What a remarkable run. The effort this has taken has to be commended. The quality has actually improved over time, which is remarkable over ten years and that many books. I look forward to whatever follows on Patreon (and having heard the next episode on Patreon - what a way to end this era!)

Sunday reading and Sunday listening. The music is from an @andrewmale.bsky.social post. The book covers the secondary cover as the app blocks the actual cover as inappropriate.

At the theatre on a very cold night for Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke, but there is a Hot Chocolate Bar.

Friday night movie. This makes 7 of the 10 best picture nominees watched. Three more to go.

Good afternoon.

A belated good morning.

Overheard early morning by the pool between two employees while waiting for a conference to start somewhere that should be warm, but is instead hovering just above freezing. Employee #1 to Employee #2 “ Where did you get those gloves? Employee #2. “They aren’t gloves, they’re socks”.

Good morning.

Lake Erie from the air today.

Sunday reading and Sunday listening. It looks a lot like last week.

As depressing as this story is, I have now determined that you can apparently buy novelizations of some of the more popular ones. The death of film and literature all in one.

Books read and listened to January 2026. Long Island was a delight. The Halt During The Chase is another book that I would never have read but for my introduction to Rosemary Tonks by @backlisted.bsky.social. The unsaid links between the past and present in Traitor King are fascinating.

Odd, natural snow formations with some light and shadow.

Last four watched, although the order is random.

Good evening. Today’s study in grey and white.

An increasingly rare sight in the 35 years I have been working in this building, the harbour is fully frozen over.

Shovelled snow mound with shovel for scale.

Window snow update. First one 4:45, second 7:45. That is collection in a window ledge.

There is a car behind the tree. It may be there until spring.

Our hall window. That is just from the window ledge, not the ground, but we have never had snow accumulate there before. The snow is incredibly light as it is so cold.

The black circle is the base of a trampoline. It is about to disappear.

It is difficult to capture how hard it is snowing today.

Repost of the images without the so called “adult content”

Sunday reading, Sunday listening and current audiobook. More than usual today as we hunker down and await the storm and/or listening to accompany all the shoveling. Music and audiobook from recommendations by @iammilliam.bsky.social. Books from @backlisted.bsky.social one old, one new.

I know it is winter in Toronto, but this January is seeming particularly long.

We are watching a 2011 episode of Pointless. One question involved identifying which of the listed items were types of lettuce. In an oddly prescient option on of the available options was “Truss”, which at the time was incorrect.

Pick up the nearest book. Turn to page 42, post the second sentence. “Alas, before Stephen could crawl, Kate was with child again.”

Tuesday night movie. My third Powell and Pressburger. From a recommendation by @mariephillips.bsky.social.

Sunday reading x 2 and Sunday listening. The first book is a second Rosemary Tonks read after The Bloater. The second book is from a @backlisted.bsky.social episode from 2018. The music is a @johnmitchinson.bsky.social recommendation from the most recent #locklisted.

My current ride share driver has no snow tires and no sense of how to drive in snow. Her app keeps giving bad directions. The trip is moderately terrifying.

Good morning.

My limited experience of scythedelic suggests that it will not prove to be my favourite new music genre, but that does not detract from the excellence of @iammilliam.bsky.social’s latest instalment of Inventory. This and Jack Thackeray in the space of a few days, @backlisted.bsky.social at its best.

Sunday reading and Sunday listening. The book is @backlisted.bsky.social adjacent. The music is from an @andrewmale.bsky.social recommendation as seconded by @annatwigg.bsky.social

The light show continues.

I wish I had a time lapse of the sky outside my window this afternoon. From bright sun, to black cloud, such a range of colours in the sky and on the water.

2025 reading bests: Novel - On the Calculation of Volume, No. 1-3 - Solvej Balle @backlisted.bsky.social book - The Hearing Trumpet - Leonora Carrington Non-fiction - Is a River Alive? - Robert Macfarlane Mystery/thriller - The Accident on the A35 - Graham McRae Burnet Surprise - Moby Dick

Sunday reading, Sunday listening and current audiobook.

Ok. It is January 3 and or local bakery has started selling hot cross buns.

So, the Sticky Toffee Apple Cake mostly survived, notwithstanding having to be transferred to a second, not yet fully heated, oven part way through baking (in order to avoid making an utter mess of the first oven).

The dessert I was making for the New Year’s party we are going to this evening appears to be on the way to being a disaster. Is self-rising flour different between the UK and Canada or did it explode for other reasons?

Two great movies, both in 70mm, in the last 24 hours. Both are movies that keep you invested notwithstanding lead characters who are (deliberately) completely (or at least mostly) unlikable.

Sunday reading and Sunday listening. It is an odd comparison, but Flesh is reminding me of Outline. The main character’s internal monologue is largely missing and replaced by the dialogue of the other characters as spoken to the protagonist. @iammilliam.bsky.social is right that it is a great book.

Christmas books.

As the antidote to the grim realities of The Zorg, The Christmas Clue, a quintessential cozy holiday mystery recommended by @nonsuchbook.bsky.social

This book tells a relentlessly grim story. Every time you think the details could not get more horrific, they do. This has proven a far from seasonal listen, but it is well written and tells a necessary, but ignored, part of history.

I was inspired by this post to watch the trailer. I am baffled as to why this movie exists. The one review I found was not kind and suggests that there is an old documentary available online that does a much better job telling the story.

Sunday reading x 2 and Sunday listening. For those who are wondering, the Asterix is for the Christmas Day episode of @backlisted.bsky.social. I have not read Asterix since my early teens. The start of the latest On the Calculation of Volume has immediately pulled me back into that world.

What is it that starts to make you feel old? I just received the “save the date” for my undergraduate 40th reunion next June.

The next step is inevitably a 3D printer for home model production.

Question. Is it reasonable for our neighbours to come by and ask if we can assist them in putting up their 15-20 foot tall, 250+ lb Christmas tree?