Mary Earnshaw
@maryearnshaw.bsky.social
Writer. Worrier. Tree whisperer.
Lives on England's northwest coast.
Has spent a lot of time in Zambia and Eswatini with her live-in archaeologist. Can cook for dozens over an open fire if bribed with wine. But would rather write poetry.
Lives on England's northwest coast.
Has spent a lot of time in Zambia and Eswatini with her live-in archaeologist. Can cook for dozens over an open fire if bribed with wine. But would rather write poetry.
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
Christmas just isn't Christmas without a hand-delivered volume from Yorkshire's finest purveyor of poetry.
If you're in Sheffield, we can deliver by hand, on foot, to any address in the city encircled by the blue line (and we're happy to gift-wrap books, if you like, at no extra cost). This might be useful for any last-minute Christmas orders (last day to order via this method is Tuesday 23 Dec).
December 1, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Christmas just isn't Christmas without a hand-delivered volume from Yorkshire's finest purveyor of poetry.
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
#IronMenCrosby Advent Calendar Day 1
A brilliant afternoon to enrich the senses down at Crosby beach. The roar of the sea, the call of gulls and the ever changing light as the sun played hide and seek in the fast moving clouds, rays of golden light spreading out across the water.
A brilliant afternoon to enrich the senses down at Crosby beach. The roar of the sea, the call of gulls and the ever changing light as the sun played hide and seek in the fast moving clouds, rays of golden light spreading out across the water.
December 1, 2025 at 3:05 PM
#IronMenCrosby Advent Calendar Day 1
A brilliant afternoon to enrich the senses down at Crosby beach. The roar of the sea, the call of gulls and the ever changing light as the sun played hide and seek in the fast moving clouds, rays of golden light spreading out across the water.
A brilliant afternoon to enrich the senses down at Crosby beach. The roar of the sea, the call of gulls and the ever changing light as the sun played hide and seek in the fast moving clouds, rays of golden light spreading out across the water.
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
If you're in Sheffield, we can deliver by hand, on foot, to any address in the city encircled by the blue line (and we're happy to gift-wrap books, if you like, at no extra cost). This might be useful for any last-minute Christmas orders (last day to order via this method is Tuesday 23 Dec).
December 1, 2025 at 12:53 PM
If you're in Sheffield, we can deliver by hand, on foot, to any address in the city encircled by the blue line (and we're happy to gift-wrap books, if you like, at no extra cost). This might be useful for any last-minute Christmas orders (last day to order via this method is Tuesday 23 Dec).
We used to get one of the cakes every year when my parents in law were still around.To be honest I found the only way I could tolerate it was by toasting a slice and adding ice cream. Those brightly coloured cherries really put me off! But the tins are really useful and attractive!
After we round Thanksgiving, a Texan's thoughts often turn to Corsicana's Collin Street Bakery and their fabulous fruitcakes, which is why I was glad when Traces of Texas reader William McNutt shared this nice photo of the Collin Street Bakery class of 1913. They were apparently apprentice bakers.
December 1, 2025 at 8:50 AM
We used to get one of the cakes every year when my parents in law were still around.To be honest I found the only way I could tolerate it was by toasting a slice and adding ice cream. Those brightly coloured cherries really put me off! But the tins are really useful and attractive!
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 1
‘The village’
Artist: SR Badmin
‘The village’
Artist: SR Badmin
December 1, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 1
‘The village’
Artist: SR Badmin
‘The village’
Artist: SR Badmin
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
ELLE is officially published today. So here's an updated post with a little video or verse one, and links to the publisher and to previous posts about the 'project': robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2025/11/elle...
ELLE: A VERSE NOVEL is now published
My new book Elle: A Verse Novel is now published by Broken Sleep Books Details for ORDER: Robert Sheppard - Elle, a Verse Novel | Bro...
robertsheppard.blogspot.com
November 30, 2025 at 11:21 AM
ELLE is officially published today. So here's an updated post with a little video or verse one, and links to the publisher and to previous posts about the 'project': robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2025/11/elle...
