Gillian Bailey

“On the wind in February
Snowflakes float still,
Half inclined to turn to rain,
Nipping, dripping, chill.
Then the thaws swell the streams,
And swollen rivers swell the sea:—
If the winter ever ends
How pleasant it will be!”

— From 'A Year's Windfalls' by Christina Rossetti.

"The snowdrop, Winter's timid child,
Awakes to life, bedew'd with tears;
And flings around its fragrance mild,
And where no rival flow'rets bloom,
Amid the bare and chilling gloom,
A beauteous gem appears!"

— 'The Snowdrop' by Mary Darby Robinson

“The rayless sun,
Day’s journey done,
Sheds its last ebbing light
On fields in leagues of beauty spread
Unearthly white.
Thick draws the dark,
And spark by spark,
The frost-fires kindle, and soon
Over that sea of frozen foam
Floats the white moon."

—From ‘Winter’ by Walter de la Mare

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang ‘s my arm…
— ‘Address to a Haggis’ by Robert Burns.

Happy Burns Night!

I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-gray,
And Winter’s dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

— 'The Darkling Thrush' by Thomas Hardy.

Episode #157 our Christmas Cracker night recording went live today... enjoy.

Enjoying a hot chocolate while waiting for the bus in Grasmere today, and this little lad just stood posing for his closeup!

…When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.”
—T.S. Eliot

2/2

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate…

1/2

"I have come to regard November as the older, harder man's October. I appreciate the early darkness and cooler temperatures. It puts my mind in a different place than October. It is a month for a quieter, slightly more subdued celebration of summer's demise as winter tightens its grip." — Henry Rollins

Reposting a Henry Rollins quote from The Besotted Bookworm via FB.
🍂 📖🕯 ☕ #November

Painting by Eshter Bennink 🎨🖌

“Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o'clock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without.”
— Thomas de Quincey

And a few more…

Saturday wanderings in Rydal.

“Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day!
Every leaf speaks bliss to me,
Fluttering from the autumn tree…”
— Emily Brontë

Mood:

“Then summer fades and passes, and October comes. Will smell smoke then, and feel an unsuspected sharpness, a thrill of nervous, swift elation, a sense of sadness and departure.”
— Thomas Wolfe

#WordNerd In Victorian Slang a muffin walloper was an unmarried woman who enjoyed meeting up with friends for gossip and cake.

#WordNerd Muffinwalloper

A library heals with stories, soothing restless thought.
Its shelves prescribe wisdom that can’t be bought.
Each book a remedy, gentle or bold,
A hospital for the mind, where spirits unfold.

ordnancesurvey on Instagram: "Feeling cheeky 🍑 Inspired by @docgovtnz's masterpiece on the geographical knobs of New Zealand. We present to you: The bottoms of…" Feeling cheeky 🍑 Inspired by @docgovtnz's masterpiece on the geographical knobs of New Zealand. We present to you: The bottoms of Britain. A bottom is a legit geographical term for low-lying land, often found in valleys; and we've discovered 4,159 of them across GB. Isn't that peachy!

Map nerdiness, and a good giggle!

www.instagram.com/reel/DPZRBiN...

“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.”
— George Gordon Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
#forreadingaddicts

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

I'm thinking about how tonight was probably the first time Kilmar Abrego Garcia learned that millions of people care about him - the first time he learned that the United States Supreme Court ruled 9-0 to bring him home. I'm thinking what it must mean for him to know, right now, that he isn't alone.

51K views · 4K reactions | Get ready with Frog - Pride & Prejudice edition! 🐸❤️ I'm pleased to introduce you to Frogzwilliam Darcy ✨ I'm giddily delighted with how this outfit turned out, there's just... Get ready with Frog - Pride & Prejudice edition! 🐸❤️ I'm pleased to introduce you to Frogzwilliam Darcy ✨ I'm giddily delighted with how this outfit turned out, there's just something about Frog's...

The video I didn’t know I needed today. ❤️ Frogzwilliam Darcy! 🐸

Clara and Dr. Who talking about “legging it” to the Lake District.

Even Doctor Who wants to go to the Lake District! “We can eat scones”. 😋

Brilliant!

Today's disgusting scene Friends,

…”The rest of us must make it clear — to our fellow Americans, as to the remainder of the free world — that we believe in democracy, that we appreciate Zelensky’s courage and tenacity, and that Trump and Vance do not speak for us”

YouTube video by The DailyFAFO Les Misérables Epilogue Scene Performed at the White House Governors Ball by the US Army Chorus

I think the Army Choir had a message for the Trumpists. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIQh...

Photos: ‘Distress flag’ towers over Yosemite to protest cuts as crowds view firefall Saturday’s protest sought to bring attention to the thousands of federal job cuts made by President Donald Trump’s administration this month.

Good for these federal workers, concerned about the sabotage of a functioning, safe park, for us and for nature. www.sfchronicle.com/outdoors/art...

California: Tell Gov. Newsom now ys NOT the tyme to cut fundinge from the UC and CSU public higher ed communityes. Yn a tyme when higher ed ys at risk, California kan be a beacon and an ynspiration. Public higher ed ys hope for a bettir worlde and a bettir future. Governor Newsom: invest yn hope.

Turning away from empathy and curiosity makes the world into a grim, thin place populated by strangers, objects, and adversaries.
It's akin to demanding the biggest seat in the theater, even though it doesn't face the stage. It's trading a window for a mirror. It's a theft from others and the self.