Archives

January 2019

1 January

2 January

• This year, @whogivesacraptp #NoMorePlastic #2minuteresolution
• Just because its January and it's back to work, doesn't mean that one can't still enjoy that festive feeling... #tea #afterwork #relaxation
• That moment when you get an email from @unbounders and you think it might be about your submission but it's not, it's about the book you're supporting. Yeah that... 😕 #patience #tryingtobepatient #justwannaknow @bookshopblogger #bookloversguidetobookshops
• I believe in fairies (and chocolate hedgepigs) #amreading #PeterPan
• Good form. Good form. In which I discover that @creationtheatre's most-excellent retelling of #PeterPan was one of the most-faithful adaptations of the J.M. Barrie classic (with some of the more out-dated notions updated)

3 January

4 January

5 January

6 January

• New winter warner in the form of a @deliciouslyella two-bean and sweet potato Shepherd's Pie and only 326 calories too!

7 January

8 January

• Blue sky. I have missed you. #bluesky #sunshine🌞 #nofilter

9 January

10 January

• Lots of new music on the stands tonight at @abingdonconcertband, and you know our next Storytelling concert is going to be a good one when there's the theme to my own #MrTumnal to play. Sorry oboes (@laurapicklechop and Mary) for the solo but it's what @vnemma heard and transcribed and was in my head even though I didn't know it. And thank you @neilbrownless for making it real.

11 January

• One large cage purchased for 6 weeks of bed rest for my little @bellafanella. She's only just gone and ruptured her cruciate ligament. Ouchy! Poor little girl! #cats #catsagram #catsofinstagram
• Feed me, feed me now!!!! @catnamedafteramouse #catsofinstagram #catsagram #cats

12 January

13 January

• Winter walks have big skies and subtle colours... #nofilter #PortMeadow #Oxford
• Little squiggles harvesting ash keys #squirrels #nature #winter

14 January

• I still can't believe that doctor refused to write down ptarmigan as a word beginning with p... #ptarmigan . #Repost @bbcspringwatch • • • • • Happy Monday guys! What a fabulous ptarmigan! 😍 ✨ These masters of the mountain slopes are perfectly equipped to deal with the cold. Their feet act as snowshoes and are covered in feathers to keep them warm! Even their eyelids, nostrils and legs have feathers for extra insulation! ✨ Gorgeous! ✨ Image credit: Paul Jesset via Flickr

15 January

16 January

17 January

18 January

19 January

20 January

• Best friends forever. @vnemma enjoying a weekend with @caroline_wakey64
• Snowdrops have always been, and always will be my favourite flower.. #favouriteflower #snowdrops #galanthus #galanthophile
• Nana, retired chicken.
• When "dead" sticks flower its literally the first sign that winter is failing and Spring is coming... #witchhazel #hope

21 January

• Marie Kondo might say that you should have no more than 30 books in your house and get rid of anything that doesn't bring you happiness, but I think that if you only have 30 books that bring you happiness then you are deeply sad and unhappy #books @mariekondo

22 January

• Posted on Instagram
• Snow... 🌨😃
• Wintry scene at @oxfordbrookes... #snow🌨 #cold❄
• All stillness in the parks... #snow🌨 #cold❄
• In the bleak midwinter... #snow🌨 #cold❄
• @elena_tsang was talking to me today about her love of Hello Kitty, and I had to mention how I gave @vnemma space in my booklined study to display it...

23 January

• This book should have been called P is Ptarmigan but in all other respects its perfect. Thank you @vnemma for encouraging my weird brain and Lucy Titley for finding it! #amreading #theworstalphabetbookever #Pisforpterodactyl

24 January

25 January

• This is so sad. Horrible, horrible news. I really hope that it was deceased or dying or this is murder of Morse proportions... . #Repost @weloveoxford • • • • • The tree that announced spring in Oxford has gone. I can’t believe it. 😔 #universitychurchofstmarythevirgin #stmaryspassage #oxford #pinktree
• The weekend starts here... #longweek #notbadjustlong
• Catching up with the #manbooker50 longlist and #costanovelaward winner... #NormalPeople #SallyRooney #books #amreading
• Dear Mr Haggis, how should I address you? #BurnsNight #haggis #neepsandtatties

