Painting by Bo Bartlett ‘Open Gate’ Oil on canvas. 2011.
Size 48 x 66 cm.

Thanks to Tom Hastings for sharing this great letter from John Steinbeck to Marilyn Monroe.

FAI Boycott Israel Games! Ireland should not play UEFA games against Israel. We should demand Israel are banned from the competition. Sign and share the petition if you agree

Signed my.uplift.ie/petitions/fa... @uplift.ie

Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Lyric Video) YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
We’ll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst

Directed by Thom Zimny
Edited by Thom Zimny and Samuel Shapiro
Production Footage: Pam Springsteen and Thom Zimny

At the ‘Giz a job’ stage of my career. I can sweep really good. I can paint shit. I can build shit. I can write shit. I can play shit. Must be a job where I can do all of that.

Giz a job.

Commendable! I would love to have ours filed by genre, author, year of publication….but it’s too time consuming (except for persons far more knowledgeable than I), so make do without that additional finesse. Enjoy the organising.

What system are you going with?

Happy Christmas, Guy 🍬🍬🍬. Good to know the Uncle thing is somewhat universal 😅. Eilín

👌

Drawing of Santa and the reindeer and sleigh crashed against the Samuel Beckett Bridge across the Liffey, Dublin.

Another Christmas card from the archives.

It’s familiar, but as you say, not overly so. In fairness, Dana could/can sing.

So exciting! Congratulations on reaching this landmark. It is indeed a very pleasing word count. You-put-all-those-words-together 🤩! Good luck with the last few stages. Won’t be long now 📖📘

Martin Parr photo, “Liverpool 1983”. There are two cars parked to side of an old, boarded-up single-storey building beside a block of flats. One of the cars is parked (if that’s the right term) on its side. A little girl in white and pink with 2 high hair bunches is marching past, purposefully.

Sorry to hear Martin Parr has left us. May he rest in peace. What a talent! I am obsessed with this photo of his - Liverpool 1983 #MartinParr

Choir of approx 35 people, in casual dress, standing on an ornate altar. Concert harp and harpist in the foreground.

Muirne Griffin, playing her concert harp.

Donnadh Kennedy sitting side-on, wearing headphones, mixing and recording sound.

We’re pleased to shared Cantóirí’s RTÉ LyricFM Choirs for Christmas 2025 entry: Suantraí na Maighdine, arranged by Anne-Marie O’Farrell, with harp accompaniment by Muirne Griffin. Recording Venue: St Bartholomew’s Church, Dublin. Sound & Recording: Donnadh Kennedy www.rte.ie/radio/lyricf...

Congratulations to our #SilverBranch series @pushcartprize.bsky.social nominees this year

@jakkybankong-obi.bsky.social 🪷
@rotherwrites.bsky.social 🐦‍⬛
@suefinch.bsky.social 🪆
@helenlaycock.bsky.social ✒️
@vikkicwrites.bsky.social 💎
@oormilaprahlad.bsky.social 💫

#poetry #writingcommunity #poet

CANTÓIRÍ CHOIR DUBLIN AT THE CHESTER BEATTY Join Dublin-based choir Cantóirí, led by Musical Director Ben Barnes, as we sing a selection of Christmas songs, including some of the most well-loved carols from around the world! The performance has become a joyful tradition, perfect for ringing in the Christmas season! CHESTER BEATTY DUBLIN CASTLE DUBLIN 2 D02 AD92 19:00 WEDNESDAY 3rd DECEMBER 2025 FREE OF CHARGE & NO BOOKING REQUIRED

🎶🎄Free Christmas concert - all welcome - Wed 3rd Dec 19:00, Cantóirí Choir at Chester Beatty Library @chesterbeatty.bsky.social 🎄🎶

Commiserations. Is it baltic? You look fab at least - like you’ve taken to the stage.

Oh brilliant. Thanks for that good news and well done on your excellent publishing taste!

