






Took the short walk to Greenside reservoir this morning. Lots of spring happening, bird song, especially chiffchaff & willow warbler. Heard blackcaps (confirmed with merlin) and finally saw some. A cuckoo calling, the first this year. A few butterflies around including one small tortoiseshell.
Add any public account from Instagram, Facebook, Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, X, TikTok or YouTube to quickly get a feed that you can add to your favorite reader.
from: ByeDoom — Give a Link → Get a Feed
This works, I got it from Alan’s dogged following & sharing of RSS information, tips & tricks. Great way to follow family on instagram. I’ve given it a quick test. Interesting that the feeds from instagram show images in Inoreader, but not in NetNewsWire or Feedland which both just show a title.

Walk in the rain round the short Kilpatrick loop this morning. Lots of birds singing mostly out of sight. Tree pipets in good voice, & displaying in the trees at the edge of the moor. Blackthorn fully out, trees starting to bud. Flowers hanging their heads in the drizzle.

A haze of blackthorn in the Drizzle.
Read: Reconstruction by Mick Heron ★★★ 📚
he was Civil Service; they could take his life, but they'd never take his annual leave
Slough House adjacent novel. After a confusing start, where there seemed to be too many characters, it settled down to an exciting read where absolutely no one was what they first seemed.

#SilentSunday
Read: Sheila Armstrong by Falling Animals ★★★★ 📚
Celia turned five last month while he was on a container ship from Liverpool to Halifax. They were passing an island off the coast of Newfoundland and Manoy clung to the port railings, scrabbling for a few bars of reception to make a call from the satellite phone, even though the sea-ice was wrist thick and the containers looked like frosted teeth on a blue-white jaw. After hearing her voice, he came down below with a wind-red nose, but a smile so wide the top of his head could have snapped off.
A set of loosely joined stories connected to a coastal town on the west cost of Ireland. Told at a gentle pace that kept me wrapped in each tale. I was slightly disturbed by the way episodes trailed off, but it intrigued & made the atmosphere linger.

Kilpatrick Braes, the blackthorn here still in bud, later than others places I’ve been recently. Warm & sunny with a bit of a breeze. Few bumble bees out exploring the ground. Several butterflies, probably peacocks, rushed by. Lots of birds singing. Heard a green woodpecker a few times. Chiffchaffs mostly heard but saw a couple. More primroses opening, some mouse-ear cress. Larch starting to green & buds on a chestnut at the edge of the heather.
Read: Sanshirō by Natsume Sōseki ★★★★ 📚
Why? Well, look at it this way. Your head is alive, but if you seal it up inside dead classes, you're lost. Take it outside and get the wind into it. Riding the streetcar is not the only way to get satisfaction, of course, but it's the first step, and the easiest.
At the turn into the 20th century country boy Sanshirō goes to university in Tokyo. Mixes with crowd interested in the west, literature, art & science. Very much out of his depth as he drifts through lectures & relationships.