For the better part of four decades, I’ve put my thoughts in many different places. Some of these thoughts have thankfully disappeared into the ether and some of them are rotting away in digital graveyards like Facebook and twitter. As the internet becomes more of an inhospitable place, I’ve been keen to keep my thoughts all in one place, on a platform I have as much control over as possible. I’ll still probably share on instagram and I may fire off the odd post on bluesky, but I’m going to compile them all here, too. Not because I think they’re worthy of preservation, but just so I don’t feel so digitally schizophrenic, so I don’t accidentally lose my thoughts when an account closes or a new billionaire buys up a platform, so my thoughts won’t get buried by an algorithm because I didn’t share it with a 30 second clip of a song that I’ve never heard all the way through.
Sometimes these thoughts will be accompanies by photos. Sometimes they will be long and sometimes short. Often times they will be very stupid. I have tagged the thoughts using a system that makes sense to me and ultimately I am unconcerned as to whether or not it makes sense to you, but I think it’s pretty self-explanatory. For now, there is an option to comment on my thoughts, though I will not allow anything I deem annoying or unkind to remain published. It’s my party, I can do what I want.
hungerford in autumn
A few snapshots from our trip to Hungerford this past weekend. Though I still maintain the habit of carrying my camera with me most places, I’ve been absolutely rubbish at taking photos for myself these past few years. But I’m trying to train my eye to get back into the habit of seeing.
I’m slowly working my way through Braiding Sweetgrass, taking my time with every chapter to absorb the wisdom and lessons. In it, Robin Wall Kimmerer recounts how she revitalised the pond behind her house in upstate NY, explains how much graft and care she took in nurturing the habitat back to life. “Everybody lives downstream,” she writes, “the water net connects us all.”
It’s incredible to think about how much work goes into making sure all these spaces that we share are ecologically balanced, safe for wildlife and humans alike, and protected. We’re very lucky here in the UK to have so much of our countryside open and accessible, and I’m thankful to everyone upstream who makes sure that these spaces stay healthy and sacred.
Going away with friends
It’s so fun, going away with friends. Sharing a kitchen and finding out which of these absolute heathens puts knives in the dishwasher, learning who falls asleep during every movie, who’s always suggesting we all play a game, who seems to have a catlike aversion to showering (me, I am the last one). It’s fun to see your friends in pyjamas, to find out what jobs they volunteer to do, to learn how much ribbing they can take before their morning coffee.
We spent the weekend in Hungerford at a friend’s brother’s house. It was my favourite kind of British home* - absolutely full of treasure, but nothing was precious. A house whose rhythms are set by the two cats, two dogs, and lizard who all live there and need regular feeding and care. Welcoming and well-loved, but with some bits that truly make a house your home - broken door handles that need to be turned just so, dusty base boards, those piles of papers that could absolutely go in the bin but someone thinks there might be something important in there! so they’re kept, just in case, in a neat stack on the piano. A home that is teeming with life, where nobody has to be too careful, where anyone can flop on the sofa or help themselves to whatever’s in the fridge or take a quick snooze in the sunny conservatory without fear of rebuke.
Our friend’s brother’s house backed onto the marshes - as I believe they’re called - that run through the town and oh, how I loved to be near the water! Clear and clean, a small river flows through the marshes towards the River Kennet, with a canal punctuated with locks another hundred yards along. Boys off school during half term were fishing in the shallow water, scientists were dragging nets through the riverbed and counting bugs, canal boats were moored up alongside the bank with plumes of smoke cheerily filling the air with the smell of warm autumn fire. Though I like where I live very much, I miss the streams, ponds and lakes of my childhood in the Midwest, and even though I never got my feet wet, stepping out to walk along the river in Hungerford was cleansing.
* I feel like Bridget’s family home in Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy does a great job of bringing this exact type of British home to the screen.