26 January

• Journey into Narnia with small Niece. Look at all the weird and wonderful creatures I found there! #Narnia @vnemma
• Magical beasts and where to find them... #Narnia #believeanditisreal

27 January

• Now, where was I? #MrTumnal3 #ForgottenFriends #amwriting #beendrawingtoomuch
• Why are metaphors considered *better* than similes? Or are they? Am I wrong about that? #amwriting

28 January

• Between day-job-web, author, and illustrator I lose track of how many jobs I have. Some post-work writing-work... #amwriting #MrTumnal3 #ForgottenFriends
• If #TheImaginaryWife was the slim volume of short chapters, then #ForgottenFriends is shaping up to be something altogether broader with long chapters... #MrTumnal3 #imaginaryfriends #amwriting
• Something I realise now about my #ImaginaryFriends trilogy is that it's more about Kathryn, Watts, Chloë, and Lucy rather than the central characters of Louis/Lewis and Amanda... #MrTumnal #amwriting
• Purry girl out for a a cuddle and a stretch for the evening before going back to cage rest...

29 January

30 January

31 January

• You wouldn’t believe how happy this makes me... @oxfordbrookes #BrookesVR ☺️👏

February 2019

1 February

• Obligatory #snow🌨 pictures in the garden...

2 February

• Duck's feet and air holes in the frozen canal... #Banbury #canal #winter❄
• Ended my January book-buying-fast in style today with these two great additions to my #EdwardArdizzone collection. Thank you, @booksandink! 😊📚
• Shameless bookshop snap of my book children out in the wild... #instock @booksandink #shoplocal #loveyourlocal #authors4bookstores #serviceyoudontgetonamazon
• It's so, so simple and understated and yet so incredibly brilliant. The way that #EdwardArdizzone captures the expressions and personalities of people in a few sparse lines. It's something I strive for.. #TheYoungArdizzone #AnAutobiographicalFragment #amreading @allthingsardizzone

3 February

4 February

5 February

• Celebrating J.L. Runeberg's Day (born 215 years ago), the National Poet of Finland by eating yummy Runeberg's Torte. Thanks @millakontkanen! #runebergstårta #runebergsday

6 February

• Met a little friend this morning at the bus station.Who else thinks pigeons have character and are adorable? #pidge #pigeon #apigeonisnotawigeon

7 February

• Public toilet... #lavatory #ondisplay
• Out now and in the wild, @elvesden's latest book is more than just #APinchOfMagic. I was fortunate enough to read a pre-publication copy of it last year and it is amazing: http://shepline.com/2018/12/01/a-book-of-magic-with-twists-and-turns-aplenty/
• Yay! My hydraulic desk at work is working again. turns out it wasn't a burnt out motor but just needed resetting by putting it to the lowest setting and pressing down on its further... Who knew? #electricdesks #standupandwork

8 February

• I am literally, and by that I mean actually, wet through... 😩 #drenched #sopping #waterproofsmakenoodds
• Since moving offices I have missed our height chart we made on the wall... #heightchart #9000sweets #5000envelopes #officetraditions #napoleon #gnome

9 February

10 February

• Today @vnemma and I had to say sad farewell to our adopted, retired chicken. We may have only enjoyed 2 months with her but she was the most-beautiful, good-natured hen. ••• R.I.P. Nana 2010-2019
• Galanthophiles of the world unite. I love snowdrops, they really are my favourite flower - I think because they are simple and unshowy... #snowdrops #galanthus
• More snowdrops and spring flowers at @evenleywoodgarden... #snowdrops #galanthus
• Did I mention that I love snowdrops...? #snowdrops #galanthus #galanthophile #springiscoming

