Liz Zachary | Non-fiction editor

Sunset at Devil’s Dyke

Cherry tomato seedlings growing nicely. Or possibly Marigold seedlings. (I didn’t label the seed trays 🤦‍♀️)

First daffodil adding some joy to our shabby garden.

My daughter’s topic at school last half term was the Titanic, and the children learnt a sea shanty - Wellerman. She wanted to listen to it at home and then Spotify magicked a playlist for us and now we just sing sea shanties all day long. Can recommend Nathan Evans and Sail North for a modern vibe ⚓️

This is lovely. We sometimes watch the starlings from an upstairs window as they head on their way to dance around the pier. One day I’ll keep my promise to the kids of heading down to the seafront to see them properly in action.

The promise of spring. We planted over 100 daffodil bulbs last year and watching them slowly emerge has helped us cope with the seemingly never ending winter.

RNLI 200 Voices History Podcast · 201 Episodes · Updated daily

I’ve done it. Listened to every episode of the RNLI 200 Voices podcast. (There are 200!) What would have been sensible is for me to have noted down my favourite ones to share with others…but I didn’t! I will say though that episode 9 is particularly moving.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/r...

First holiday of 2025 booked! North Wales - we’ll be doing our best to pronounce all of your place names at the end of May. I know it’s foolish to wish for good weather, but a little bit of ☀️ would be so nice.

Stretching the old peepers before sitting down at my computer for several hours. The sun seems to have arms and legs today ☀️

Haven’t watched this for ages! Totally one of my comfort watches too.

Sunrise through condensation this morning. Quite pretty really (but also a total nightmare).

Halfway through January, and halfway through my ‘No Takeaway Coffee for a Month’ challenge.

Although I am sorry for the loss in profits the coffee shops of Portslade and beyond are experiencing, if I had the willpower to keep going for the rest of the year I’d save enough money for a holiday! 🏖️

Oh good I’m so glad you enjoyed it!

The view from upstairs.

Inspired by @seawindowcraster.bsky.social

#seascape #skyscape #seaskyscape

Is this official now? I have friends with children there and there has been a BIG and very organised pushback, from what I understand. Don’t mess with parents in Poets Corner, basically. They have the knowledge, means and confidence to fight their corner in a way that many areas wouldn’t.

This is such a lovely account. I would actually be happy if my entire feed were just sea and skyscapes from around the world. (Off to figure out how to make that happen.)

(The missing full stop is a handy illustration of why editors and proofreaders are so important!)

The happiness of a vase of Lego flowers put together over three or four evenings in front of the telly. And because the kids were in bed I got to do it all myself The packet rustling annoyed my partner, it’s true, but look at these beauties.

From Brighton, UK. I didn’t actually know what this was - now I do!

Wallace & Gromit Vengeance Most Fowl is just so great. Think it may actually be the best one yet. And we’ve watched them all over Christmas so is easy to compare!

We have now finished the Lego building stage of Christmas Day and it’s time for (more) telly. I may have reached my chocolate limit…but probably not. Merry Christmas! 🎄

Apparently me being the best mum in the world is absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I’ve just given in to demands for a ‘Kevin’ the caterpillar.

There is absolutely NO NEED to separate colouring books for kids into boy and girl categories. For girls: unicorns, mermaids and fairies. For boys: rockets, cars and dinosaurs. ARGH! I’m really (rationally) annoyed about this and now don’t want to buy any. The kids can have plain paper for Christmas

“There wasn’t much to do when she couldn’t be bothered, but once she started to care, the work was never-ending.”

I’m reading the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum and this made me smile. It reminded me of my neglected website that may never actually be published because I can’t stop tweaking.

Agreed! Also very concerned about the potential environmental impact.

The first episode of C4’s Swiped is heartbreaking and terrifying. Being a teenager in the 90s was an absolute doddle compared with today. #smartphonefreechildhood

It must be nearly Christmas as my mid-morning snack of banana and nuts has been replaced by lebkuchen. Many many delicious lebkuchen.

Slightly spoils the cinema experience to arrive at a row that looks like this.

Looks just beautiful

It’s a stormy Saturday night in December. Time to put on a podcast and break out the Christmas Jig 🎄🕺