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
I'll be updating the poetry magazines spreadsheet this coming week, so if you're not on my mailing list, join now (it's free) and you'll never be short of places to send your poems... robinhoughtonpoetry.co.uk/poetry-magaz...
Poetry Magazines Submissions Spreadsheet
Poets! Take the hard work out of submitting to poetry magazines What poetry magazines are there? What are their web addresses? How many poems can I send? Are they open for submissions now? You̵…
robinhoughtonpoetry.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 12:52 PM
I'll be updating the poetry magazines spreadsheet this coming week, so if you're not on my mailing list, join now (it's free) and you'll never be short of places to send your poems... robinhoughtonpoetry.co.uk/poetry-magaz...
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
Christmas at the BBC
![Title panel:
CHRISTMAS… AT THE BBC.
The Traitors Christmas Special:
Who in the BBC Boardroom is trying to bring down the gaff from within?
[Image: The Traitors scene with Claudia Winkleman looking like “ooh-er” while the BBC board sit at a table looking suspiciously at each other]
Apologising To The People Who Want To Destroy Us At Christmas:
A festive extravaganza of self-flagellation before our enemies
[Image: A cozy fireside scene with Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch standing, while at their feet lots of BBC employees are kneeling before them and begging for forgiveness].
Donald's Big Distraction:
Heartwarming Julia Donaldson animation in which a dragon sues the BBC to draw his friends' attention onto something else
[Image: Julia Donaldson’s ‘Zog’ with a Donald Trump wig, holding up a lawyer’s letter to show his dragon friends while trying to block their view of a pile of box files and computer drives some with ‘Epstein’ written on them].
The King's Speech:
We let Nigel Farage tell you the BBC is left wing as if that's some kind of fact
[Image: Nigel Farage as the King delivering his Christmas speech to camera].
A Ghost Story for Christmas:
A venerable British institution is haunted by Boris Johnson's appointees
[Image: A BBC studio with a window, outside in the dark snowy night a spectral apparition in the form of Robbie Gibb taps at the window and wails “I want to destroooy you”]
Christmas Labour Inertia-Time:
Keir Starmer and Lisa Nandy present four hours of total silence from under their desks
[Image: Show them both under their desks holding up glasses of sherry]
Rightward Drift Christmas Special:
A bonanza of trust-corrosion with confected immigration panic and Reform coverage
[Image: A computer and a smartphone in a cute snowy scene, both displaying the BBC News website with multiple headlines and LIVE feeds and and BREAKING NEWS stories headlined: “IMMIGRANTS? IMMIGRANTS? IMMIGRANTS? IMMIGRANTS!”]
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreietljvkssrlfwyblu4khsm37dj3753r23rizf7p56rhmo52folnme@jpeg)
November 30, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Christmas at the BBC
Look how thin he is. And those eyes. I always think photos of George show less but more of the being behind the eyes than other Beatles.
George Harrison, known as the 'quiet Beatle', died of cancer, aged 58, on this day 2001. Photo by Jane Bown, backstage at East Ham, 1963.
November 29, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Look how thin he is. And those eyes. I always think photos of George show less but more of the being behind the eyes than other Beatles.
Tories - I almost feel sorry for you. Not quite, though.
There was no state. Who does she think crucified him, an anarchist collective?
November 28, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Tories - I almost feel sorry for you. Not quite, though.
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
The UK, where the day after a decision to take half a million children out of poverty, the media & political world has been full of sneering at those same children & their families, labelling them as ‘Benefits Street’, while the same people are moaning about a tax on £2m mansions. Shameful stuff.
November 27, 2025 at 8:22 PM
The UK, where the day after a decision to take half a million children out of poverty, the media & political world has been full of sneering at those same children & their families, labelling them as ‘Benefits Street’, while the same people are moaning about a tax on £2m mansions. Shameful stuff.
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
Just starting to ship! Publisher and Editor of Hedgehog Poetry Press, @hedgehogpress.co.uk Mark Davidson, says it is a “gorgeous book, filled with some of the finest poetry I’ve read in years.” Which is so lovely! Order signed copies here: witchbottlepoetry.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/t...
