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Lizzie Speller

@l1zz1e.bsky.social

770 followers 1.3K following 400 posts

Tutor CW Cambridge. Ex Classicist. Love poetry, water, ruins, churchyards. Author,The Return of Captain John Emmett; At Break of Day, memoir, lyrics. Short-listed Forward Prize. Judge London Hellenic Prize. Live Suffolk & Greek island.

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Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 1d

A good obituary in the Telegraph today.

Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 3d

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

‘Stay true to yourself – and fly closer to the sun’: what I’ve learned from 50 years of rejection

As a writer, I have been rejected thousands of times, and it initially led to shock, denial and anger. Then I accepted it. Here’s what you can gain from doing so too

www.theguardian.com

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Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 4d

A wonderful surprise: Hogarth’s murals in St Bartholomew’s hospital, 300 years after they were seen by the public, now restored and open since yesterday.
The only large scale paintings he ever did - close observation of sickness and injury. The hope was that it would draw benefactors to donate.

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Reposted by Lizzie Speller

Nic Wilson @nicwilson.bsky.social · 9d

Reflections on a famous landmark which, once again, welcomes everyone, in @derekniemann.bsky.social's @theguardian.com country diary.

#countrydiary #naturewriting

Country diary: The red cross on the white horse is gone. For that we are thankful | Derek Niemann

Frome, Somerset: The Westbury horse is a local landmark to us, but also a countryside icon to travellers from across the world, all of whom are welcome

www.theguardian.com

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Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 5d

Autumn and a mass of words are blooming. Here, Big blue liliturf; Panicle hydrangea, and Beggarsticks.

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Reposted by Lizzie Speller

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 5d

the best answer i got for this:

awaitsync on Threads writes: "Metrognome"

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Reposted by Lizzie Speller

Paul Robichaud @pjrobichaud.bsky.social · 7d

‘‘Afraid?’ murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love. ‘Afraid! Of HIM? O, never, never! And yet — and yet — O, Mole, I am afraid!’’ — Kenneth Grahame, ‘The Wind in the Willows’ (1908) #BookWormSat

🎨Paul Bransom

The Piper looks bemusedly at Water Rat and Mole.

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Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 6d

Are they the baddies?

Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 7d

The City of London at dusk
L’heure bleu. L’heure rose

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Reposted by Lizzie Speller

Lev Parikian @levparikian.bsky.social · 8d

Odd, given their current abundance and visibility, that the word ‘mountebank’ has basically disappeared from the language.

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Reposted by Lizzie Speller

Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 8d

Take a moment to enjoy This Moment by Eavan Boland

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Reposted by Lizzie Speller

The Arctophile @phewtus.bsky.social · 8d

#BOTD 1885
Ida Lvovna Rubinstein: Russian dancer, actress, art patron and Belle Époque figure. She performed with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes from 1909 to 1911 and later formed her own company. Boléro by Ravel was among her commissions.
www.seeingdance.com/ida-rubinste...

Ida Rubinstein, Antoine and Cleopatre, 1920

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Reposted by Lizzie Speller

eileen chengyin chow @chowleen.bsky.social · 9d

The wind got up in

the night and took our plans away

-John Berger,
"Ten Dispatches About Endurance in Face of Walls”

#everynightapoem #ofsorts

"Ten Dispatches About Endurance in Face of Walls”
(October 2004)
I
The wind got up in

the night and took our plans away

(Chinese proverb)

#everynightapoem #ofsorts

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Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 8d

The books: Chapter Two
Even ones on shelves are not in order.
I need the librarian equal to the night brownies who take over chores. Plus ghost of Melvil Dewey.
On my childhood books I still have my own system in biro on the spines ( did anyone else do this?)
It’s been downhill ever since.

Reposted by Lizzie Speller

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 8d

"My name's Kitty. I could have married, I've given gallons of blood and I can't stomach whelks, so that's me for you."

RIP Patricia Routledge.

Patricia Routledge Kitty

YouTube video by ukcomedy

www.youtube.com

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Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 9d

Books have bred overnight. That’s the problem of leaving them un- observed.
Under one lot is a C18 square piano. Or was. They may have eaten it.
#bookworms #library

Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 10d

Below the Stairs
La Chute
The Midnight Library
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 10d

All I need are shelves (I’m humming All I Need is Love)

Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 10d

After many months of gazing at packed books, decided to do away with the boxes. Progress! Or not. Instead, I have covered every surface with liberated books and, of course, work disrupted to greet old friends (and some strange unknowns) plus need to go to the tip, car laden with cardboard.

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Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 10d

It will be nice for elderly grandparents and for small children to grow up surrounded by books.

Reposted by Lizzie Speller

students-watch.bsky.social @students-watch.bsky.social · 10d

July 1935

German generals were called to a surprise assembly in Berlin and informed that their previous oath to the Weimer constitution was void and that they would be required to swear a personal oath to the Fuhrer. Most took the new oath. Sounds familiar?
# Pete Hegseth # Ted Cruz #Trump

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Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 10d

… and I want a hardwood floor at the foot of the stairs. Oh, and rough brick to the right.

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Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 11d

Books to be included:
Things Fall Apart
The Fall of the House of Usher
39 Steps
The Graveyard Book
Fahrenheit 451
Trip
The Night Stairs

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Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 11d

NSOH. Fatal.

Lizzie Speller @l1zz1e.bsky.social · 11d

I want stairs like this (or a library like that). Though death lies between the volumes.

Author Thomas Lockhaven @thomaslockhaven.bsky.social · 12d

Try that with a #kindle
#booksky #books #stairs #escalator #reading #booklover

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