Shot of front cover of “Letters from New York” by Helene Hanff. It has a jaunty yellow spine and a line drawing of a woman with glasses walking a white scotty dog, with a backdrop of hedges/trees and NY skyscrapers.

Screenshot from the book, Page 2 of 2: …..“blossoms and there was nobody to open the snapdragons; but more than that, she missed him. 'He was a lovely bumble bee,' she told me sadly. "The two of us worked out there together, we never bothered each other; we were companions.' Well, last week I was on her terrace one afternoon, and I don't know what made me ask, 'Did your bumble bee ever come back?' And Nina's mouth set in a disapproving line. 'His son was here this morning, she said. 'He's an ado-lescent, he has no manners. He kept flying in my face. And he dashed all over the place, from this flower to that, and then back to the first one. He hasn't any idea what he's doing!' 'He'll learn, I said. 'One day he'll be grown up and sedate, and you'll probably be sorry. Last year Nina's son, Claudie, was an adolescent. Now he's finished college, he's grown up and independent, hes joined the Marines and you have to call him Chuck.”

Screenshot from the book, page 1 of 2: “This bafled me, because bird-watchers had persuaded me that birds are easily frightened. All year round when Im walking in the Park, singing or kicking leaves, I am shushed by bird-watchers who tiptoe up to a tree and stand looking up with out breathing, for fear of scaring the birds away. So I consulted Nina about this contradiction. 'Birds, said Nina judiciously, 'don't like bird-watchers. Birdwatchers stare at them, invading their privacy, so birds hide from them. Dogs pay no attention to the birds, so the birds like them.' I gotta tell you about Nina's bumble bee. Last year a bee came every day to pollinate her terrace. The old wooden terrace door had a hole in the top, and when the bee got tired he crawled into the hole and took a nap. But last fall Nina had a new door installed. And the next day the bee came and worked, and then looked for his nap hole. He searched more and more frantically for it, before he gave up and flew off. And this spring he didn't come back. Nina was inconsolable. Her orange tree had no”….

This @manderleypress.bsky.social book is such a joy. Life-affirming escapism. I just spent 10 mins on Google Maps trying (& failing) to find a tiny alley off E 71st St that Hanff describes as a perfect English mews. Now I want to go to NYC to seek it out. There must/should be a map of Hanff spots🤔💡.

Pumpkin is an autumnal goddess.

A worrying precarity. Currently a beautiful place all the same.

Was there a tree-felling there?

Write About Walking – In the Dark

Just spreading the word about a poetry competition closing soon (20th). I entered a previous @walklistencreate.org competition & it was a really positive experience. The organisers are thoroughly decent skins. #PoetryCommunity #Walkers

write.walklistencreate.org/wr_instance/...

2 garden bird feeders hooked on a poll, protected from large birds by an umbrella, attached to the poll with cable ties.

A garden feeder surrounded by a cage, to limit access for all but the smallest birds.

My mother likes miniatures. She’s 5 foot tall and believes nothing in the world should be any bigger than it needs to be. She is constantly trimming things - tote bags, sleeping bags, walking polls. She loves birds, but only the little ones #smallisbeautiful

Heads up. Any of ye Dubs who use the green line luas to get to work should check RTE now. There's problems with the line.

Calling bass-range choral singers based in Dublin 📣

A lichen-covered bench in Manaton, Devon.

There are over 18,000 types of lichen in existence. My personal favourite is ‘village bench lichen’, which devotes its entire existence selflessly to gradually making communal public seating more furry and comfortable.

This was great fun. Complete with fake moustaches and BYOB drinks and snacks. 👨🏻🎤🍿

A gorgeous morning in Stoneybatter! The cafes are open, wonderful coffee on every corner and equally wonderful comics here! We're open until 4pm today with @tinygreens.bsky.social at the desk😌

littledeercomics.ie

Tell tale lips and cheek 🙂.