So well, Russell, and I hope the same for you. I found a very sweet part of FR and filled the house with books. Do drop a line if you're ever down Toulouse way.

A backyard in France with (L to R) a pine tree, the south end of a northbound cat, some grass, a lavender plant, my handsome black cat named Bébé, a lavender plant, another beautiful black cat who's kinda feral, and another lavender plant.

In southwest France, a couple of cats sitting pretty between the lavender plants. My boy is the one in the middle looking pensive. It took a while, because he's a princely character, but Bébé finally decided to hang out with the four ferals who live next to my house. #caturday

A photoshopped image from the Bayeux Tapestry, showing Harold Godwinson swearing on holy relics an oath to the Absolute Unit (a very large sheep).

Breaking news: we've just signed a once-in-a-lifetime loan agreement to bring rural England's most iconic artwork home for the first time in 1,000 years.

Introducing our 2027 major exhibition - Bayewe Tapestry: the Fight to Wool England.

A handsome blue White Sox baseball cap.

From a Chicagoan in France: When I wear my cap I may be breaking their law against wearing ostentatious religious symbols in public.

What a brilliant night we had on Friday.

We celebrated 20 year as an Indy publisher and The Bookcase in Hebden 40 years as an Indy bookseller.

In an industry populated by corporate structures

What a breath of fresh air to see such Independent spirits shine.

@thebookseller.com

Rain Light a poem by W. S. Merwin

The library gives me faith in some kind of future. May libraries survive and thrive.

This reminds me to re-read The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis. I was bowled over by it when I was young. This is the book that introduced me to the man who sometimes called himself Fernando Pessoa.

Concrete poem by Seiichi Niikuni, published in 101 Poems Against War (Faber and Faber, 2003)

A poem by Hayden Carruth entitled "On Being Asked to Write a Poem Against the War in Vietnam" published in 101 Poems Against War (Faber and Faber, 2003)

From 101 Poems Against War (Faber and Faber, 2003)

“Look aloft!” cried Starbuck. “The St. Elmo’s Lights !”

All the yard-arms were tipped with a pallid fire; and [...] each of the three tall masts was silently burning in that sulphurous air, like three gigantic wax tapers before an altar.

H. Melville, Moby Dick

[Contralto and activist Marian Anderson, BOTD in 1897, remembered for her Eleanor Roosevelt-assisted integrated open air concert on the Lincoln Memorial steps, on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939. We also remember her concept album about her little black cat, Snoopy.]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcqQ...

1st edition hardcover of John D. MacDonald's The House Guests depicts a profile photo of the head and front paws of a handsome, sleepy cat.

Inscription inside of John D. MacDonald's book The House Guests. It reads "To Bucky, This book is given so that you may know all about handling me. Your devoted Tinker. Happy Birthday. 1965"

And then some. I made a funny, joyous sound when I opened the mailbox today. There's even an inscription to Bucky from Tinker circa 1965. After I read it, it will live among my small but mighty collection of John D.'s books. Thanks once more for the tip.

Bookstores remain the number one destination for a snowy walk

Mark Rothko canvas, red on red

Happy year of the fire horse

[Mark Rothko, Red on Red, 1969]

Eleven, emphasis on the first syllable. My father, a joker, told my mom that numbers were the future and the name would work for all the sexes.

Here in the 32 I'm surprised to have power this morning. It was so rough last night I had to do a head count of the feral cats outside. Everyone's still here.

« Mon refuge et mon orage » : pourquoi Arundhati Roy ne dira jamais tant pis Avec ce nouveau livre d’une grande beauté, l’écrivaine engagée à gauche se raconte – et raconte l’Inde – à travers le portrait de sa mère et de ses rapports conflictuels avec elle.

« Mon refuge et mon orage » : pourquoi Arundhati Roy ne dira jamais tant pis

I just broke the land speed record for ordering a book. Thanks.

!!!
Maybe that set would do well in France, with me.

I like to think there are a few million who can ask about the location of the library.

Saa Magni (2003 Remaster) YouTube video by Oumou Sangaré - Topic

Here's a banger that makes me teary even though I don't understand a single word.

youtu.be/vqRdlr3uD1U?...

Plus I think more women should have swords.

Pocketbook fiction resting comfortably on my makeshift bookshelves.

Pocketbook nonfiction on makeshift bookshelves, topped with a sprig of last summer's lavender. Smells like heaven.

Cover of a Dell pocketbook from 1952. The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham

A closet in my house that is filled with pocketbook treasures. It smells like vanilla mixed with time.

Back in my bookshop days, I often said that pocketbooks are the perfect technology. It's still true. Today's reading, and a few pics of my collection:

fatal to the last degree of fatality; those repeated disastrous repulses, all accumulating and piling their terrors upon Moby Dick

@misterslang.bsky.social I bow in your general direction.

Herdwick sheep outside the bookshop with Heaton Cooper Studio and Silver Howe beyond.

Always great to see so many browsers out and about in Grasmere this time of the year.

In Those Years, a poem by Adrienne Rich

I'm thinking of Adrienne Rich more than I usually do.

Rain Light W. S. Merwin All day the stars watch from long ago my mother said I am going now when you are alone you will be all right whether or not you know you will know look at the old house in the dawn rain all the flowers are forms of water the sun reminds them through a white cloud touches the patchwork spread on the hill the washed colors of the afterlife that lived there long before you were born see how they wake without a question even though the whole world is burning

Rain Light ~ W. S. Merwin