Author | Lightnews

Stephen Byrne

@stephengbyrne.bsky.social

350 followers 320 following 580 posts

Gardener at @bluebellcottage.bsky.social & others. Wildlife (ooh, look, geese!). Books (by the yard). Beer (strong, not too many).

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Reposted by Stephen Byrne

The Dickens Fellowship @dickensfellowhq.bsky.social · 1d

A treat for anyone able to get to Canterbury on 9 December … registration required, with payment in cash on the day

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Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 23h

Alsatian! LOL!

Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 1d

Exasperated there isn't enough poetry about ailments of the feet? Fret no more. John Clare goes where others fear to tread, in 'November', from his 'The Shepherd's Calendar'. And joking aside, just how much action does he fit into these four lines...
#Corns

Reposted by Stephen Byrne

Gilbert White's House & Gardens @gilbertwhites.bsky.social · 2d

It's November! ✨
We are open for free today as it's photography day, so head down if you are free pop down!
We are looking forward to warm drinks in the café, bracing walks through autumn leaves and of course a visit to the museum!

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Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 2d

After the war Blunden took up a scholarship. He and Porter decided 'Clare was a neglected but entrancing poet, and before long we had almost signed in our blood a pact that we would not cease from mental strife... until we had built Clare's scattered poetry up again, the unknown with the known.'

Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 2d

Poet Edmund Blunden was born on this day in 1896. Perhaps, without him, and fellow Oxford freshman, Alan Porter, John Clare would still lie in obscurity. Twelve year old Blunden discovered Clare via a collection by the writer Arthur Symons. Blunden later took the book with him to the Western Front.

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Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 2d

Timely anthem...
open.spotify.com/track/1qRA5B...

For What It's Worth

open.spotify.com

Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 2d

@typejunky.bsky.social second listening. Still enjoying.
#takeda

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Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 2d

Loads of bike parking, at last.

Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 3d

Honoured. Thank you.

Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 4d

What's up, asks Bluesky. Sun's up, responds I.

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Reposted by Stephen Byrne

Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 6d

As @drshepherd2013.bsky.social writes, what’s horrifying about those numbers is that “the hurricane intensity scale increases logarithmically. That means a doubling of wind is not a doubling of damage. It actually results in a 256-fold increase in possible damage.”

My heart is with Jamaica today

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Reposted by Stephen Byrne

womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 7d

This 1841 watercolour is a painting by writer of 'Wuthering Heights' Emily Brontë. It depicts her pet merlin The bird of prey was rescued from the moors near her home and Brontë named the bird 'Nero'. The Brontë siblings all had good skills in art.

Painting of a bird perched on a bare branch against a pink sky

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Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 8d

Thinning the leeks. With Robin assistance.

Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 8d

The fallen Larch needles give the shade a lift.

Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 8d

Ah, but will they make it to next year...
#Figs

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Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 9d

Well... ya know... it's TH. It's very dark, no doubt, and then, perhaps, it's slightly less dark...

Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 9d

Some kind of synchronicity...

Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 9d

Looking for something else and came upon this. Thomas Hardy.

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Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 9d

Jenny Uglow's book 'A Year With Gilbert White' is beautifully illustrated. She says of Richard Mabey's biography of Gilbert White, "a perfect life, as far as I'm concerned" But I'm only in February and I'm like what if she hadn't just opted for one year... Wow!

Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 9d

And HOW?

Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 9d

Not the same thing, but we've picked all the apples, so there's been a lot about the house. Fruit flies!

Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 9d

'The Secret Commonwealth' seems a lifetime ago...

Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 11d

Yes, it was very good. Great use of graphics, for example the Punch cartoon and the first Christmas card. Gave a great sense of the young Dickens's energy, drive and self-belief. Came away with a bit of a festive glow, that fiction could be such a powerful force for change.

Stephen Byrne @stephengbyrne.bsky.social · 11d

That's a fine idea.