11 February

• Discovered an unexpected upside to a (sometimes) standing desk; when you're feeling peckish it's a great way fight those feelings for crisps or chocolate... #tryingtodotherightthing @oxfordbrookes
• Well that's got my heart rate up. Discovered at the bottom the hill that the bag with my waterproofs in had fallen off my bike at the top so had to go all the way back up The Hill to get them and then pedal like crazy to get to the bus with seconds to spare... #cycling🚴‍♂️
• Not all eggs are the same... #eggs🥚 #spaghetticarbonara #MondayNightTraditions

12 February

13 February

14 February

• Regular observers of this feed will know that I write. You might not know that I am part of a family of writers... #imaginaryfriends #dragons🐉 #buttons #greekmyths #norsemythology #amwriting #amreading #TEShepherd #AndyShepherd #DeborahShepherd #books #storytelling #stories
• Whilst @vnemma's Grannie is in hospital we have a lodger living in my study. Chloe is a nervous little girl but I'm allowed strokes now... #catsofinstagram #catsagram

15 February

• The beauty is in the details... #naturewriting #TheLivingMountain #NanShepherd #amreading @chris.packham
• Belated Valentine's meal with my @vnemma! Love you lots xxx 😍❤💕 #valentines
• "Hi, my name's Aslan..." #catsofinstagram #catsagram

16 February

• I do love a bit of curling... #curling @team_muirhead #scottishcurling

17 February

18 February

• Mysteriously misty moon tonight... #moon #mist #winterskies #redskyatnight

19 February

20 February

21 February

22 February

• Not everyday that you get to be a judge on a #bakeoff competition... @oxfordbrookes
• Remembering Chas in the best way I can, wearing my Lord Darnley feather with pride, as presented to me by The Editor and friend. #bv #blissfordvoice #bvtoday #ChasCochand #rwg

23 February

• Went into Bicester shops this morning to park car to find this pair of shoes very neatly placed by one car; returned an hour later and they had moved to the next car and equally carefully placed... #weird #shoes #strangethingshappeninBicester
• Love is... 🐱❤ #cats #catsagram #catsofinstagram

24 February

• Cats are busy in the garden... #catsofinstagram #catsagram #cats
• The colour of Spring... #garden #february #nofilter

25 February

26 February

• Our lodger is getting braver and today came down for her dinner... #cats #catsagram #catsofinstagram
• I'll be there again talking about my stories and how music influences them... #Repost @t.e.shepherd.art • • • • • In my new appointment as Official Festival Illustrator, my first task is to make a map for this year's #HULitFest. Now in its fifth year the all free festival on 27 April has got so big it now needs a map. Come along and join the fun... #illustration #amillustrating #maps
• #Repost @t.e.shepherd.art • • • • • From the back room of a pub five years ago to five venues and a whole village celebrating story and the power of words across five venues, #HULitFest is the place to be... #illustration #amillustrating #maps #literaryfestival

27 February

28 February

March 2019

1 March

• People sometimes say that you should eat your words, well I'm wearing mine!! #MrTumnal

2 March

• Said goodbye to an incredible, warm, friendly man today. @chascochand, thank you for understanding me, and for everything you did for me and believing in me. You have been and always will be amazing. #RIPChasCochand #blissfordvoice

3 March

• Black cherry cheesecake. Well that was a scrumptiously yummy result. So, so simple to make too.

4 March

5 March

• It's pancake day, it's pancake day, it's p-p-p-p-p-pancake day! #pancakeday #pancakes🥞

6 March

7 March

• It's #worldbookday! I'm celebrating by wearing my words... #MrTumnal ••• What are you #amreading?

