Alison Walters

@rentaquill That's weird! Looks like an inaccurate version of the Old Series (1798-1878) 1" set.

WW2 maps are quite niche. This little beauty wasn't wanging around in 1939, but as I live here or hereabouts, it's always been a chuckle - and a reminder, how badly mapmakers sometimes got things wrong, and how catastrophic that could be. The Runtons - where east is west.

@SilenceInPolish 😢

I wrote a conference paper on the memorial at Gunnersbury in an all-nighter frenzy - and it's beautiful. And I need to cut it by 15%.

Cool and academic until I get to Katyń and the British cover-up. No amount of Realpolitik etc etc.

@SilenceInPolish Hugs - it's a tough time, but you'll get there!!

At the 'you take the dog, I'll have the car' stage with my PhD

@silverpebble Oooooh! Thank you! Hope you and your girls did survive the exam season. And the heat too!! xx

@APillar123 Hello, cabinet of curiosities on its way early next week xx

@TheRegencyCook No problem. National Library of Scotland have free map resources, which are really useful for family history research. maps.nls.uk

@APillar123 oh excellent. I'm busy looking at a later map but this one has a little more detail thank you Alison!

Your help is needed. I'm transcribing some family history and my grandparents address in the Census of 1921 is fiendishly difficult to read. Can you work out what is BEFORE Teats Hill, Plymouth? A number? All guesses welcome.

@silverpebble Wishing her well for today and the future. May she find happiness and peace 💜

Younger daughter (age 6 in this photo) has her first A level exam today. Recently she’s been through the trauma of her parents’ separation & realising her brain is very different but has kept working steadily because she longs to be a paleontologist. I couldn’t be more proud of this lovely human. Off on one our very last school runs shortly…

@silverpebble He was very well hidden this time! Good to see you again. xx

I’m still wrestling with really not good mental health atm due to PMDD + autistic/ADHD challenges but I’m trying to be kinder to myself. Part of that is showing up here regularly again as I used to. I made a new photo for the 1st time in ages today-seasonal garden flowers…& as requested,the tiny silver owl is hiding in it. Your brain will release dopamine when you spot him…🪶🌿

@SilenceInPolish Well done!! Hope you can enjoy half term now!

Final chapter submitted

@MrJamesMay So sorry.... they're family, and it hurts so much.

My mate Bouncer died yesterday. He’d lived with us for 13 years as a furry, purring, permanently migrating ornament. I didn’t know I could feel such grief for a witless bag of bones who destroyed my favourite sofa and crapped in the shower tray. Below is a picture taken on the day he selected me at the animal shelter.

@silverpebble Beautiful image!

Looking at the colour pink has been shown to induce relaxation & looking at something we find beautiful triggers dopamine release in our brains, so this is for you & your brain in case you’re anxious or sad today. 👇🏼 The pinks of May, including an early rose, inspired by Victorian botanical plates 🌿:

@christian_gale @LBFlyawayhome I have my Granny's set of these.

@LBFlyawayhome If you find one of these could you pass it on? Grandmas loved these knives. - Nothing finer for buttering

Clearing the house of an elderly family member. I knew I’d come across one of these, sooner or later

@leti19285 @LBFlyawayhome Stunning! What a lovely idea.

@LBFlyawayhome I saw a great collage a woman made from her mother’s old buttons and vintage jewelry pieces, ribbons.. it was such a cool creative way for keepsakes like these. Here’s some examples I found.

@A6FVC @LBFlyawayhome I have my Granny's..... and have used some of them in the years gone past.

@LBFlyawayhome I was given my Granny’s button box when she died, I loved those buttons as a child - sorting through them, admiring them, cataloguing them. What is it about button boxes?

@silverpebble I remember this from the first time. Love that hellebore top left! And the auricula beside it.🌿💜

This find-the-owl photo is on a slightly different scale-I made it 2 yrs ago-these are my garden steps in March ‘24. Hidden among the flowers is a small bronze owl pal. If/when you find him you’ll get a ping of owly dopamine in your brain…

@silverpebble I love the mauve ones.... and pansamine appeals to my pharmacological background!!!!

In case you’re also a fan of pansies and violas here are a few more. Dopamine from pansies= pansamine ✔️🌿

@silverpebble Gorgeous! Words and photo!!

Today Today I’m flying low & I’m not saying a word I’m letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep. The world goes on as it must, the bees in the garden rumbling a little, the fish leaping, the gnats getting eaten. And so forth. But I’m taking the day off. Quiet as a feather. I hardly move though really I’m travelling a terrific distance. Stillness. One of the doors into the temple. Mary Oliver

@silverpebble Hi!! So good to see you again! I've been thinking of you a lot; and wondering if things were difficult. And the owl is well hidden - had to zoom the image quite a lot to find him!! xx

My depression’s severe & dark just now but talking to folk here gives me a sense of belonging which I really need to try to hold on to. Making this photo helped my brain & looking for the tiny silver owl hidden in it will help yours-the botanical fractals will dial ⬇️ stress & your brain will release dopamine if you find🦉:

@SilenceInPolish It will be worth it! Good luck. The children will be fine - you're encouraging them to be independent!!

Setting aside the next four weeks to polish off the final chapter of the PhD. I'm going to turn a blind eye to the badgers setting up home under piles of laundry, and my children scavenging for scraps. Full on 'monstrous selfishness'