One of my happiest memories of Turkey. This and the vegetables.

I took a picture for you today. When I met these goats in East Sussex one was doing a perfect rendition of the lapis lazuli ram in the thicket. But then they all stood down.

Cherry tree, south Turkey roadside restaurant, best meal ever.

Some of us were always the bridesmaid....

Look what arrived today in sleepy, frosty Gloucestershire.

Sometimes at dusk I walk around and look (ok snoop) through people's windows, after they turn on lights and before they close the curtains. This poem just out in the lovely Dawntreader (from @indigodreamspub.bsky.social) is in part about that - in part about heartache.

I know spiderwebs are a dime a dozen and ditto photos of them, but look what the dog and I woke up to.

Coming soon coming soon.... an anthology of new work by writers who are also carers. I'm in here somewhere. Thank you so much to @bookwormvaught.bsky.social and a heads up to @ylbooks.bsky.social and any other bookshops who might like to carry a copy (out in November).

and then there's suicide....

What you may wonder is the big deal with a parent begonia and its titchy baby shoot from a leaf cutting. Well my lovelies this is literally Einstein’s begonia or at least a cutting therefrom. It’s a thing. There’s even an opera about it. I’m so damn proud.

The first rainbow of the autumn and it’s a double.

Almost a #BodegaCat in Giudecca Venice, last winter. In a local caff. He had a cool name which I've now forgotten (Marlo?). Anybody?

This gentle photograph was taken by the great Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji, I believe of his own house, and his wife Balkees. I kept it close by as I wrote about Baghdad's past, with its moments of calm and hope.

Dear @bethbpoet.bsky.social look what my dear friend in Bridport sent me for my birthday:

And this my loves is bastard balm (melittis melissophylum), if you have a dappled woodland sort of corner. (Spot the fern and sweet woodruff in background.)

Every year a little bit more colour.

Almost two since years since this book flew the nest, and my publisher (AUC's Hoopoe imprint @aucpress.bsky.social ) is still my best champion. I've been beyond lucky.

Back at you...

This fabulous C12 century minaret was part of the mosque of Seville. The bells were installed in the Renaissance, long after the church took Seville and replaced the mosque with the great cathedral. Stones hold history.

Happy international women’s day to me and thank you @moudhy.bsky.social.

For World Book Day, a book you might never have heard of that's so full of Buddhist humour and Beat charm you'll feel you're walking on air (which is the title of another lovely book by this author). I wrote him a fan letter once. He answered. Bless authors who answer their fans.

About once a month a friend and (plus dog) go for a mental health hike. Yellowhammers, crocuses, stone cottages, 400 year old walnut trees, and a castle built in 1229, when this corner of Gloucestershire had to defend itself against the lords of the Marches. We agreed not to discuss - the world.

This is my dog. She rules.

Nadia Naqib, Director of Editorial Acquisitions at @aucpress.bsky.social, carried this Sharjah Int'l Book Fair trophy from Cairo to Burford Oxfordshire to hand it over to me, the winning author for international fiction. All that and lunch and book chat, too. A wonderful day.

It's all about the laundry.

The dog’s groomer has 11 poodles of her own (in a small house) and I’m not 100 pc certain she didn’t do a switch.

Some of us shirked off writing this morning to walk round a golf course with a view of the Severn and Wales. Not one seagull escaped unchased.

I do that. I also have a dog who works at a West London research centre.

The best thing about winter is not having to get up early to get the virtuous view of dawn.