On a warm day (though not, thankfully,as hot as yesterday) what better to keep you cool than Lester Young playing 'I Can't Get Started' with the Nat 'King' Cole Trio?

Mention, by Lucy Caldwell, of Lorrie Moore's 'Self-Help' stories in S'day's Guardian sent me back to my copy, bought Am'dam, July '86 - reading "How to Become a Writer" reduced me to tears of delight & recognition.

Just sat down to wach the first few minutes of "Casablanca" while I was finishing an afternoon cup of decaf ... still in my seat when the final credits rolled. What a movie!

Just received, from Five Leaves B'shop, Matthew Welton's new collection of poems, published by Carcanet.

Painting of the week (any week!) "Old Buildings, Spain" Anne Redpath, watercolour on paper, 1950

Sublime!

The chapel on 'the island' between the beaches of St. Ives as the sun begins to fade.

A pair of photos from a short while ago - less, sometimes, can seem like, well, less but more.

Just beaten the worst of the heat on the way back from morning coffee - now, curtains drawn, fan switched up high, looking forward to spending the rest of the day in the cool company of Colm Toibin & Wendell Berry, Keith Jarrett playing Bach and Lily Allen's "West End Girl".

Moving on through the quartet of novels that began with 'The Last Picture Show', a journey, interestingly mapped, following Duane Moore from adolescence through to late middle age.

Just finished re-reading this. The good thing about already being familiar with the story is that you can concentrate on the language, the shifts in tone, the cadence of the sentences.

Just posted on my Blog, new photos - Skies Over St.Ives. straight75nochaser.wordpress.com/wp-admin/pos...

Currently in rotation ...

Looking out across the St Ives inner harbour from the Yallah coffee shop ... Taste that flat white already!

Soon off down to Cornwall for a week or so - looking forward to interesting art in St. Ives & Penzance, excellent coffee at Yallah on the St. Ives harbour front... and those sunsets!

Since his biography was published there's a lot of McMurtry in the air; these are two of my favourites, first read in '99 & '09 respectively and now about to be read again ...

Re-reading Peter Temple's 'The Broken Shore' & 'Truth', aside from admiration & pleasure, always made me want to sit down and start writing - now, the admiration & pleasure are still there, but I'm left thinking that attempting to write something of similar value & quality would be quite beyond me.

Thanks, Matthew. Also a favourite of Francois Guerif, chef of Rivages Noir,who recently chose it as one of the iconic novels from 40 years of publishing.

Down in Salisbury yesterday, seeing a friend and visiting the cathedral - a fine Caroline Walker canvas as part of their 'Joyful Noise' exhibition & a recently restored Burne-Jones stained glass window high on one of the walls. Good day!

As part of my Fench publisher, Rivage Noir's 40th Anniversary celebrations, I was asked to select my favourite film noir for a season at the Paris Cinematheque ...

Just re-read this Peter Temple for the fourth or fifth time. It’s a novel I always approach savouring the moments of sheer pleasure I know it contains, while dreading the awful depths into which I will be taken. A great work.

Birthday wishes to jazz singer, Dee Dee Bridgewater, 76 today. Once spent a delightful day with her in Paris - talking in the mornng, listening to her sing in the afternoon - for an article in SwissAir inflight magazine. Lovely person, great singer, memorable day!

Woke up, also, to the sad news of the death of Sonny Rollins ... 95 good years, well remembered on BBC Radio 3 Breakfast ...

Woke up this morning and, no ... it wasn't a dream. COYP!!!

Tears of relief! Tears of joy! Notts beat Salford 3-0 in Wembley play-off to earn promotion up to Division One of the Football League. Brilliant!!

Just in case you haven't checked your Radio Times (!) this week, BBC Radio is all over Miles' centenary, including Composer of the Week,weekdays day at 16.00 on 3 & 'Legend' weekdays at 1030 on 4 ...

Recommended, Hurvin Anderson's paintings currently on show at Tate Britain - ends mid-August.

A joyful memory from the early 1970s ... William Blake, Adrian Mitchell & Mike Westbrook. What a combo!

Lucky to see several excellent photography exhibitions lately - Richard Avedon: Facing West is at Gagosian Grosvenor Hill in central London until April 11th.

Idly glancing at our over-crowded bookshelves, I spied a Dennis Lehane purchased several years ago and still pristine, never read. Treat!