a joy; a long walk with so many rewards. At my hotel 100’ of birds, especially omnipresent, omniaudio peacocks. Now on long drive to Agra, competitive vehicles and animals.

Breakfast by the lake, perfect blue skies and a hazy horizon as the temperature climbs. Thank heavens for trees like sun shades, waxy blossom falling. The day smells of jasmine, amber and figs. Off to City Palace; an extraordinary c16 labyrinth with numberless rooms and very narrow passages Xx

Arrived in Udaipur, winding through the busy city, clusters of tiny shops, colours, temples, ancient palaces, terrifyingly independent traffic and then, everywhere, lakes, mountain, birds and the glow of sunset and cupolas. And food.

Easter day in my birthplace, Fairford. Home-made marmalade on toast, local bee-made honey. Heavy rain overnight replaced by morning sunshine, hedgerows of blackthorn in blossom, primroses and cowslips. Timeless. And as I lift my mug of tea, a US bomber flies over, low, on its way to create hell.

Fairford is famous for its medieval stained glass windows in St Mary’s church. And for its air base. The imagination of the glaziers is wonderful. Heaven is gardens, lakes, trees. But hell is very present: hellmouth, grinning blue demons and murder.

Curtain falls after a brilliant performance of Siegfried at Covent Garden last night. Antonio Pappano in the middle. The music was superb and I forgot that it was long and not a great favourite (for me!) Magic.

Only just over 2 weeks until I fly to India and journey around Rajasthan. I am so excited that I already have my suitcase out and check the temperature in Udaipur every day.

Teaching a Creative Writing weekend with Derek Niemann, at Madingley Hall, University of Cambridge, 24th-26th April. For anyone who has some experience in writing but who’d like to explore ways to make a more intriguing, more compelling, more original work. Plus a stunning building and gardens.

Franz Marc (1888-1916) Horse and Dog, 1913. oil on canvas. #Cubism

A gorgeous Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly visiting our blueberry shrubs. 🦓 🦋 #Eurytidesmarcellus

#dandelions The sacred geometry of dandelions.

This year I hope to return. It's a unique festival - relaxed, sociable, and is such an immersive Corfiot experience. www.corfuliteraryfestival.com

A friend, also a writer and a fellow colleague, said places were (unintentionally) the main characters in all my books and my closest relationship was with the part of the west where I grew up. Me and the smell of wild garlic and abandoned canal.

Deer enjoying cherry blossoms in Nara, Japan: #AGoodPlace Source: www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/s...

Crows everywhere, some shrieking, swooping low, some watching silently from trees dripping in the mist. It could be the opening to a horror film. Or just Monday.

A few square inches of tree trunk. At least 4 species of lichens (Parmelia, two Physcia species and Caloplaca) plus Red Tree Brain Fungus. #lichen #fungi #fungifriends.

Mornings in the mist, rising from the river beyond the trees.

Poetry is a bird perched lightly on the back of all that is fickle and dangerous in this world...

Released into the wild! Found him in the bottom of a steep sided recycling container. Not sure if he could jump out but then how did he get in?! #frog

Eisenhower

The boys’ club: How Epstein’s influence shaped the exclusion of women in STEM 19thnews.org/2026/02/epst... via @19thnews.org

A friend sends me a text from Finland. - 20 degrees and the aurora over a frozen landscape.

A wild Beara juniper. One of the first pioneer trees/shrubs to colonise Ireland after the last Ice Age around 14-12k years ago, it's extraordinarily valuable for birds and other wildlife. However, due to overgrazing, especially by sheep, the species is now tragically rare in West Cork.

Elizabeth Speller, in the 2004 book "Following Hadrian," (yeah, I still read books - I'm old) talks about Roman Emperor Hadrian wanting "peace through strength or, failing that, peace through threat."