Grainger Market - a good start to the day

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

A world of optimism … 120 trees and 800 hedging plants newly planted in Northumberland!

Patch’s patch

Donald Trump: US president named inaugural Fifa Peace Prize winner US President Donald Trump receives the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize before the draw for the 2026 Fifa World Cup.

Gianni Sycophantino www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

Why Tommy Robinson supporters are turning to Christianity The Church of England is grappling with what to do about followers of the far-right figure embracing faith.

“We are the goon squad and we’re coming for you”

www.bbc.com/news/article...

No finer team to support than Team Jamie

Pivoting from “in the hole” to “in the bunker” really is quality sledging.

Part of a series of four stained glass panels representing the four seasons designed by William Morris for the inglenook fireplace in the Dining Room at Cragside, Northumberland and made in 1873. Saw them at the weekend - the other three are here, though I botched my snap of Winter:

A stained glass panel representing Autumn, designed by William Morris.

Greetings Autumn
#Cragside #Northumberland

“We must strive to become intellectual nomads, keep moving, keep learning, resist confining ourselves in any cultural or mental ghetto, and spend more time not in select centres but at the margins, which is where real change always comes from.”

- Elif Shafak

Femke Bol!!!

Fish Face
#SugarSands #Northumberland

Of dear, the apostrophe!

“Because freedom, I am told, is nothing but the distance between the hunter and it’s prey.”

- Ocean Vuong, ‘On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous’

Lawdy, the social media output for the app called ‘liven’ is anything but …

Hah! The very same. A truly wonderful read.

All that you predicted is, I fear, coming true … and yet, and yet:

“why should we be tender to let an arrogant piece of flesh threat us, play judge and executioner all himself" (Cymbeline)

Google Lens suggests "Colorful Path" by artist Jessel Miller

“I’ll let you into a secret: when times are confusing, everybody is a little lost. No one is an inwardly confident as they present themselves to be. Hence the reason we must read, my boy. Books, like paper lanterns, provide us with a light amidst the fog”

- Elif Shafak ‘There are Rivers in the Sky’

A found poem!

Now the hot winds blows
The first lotus blossoms bright -
‘Young hawk learn to fly’
#MicroSeasons #Haiku

Google Translate is suggesting the ‘Pacific’, as in “Crossing the Pacific Ocean yesterday morning - and returning at night in the fog. My favorite trip”. If so, that is a very speedy boat!

Nuff said!

The nights are fair closing in
…

It’s a geologically rich area - loved these Sandstone cliffs, and this Carboniferous amphitheatre close by the House. And good on the seabirds too. It’s as Scottish round here as England gets! You and Paul should visit.

The first (ordinaire is mine). The second was, I thought, from the booking website but on inspection us by Rick Ford from North Shields - and far better than my snap.

Three!

“And that’s how I came
to the edge of the pond:
black and empty
except for a spindle
of bleached reeds
at the far shore
which, as I looked,
wrinkled suddenly
into three egrets –
a shower
of white fire!”

- Mary Oliver, from ‘Egrets’
(Image: Jessie Arms Botke (1883-1971))

You could for a week (or two) - and it has a better roof than Dunstanburgh Castle at the next headland. The Bathing House is rented for holidaying. The Castle is a premier foreground for full moon rising snaps.

Went for the early Bath (House)
#Howick #Northumberland