Stephen K

At school, I was deeply troubled by the way other kids would treat their stationery. Putting compass holes in erasers, snapping pencils, drawing on pencil cases.

I’ve just finished The Decameron. Essentially 100 short stories. Surprisingly bawdy, and you can see the influence of this on later writers like Chaucer and Shakespeare.

🎄 📚 A Christmas book post:
Endless love to everyone who has supported #Kindred over the years - if you've read & loved it, consider gifting it to someone else this year, or you can give me a little 🎁 with a review! (on whichever website you prefer)

That scene in Sorcerer on the bridge. Jaw dropping.

An image of a pencil sketch on white A3 paper of a foxes face, looking off the left.

A little sketch I did recently of a fox. Just copied another sketch I found on the internet.

Decent looking stick, tbf.

“Solutions”

An image of a felled tree, with a forked trunk and deeply-ridged bark, lying amongst bracken and other foliage on a riverbank.

Lovely chunky bark, spotted along the River Ure near Ripon.

A view up a country lane, looking towards fields and a hill in the background, tree cover overhead.

A view over grassed hillside, interspersed with limestone ridges, with a hill in the background, with billowing grey clouds above.

A view looking down on a valley from a hill top, hills in the background, a rocky outcrop in the left foreground, on a cloudy day.

A view looking down a pathway, parallel with a limestone wall, leading to a rocky hill in the background, on an overcast day.

A walk up Plover Hill and Pen Y Ghent amidst dramatic skies in the Yorkshire Dales. My first Dales peaks bagged and I’m looking forward to tick off some more.

Nature is often framed as ‘a good thing’ by virtue of its benefit and utility to humans. It implies that species and habitats that do not bring humans benefits are expendable.

Sluggo looking dapper

Schrodingers Millionaire.

A picture of a red admiral butterfly, spreading its wings in the morning sun on a gravel path.

A picture of a tortoiseshell butterfly, spreading its wings in the morning sun on a gravel path.

Loads of butterflies this morning were just chilling on the pathways along my walk this morning.

Beware Austin Maxi drivers and their nefarious intentions.

As a dad, I’d quite enjoy that. Sat in a room infodumping about my stupid hobbies to a complete stranger for an hour.

Surely it’s cheaper to employ actual people to deliver packages?

It’s like there’s nothing else worth discussing.

A pile of books including: The Story of the Forest by Linda Grant, Jason and the Golden Fleece by Apollonius, The Little Virtues by Natalia Ginzburg, The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks, One Day I Will Write About This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina, Heligoland by Shena Mackay and The Trouble With Happiness and Other Stories by Tove Ditlevsen.

Late again with my read pile for February 2025. All good. Particularly enjoyed The Story of the Forest by Linda Grant and The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks. Returning to a little ancient greek as well, mainly to get some D&D inspiration. 💙📚

A pile of the following books: Dragons Of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman, The Days Of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante, The Orchard On Fire by Shena Mackay, The Artificial Silk Girl by Irmgard Keun, Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce and The King Of The Copper Mountains by Paul Biegel.

Catching up what I read in January 2025. Finishing off some children’s / fantasy books from the Christmas break. Trying out some D&D related fantasy this year. I thought The Orchard On Fire by Shena Mackay was brilliant. 💙📚

A view of a rocky escarpment , leading off into the distance, on a cloudy day.

A view from the top of a rocky escarpment, looking down onto a green - brown valley. The escarpment rocks are exposed and weathered. The sky has a high cloud cover.

A walk up Stanage Edge in the Peak District a couple of weeks ago.

Stunning.

A view of Parlick Fell from Fair Snape Fell against a pale blue sky with wisps of cloud.

A view of the trig point at the top of Fair Snape Fell, on a sunny day with blue sky.

A view of the pole and stone wind shelter at the top of Parlick Fell, against a blue sky, overlooking the plains of Lancashire.

A view of Parlick Fell from Wolf Fell, overlooking the Lancashire country side on a sunny day, with blue sky and a slight haze in the air.

A nice walk up Parlick Fell and Fair Snape Fell in the Forest of Bowland last week.

Who knew the most profoundly accurate depiction of the modern condition would be found in Five Star lyrics, but here we are.

“Political activism”.

I watched ‘Hell is a City’ recently, the climax of which takes place on the roof of the Refuge Assurance (as far as I can tell).

I found Kindred so measured and rigorous, yet evocative and moving. I was able to see Neanderthals going about their daily lives in my minds eye.

A stack of the following books: Loitering With Intent by Muriel Spark, Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden, Greenwitch by Susan Cooper, The Weirdstone of Brasingamen and The Moon of Gomrath by Alan Garner, The Forest of Hours by Kerstin Ekman & Kindred by Rebecca Wragg-Sykes.

December was a good reading month, with a few children’s / fantasy books I tend to read this time of year. Kindred by @lemoustier.bsky.social is brilliant. 💙📚

That’s a great photo.

A close-up image of a log, stripped of bark, out of which a small cluster of yellow/orange mushrooms are sprouting.

A close-up of lichen-covered tree bark with a few tiny whiteish mushrooms sprouting.

Lots of teeny tiny fungi sprouting at the moment.

Something I’ve learned in 2024: I started getting a tight chest and cough after visiting supermarkets. Wearing headphones whilst shopping helps reduce the risk of this happening. I hadn’t realised how much Aldi can be a complete sensory overload.