November 27, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Just starting to ship! Publisher and Editor of Hedgehog Poetry Press, @hedgehogpress.co.uk Mark Davidson, says it is a “gorgeous book, filled with some of the finest poetry I’ve read in years.” Which is so lovely! Order signed copies here: witchbottlepoetry.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/t...
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
Trying to establish if, following the 7/7 bomb attacks in London, flights from London Airports were suspended.
Anyone know? Online searches getting me nowhere.
Anyone know? Online searches getting me nowhere.
November 27, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Trying to establish if, following the 7/7 bomb attacks in London, flights from London Airports were suspended.
Anyone know? Online searches getting me nowhere.
Anyone know? Online searches getting me nowhere.
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
ELLE: A Verse Novel is published (and launched) on Saturday: robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2025/10/my-n...
November 27, 2025 at 10:50 AM
ELLE: A Verse Novel is published (and launched) on Saturday: robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2025/10/my-n...
These winter walks were enchanting.
Lovely to see that Lemn Sissay's gorgeous winter walk to Dent Station is being repeated on BBC4 again tonight.
BBC Four - Winter Walks, Series 1, Lemn Sissay
Lemn Sissay journeys into a world of snow-capped hills, blue skies and birdsong.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 26, 2025 at 2:10 PM
These winter walks were enchanting.
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
Badenoch is so incredibly unpleasant. Her response is nothing but personal attacks and describing support for kids in poverty as "hand outs". Grim.
November 26, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Badenoch is so incredibly unpleasant. Her response is nothing but personal attacks and describing support for kids in poverty as "hand outs". Grim.
Things do often get better, actually.
A young boy mule spinning at Jones' Cotton Mill, Manchester, July 1909 (Getty Images).
November 26, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Things do often get better, actually.
Not many people understand how much strength it takes to be a woman in any very senior position in a still male dominated world - very impressive indeed!
The misogynistic "Rachel from Accounts" has never looked so tired, unfunny and inappropriate.
Reeves is very impressive.
#Budget
Reeves is very impressive.
#Budget
November 26, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Not many people understand how much strength it takes to be a woman in any very senior position in a still male dominated world - very impressive indeed!
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
I’ve done this for years!
If you think Black Friday is nonsense, it’s very therapeutic!
If you think Black Friday is nonsense, it’s very therapeutic!
A little thing that works for me, maybe it can work for you, is that Black Friday week is also "Focused Unsubscribing Week". EVERY company that ever got you on their mailing list will send an email this week. Make an intention as you enter the week to unsub, not just ignore, to anyone you're over.
November 25, 2025 at 8:55 PM
I’ve done this for years!
If you think Black Friday is nonsense, it’s very therapeutic!
If you think Black Friday is nonsense, it’s very therapeutic!
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
Midweek message. Life is a crossword with no answer sheet. You do your best with the clues, hope happiness is spelt correctly, and accept that 7 Down will forever remain a mystery. 💙
November 26, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Midweek message. Life is a crossword with no answer sheet. You do your best with the clues, hope happiness is spelt correctly, and accept that 7 Down will forever remain a mystery. 💙
Good morning from the frosty north west coast of England. May the sun shine on your day.
November 26, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Good morning from the frosty north west coast of England. May the sun shine on your day.
Reposted by Mary Earnshaw
Good morning. Anybody else fed up hearing the words Black Friday? When did Christmas start meaning spending a fortune? It's your time and presence your family and friends need. They won't remember most of the gifts but they will remember the time you spent with them xx
November 26, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Good morning. Anybody else fed up hearing the words Black Friday? When did Christmas start meaning spending a fortune? It's your time and presence your family and friends need. They won't remember most of the gifts but they will remember the time you spent with them xx
The Zadie Xa room at the Turner prize exhibition at Cartwright Hall in Bradford. There is a soundscape too...
November 25, 2025 at 2:19 PM
The Zadie Xa room at the Turner prize exhibition at Cartwright Hall in Bradford. There is a soundscape too...
Also blue sky with a bit of a big Yorkshire mill and its chimney
November 25, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Also blue sky with a bit of a big Yorkshire mill and its chimney