This is the most trivially vain thing, but I shaved my head to grow out my grey and finally it is long enough to put up and I no longer have to suffer the short cap of curls every grandma I knew had in the 80s. Finally, I look like the old lady version of myself.

I'm quote-posting this only so after you read the story, you'll know to scroll down and listen to the BBC podcast about the endangered Black Poplar of Britain. Thank goodness for the magic of Willerby!

Tricksy would like me to get back to working on my #Hookland novel. She's guarding my source materials.

Read this thread and find hope, my mycelium sisters and brothers

So my "best friend" informed me she's not actually been my friend for nearly a year, and she told me by telling her husband to tell my husband to tell me. It happened a few weeks ago and I am just not okay. Adult friendships without masking aurosm seem impossible.

"Come closer now. Only you can hear the houses sleeping in the streets in the slow deep salt and silent black, bandaged night"

Enough fresh currants for a tiny jar of jam. It's my summer of garden love.

My level of anxiety provoked by listening to four desperate cats going to the vet is possibly worse than being stuck with screaming toddlers or baying beagles.

Good morning. When we can do nothing else-outlast the evil. Grow in the cracks. Thrive.

👀

Willerby-by-the-Sea. A Willerby Story. Maisie breaks the landlock to take her village to the sea. open.substack.com/pub/willerby...

I am cooking for 50+ people and trying to clean up the house and I really hope there aren't any obvious weeds blooming in the garden right now because tomorrow we have our annual house party and I can hardly remember my own name

Good morning.

I'm hanging out on my back porch to watch for when our bats come out so I know when it's okay to turn the lights on for our party tomorrow. They are too precious to disturb!

I can vouch for these - I read them a while ago, time to order for our local library.

Here come the favas!

We have our annual house party this Friday, I am trying to at least get the ingredients ready for the kitchen; chive blossom butter is better when it sits a couple days.

This is such a fun project!

Early bedtime

Today the "quiet before a storm" isn't really quiet. It's grown dark as twilight here, but our neighborhood birds are singing like a fine sunny morning approaches. Are they confused, giving warning, careless, or in league

Good year for gooseberry

I am filthy, hot, and tired from planting leeks and violet mullein, and heavy wheelbarrow work, and Blue does not give a damn it's his riding on shoulder time, and it's just me and the cats, so black fingernail selfie it is. I feel closer to #Hookland every day

I was feeling sad about cutting down a small evergreen that was planted too close to a black iron fence (not by me), making it misshapen and fried. I was about to cut into smaller pieces to dispose and realized I could make fresh tip syrup and vodka. I almost never make it since it harms the tree.

I absolutely do not need to dry mushrooms whole. I could simply powder them easily with my hands, and they'd take up a fraction of the space. But look how beautiful they are in the jar, waiting for some witch to make delicious soup. Use your spaces for joyful resistance, my #Hookland friends.

Since I bought the rights to use this artwork as the cover of my novel I *feel* like a writer, no joke. The act of purchasing art is an act of faith in these times (you know the economy). Please consider it if you're not sure you're a real writer. Buy the best you can afford. @tomsbrown.bsky.social

"Bob had been a bachelor. She didn't know what his preference in partners had been, but when she did his house, she stocked his refrigerator with champagne, put linen sheets on his bed and made the lighting soft, and put Wings of Desire on the screen. He wasn't coming home, but it would be ready."

An unlovely batch of cleavers is a nice calm project, I'll process the nice bits for dinner (delicious in lasagna) and drink a beer, stare off in the garden and dream I'm in Hookland with all the good folk

Oh my. This is spectacular. sinceyouarrived.world/taken

I have this on loop at the moment

**NEW** CHANGELING. A Willerby Story. Unwanted gift can be a guess. willerby.substack.com/p/changeling

I have taken an enormous leap of faith in myself today, and bought the artwork rights for the cover of my #Hookland novel. I feel giddy, sick, excited, terrified, and determined. Now I have to start carrying my ideas notebook to work, and make the most of my days.

Monthly reminder: Many people have a book in them, but it takes a special kind of freak to leave the Land of Laziness, cross the Plains of Procrastination and Insecurity Mountain, find the Blade of No One Made You Do This, and use it to cut your chest open and yank that book out.

**NEW WILLERBY STORY** Changeling. Not all gifts are welcome. willerby.substack.com/p/changeling

I feel seen.

I still have a hard time believing Blackwell's ships FREE to the US. Going to make a giant pot of chamomile tea and devour this. Thank you, @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social

My research into Nanny Morgan has been one of the most fulfilling things I've ever done. Ann Morgan's story highlights the importance of honouring historical legacies in folkloric narratives. She deserves to be remembered. nearlyknowledgeable.co.uk/reclaiming-n... #witchcraft #history #folklore

A glorious Walpurgisnacht to all who celebrate. May Chernabog come down from the mountain to carry off all the vile people ruining this world 🔥

I'm having a terrible day, one of the small girl cats Tricksy fought with the angry big Siamese Kiki and had to go to the vet. I feel like a bad mother. I'm trying to take solace in our beautiful garden.

Because I am absolutely terrified of being in cars and there was sadly no option for this particular 10 hr trip, I spent the time I couldn't sleep working on my #Hookland novel. I know how it will end, and the basic plot is there, with what I hope will be convincing creeping terror. Lots of hedges.

Hands shaking, I add a few precious drops to her plate. I hope the strong smell of salmon will disguise the taste. My darling, my innocent friend. She eats daintily, watching me watch her. "It's pretty good for canned fish, you should try it," she says: my cat's first words.

This very old boy cat who loves me is an expert hunter, and every time I housesit for my friends in the country, he brings me a mostly live mouse. It's horrific and so sweet.

Yes I did sidle up to this, get a foot inside, and will my spirit in there, #Hookland, but the rest of me is sadly not a good fit

Early spring early morning at the place I'm housesitting.

Trains are my favorite place to write and think. #Hookland folks, when you think of portals, do you imagine them as a one-way door, or can things move both ways across the same threshold?

I'm on a train for the next 16 hours. I wish I had Moss Maiden as my seatmate.

(Because I love a dance off.) If you see this, you can just enjoy it or repost with your own. Here's Aishwarya Rai "Salaam" m.youtube.com/watch?v=lPvP...

This is a dance-off. If you see this, repost a dance.

Don't let gloomy weather get you down. Enter a dense fog, lose yourself in mossy corridors and shadowy nooks, radiate your own darkness from within and envelop everything. You are the gloom.