Stomping my anxieties off really helped. Maybe through pictures, it may help a bit vicariously.

The Horrors persist, but so do you.

(And Nature - who is vast, powerful, resilient, and an extremely bad idea to fuck with. I take inspiration from that)

Bright evening sun shines through a twisted oak tree on a river bank. The branches are twisted and still leafless, shadows casting lines over the water. Bare trees line the left bank, moss covered boulders and pine trees on the right.

More gorgeous pics of the river walk we went on earlier.

My favourite place in the world.

Wish the leaves were out, there was v little shade and still bastard hot at 7pm.

#landscapephotography #river #nature #hiking #peaceful #asmr

A river and still leafless forest, bathed in a still bright evening sun. Bare oak branches covered in moss twist into fantastic shapes. The flowing water is bright white with reflected sunlight.

Hey who needs a Calming Distraction™️ right now?

Taken on my dog walk earlier.

#landscape #calming #river #hiking #zen #photography

The Moon: oh wow you guys decided to come back

Artemis II crew: earth’s haunted

Never seen it so dry either. We can walk in places that are normally bogs this time of year.

All the little springs and rivulets are missing.

This is July Dry already.

A forest of mostly bare trees, and some leggy Scots pines. Harsh bright sunshine from to right, casting black shadows on the forest floor. The only sign of fresh green is the grass just starting to grow in patches.

A brown dog facing forwards but her head turned to look behind. The shadows of her paws form long black bars across the sunlit forest floor, which is dry, brown, and scattered with pinecones. Some small green young pines behind right.

Yesterday was hot. Today is 26°C and tomorrow is higher. It is APRIL.

There are are no leaves onto the trees yet, and Lusha still has a full winter coat.

We're doing later walks, sticking to the cooler forest and valley paths.

#landscape #dogwalks #forest #hiking #eveningwalk

And here’s the eclipse photo from Artemis II. I am in tears.

Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon. A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region. In the foreground, Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks. Central peaks form in complex craters when the lunar surface, liquefied on impact, splashes upwards during the crater’s formation. [alt text from NASA]

#Artemis II lunar flyby images are showing up! 😍

A crescent Earth setting behind the Moon.

Playing the Pat Game.

(She still likes to do this as I bush my teeth)

#blackcatsofbsky #kitten #catvideos

A black kitten sitting on a windowsill. She is in her gangly teen stage - all legs and pointy angles. She wears a red collar, has green eyes, and faint bands of lighter grey stripe her legs.

She's still all legs and ears, rivalling Amber for the Most Angular Cat Awards.

(Will she grow out of it? I suspect they're half-sisters so possibly not)

#blackcatsofbsky #blackcat #kittens #catportrait

A black kitten, now poising nicely for her portrait. Front paws neatly together, tail curled over the window sill edge, black whiskers puffed out in fans.

Early #whiskerswednesday bc busy.

Look It's WILLOW (She who was Shelley-kitten)

Purrfectly mannered and growing up a beauty.

#catsofbluesky #blackcatlove #kittensofbsky #cat #blackcatsofbluesky

writing an e-mail and getting a prompt from AI "this sentence could be more concise"

no. i am verbose. i am loquacious. i am long-winded and often redundant even. you machine, do not tell me how to form my words

View looking down at a brown fast flowing river, the rocky bottom can be seen through the water. Still bare trees arch over the riverbed.

Nice view of the river from the very steep bank.

(Not a lot of space for a road to go, except right next to the river)

- Pros: miles of lovely walk

-Cons: tourist cars busy gawping at the views, don't see us

So I only really walk here out of season 😅

#landscape #river #niceview

It's Spring! 🌱

The birds are singing 🎶🕊️

The little wolves are grazing on the fresh green grass.. ☘️🌿🐺

#mondog #dogsofbsky #wolvesofbluesky

For years I used to dream about Having Money Somehow, buying the old ruin on the far bank, and doing it up.

Last year my dream came true!

(For someone else 😭)

I don't much like the house they built, but the location is 😘🏆

Flowing water and birdsong (and wolfdog)

#river #dogwalk #dogsofbsky #calmingvideos #landscape #zen

View down river, under the still bare branches of a tree. The far bank is covered in moss and pine trees, the left part is sunlit as the river curves.

#silentsunday looking downriver

(There's a road at our back, but very quiet today)

#bytheriver #peaceful #zen #landscape

View of a river, the far bank covered in tall mature pine trees. The water is clear, shade brown by the trees, and slightly foamy where it runs over rocks.

#silentsunday yesterday's dog walk following a different branch of the river.

#landscape #river #photooftheday #stunday

Small tortie point Siamese cat - her seal point dark face and paws have white spots, her eyes similarly have yellow patches in the light blue. She is sitting on a red carped enjoying the sunshine.

Same cat, in almost the same position except better lit by the sun which is now catching her eyes and white whiskers, which are very long and puffed out happily.

More glamour puss shots of the little loaf (Cappuccino)

#caturday #cat

A small colour point cat with dark face and blue eyes, looking right. She is loafed on a red carpet, in the harsh light of morning sunbeam. Her dark face has white spots around the eyes and one cheek, her whiskers are also white.

Sunbathing AND hiding under the bed (Cappuccino)

#caturday #catsofbsky #tortiepointsiamese

Did you know? Brambles can grow *an inch a day*

Blink, and the tangle is 10x worse 😂

(RIP my plans of getting it under control *before* they started growing again..)

That's home. That's us.

This image of home just came down from the Artemis II crew.

Taken after their translunar injection burn, there are aurorae at top right and lower left, and zodiacal light at lower right.

Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

Blackberries are all very cute and cottagey, until you neglect the vegetable garden for 2 years.

The resulting bramble thicket auditioning for the 'Hedge of Thorns' in Sleeping Beauty.

It will probably land the role..

- Mina.. always disappears.

But when I left briefly, she had jumped on the bed and was standing over him growling furiously.

RAAWWRR!!! 👹💥🐈‍⬛

(She's incredibly jealous - and it took YEARS to stop growling at Darcy. J is incredibly polite /non-confrontational, but this is gonna take a while. Sigh)

Pale brown tabby cat with black stripes, curled up on a green paw bed. He faces left, body curled like a croissant. His belly is white, tail thickly striped like a raccoon.

Same cat, now rolling onto his back with legs apart and his belly exposed, begging for tickles. His paw pads are black with pale brown fur. His eyes open just a slit to watch.

Yesterday's blurry Jasper pics that I was too tired to look at. The Boy sure loves indoors 😂

Progress on integrating w the other cats:

- Bluebell / Amber now tolerate his presence (a win)

- Miralka went from Politely Ignoring to sniffing him today (followed by a small hiss).

#cat #catsofbsky

Wow!

NASA's Blue Marble picture of Earth, from 1972

It's only worth going back to the Moon if it makes us look properly again at Earth, and appreciate how beautiful, precious and fragile what we have here is. The most famous images from Apollo aren't about the Moon - they're pictures of Earth. We need to stop taking our home for granted.

There's a deeply creepy film version (Little Otik). When the novelty of the 'baby' wears off, the man hides it in a basement (roots, wires, data centre).

Everything is sacrificed to feed it, but still it hungers, more, MORE.

Oh, and the part where a kid feeds it the local pedo.

In the same vein, the Czech fairytale Otesanek. The child facsimile has a relentless and growing hunger for resources. The more it grows, the more it eats*. Food, people, houses, more, more. Give me energy! It's roots spread and grasp at everything..