8 March

9 March

10 March

• I've always wanted to go to @rspb_love_nature's HQ at The Lodge, Sandy, and now I have...
• On the Nuthatch trail there's an old quarry, that looks like proper Stig of the Dump country.... @rspb_love_nature #nature #SandyLodge #stigofthedump
• On The Edge of things... @rspb_love_nature #SandyLodge #oldquarry #stigofthedump
• Twisted skeletons of trees... #oldtrees #deadtrees #trees
• The last snowdrop // colours and textures // heathland // woodland // gardens
• The old lodge and @rspb_love_nature HQ...
• Every manor house needs a "goose" pond and a tree of life... @rspb_love_nature
• The Tree of Life... #treeoflife #peace #remberance #woodland @rspb_love_nature

11 March

12 March

• Tops of trees moving // whole branches swaying // Trying to remember my wind speed identification... #StormGeorge #wind🌀
• "Somewhere, from a far off room a tune made it's way out - oboe or flute - lilting out through the stillness" ••• Love it when *that* music makes its first appearance in #MrTumnal3: #ForgottenFriends. @neilbrownless and @abingdonconcertband are familiar with the tune... ••• #music #inspiration #musicismagic #HULitFest #amwriting

13 March

• I'm a write-by-the-seat-of-my-pants writer rather than a meticulous plotter (where's the fun on that?) but I do like to have a plan for little bits so these notes are going to be invaluable for completing the current chapter... #MrTumnal #MrTumnal3 #ForgottenFriends #amwriting

14 March

15 March

16 March

• We'll always have Neverland! @vnemma and I visited the @creationtheatre #thriftshop today and came away with some memories... #peterpan #snowqueen #treasureisland #swallowsandamazonsforever
• A little bit #fairytale magic from @creationtheatre in my house... #thriftshop

17 March

• iPods are too easy. I don't play my CDs enough... #TheFirebird #stravinsky #cdcollection #CDs #iknowpuristswouldargueforvinyl
• Listening to #MauriceAndré playing Handel's Trumpet Concertos (albeit on CD not over-played cassette) still evokes 35 year old memories of reading Arthur Ransomes Missee Lee and still inspires me creatively. ••• What music and listening format still brings back those first memories for you? #music #inspiration #creativity #iwasnotacoolkid
• I've written a lot of chapter three today but it has mostly been narrative description. I'm looking forward to chapter four because I get my two new favourite characters come together so they can actually talk! #MrTumnal3 #ForgottenFriends #amwriting

18 March

• Is this because @jennaa0 thinks that I am bananas...? 😊🍌
• Spring colours in the garden... #flowers🌾 #hazel #mahonia #blackthorn #daffodil #forsythia
• The magnificent magnolia tree... #magnolia #radcliffesquare

19 March

• More of the Oxford magnolia, this time with added lantern, and dreaming spires... #Oxford #magnolia #radcliffesquare #radcliffecamera
• A meeting of the (soon-to-be) friends is getting closer... #SplitChloë #FluteyLucy #whenChloëMetLucy #MrTumnal3 #ForgottenFriends #amwriting

20 March

• "Wasn't that what writers were supposed to do - make things up, make lies seem like truth, create new versions of themselves?" #DavidAlmond #onwriting #halfacreaturefromthesea
• Wednesday's Oxford magnolia is all about the pink! #Oxford #universitychurchofstmarythevirgin #pink #magnolia #spring #springequinox

21 March

• On Thursday it's all about the colour yellow as springtime in Oxford continues... #Oxford #SouthPark #yellow #daffodil #spring

22 March

• This seems like a reasonable suggestion to me... #nobrexit🇪🇺
• When you find yourself up shit creek in a leaky boat with no paddle, sometimes it is better to jump out and swim for shore rather than going over the waterfall down stream... #NoBrexit #RevokeArtical50

23 March

• Saturday's magnolia is my own, in the garden of Bicester Zoo, and is the purest of whites... #magnolia #stellata #spring #flowers🌾 @vnemma

24 March

• Booked our May today. Going to escape all of this #Brexshit rubbish and celebrate my birthday and @vnemma and my 10th wedding anniversary in the middle of nowhere... #middlewoodbatchfarm #WelshBorders #BishopsCastle
• The magnolias of @evenleywoodgarden on a Sunday... #magnolia #spring #flowers🌾
• The colours and the light of the season... #springwalks #spring #flowers🌾 #camelia #cherryblossom #blossom @evenleywoodgarden
• Spring walks amongst the flowers... #springiscoming #springwalks #spring #flowers🌾 @evenleywoodgarden
• Carpets of blue... #springwalks #springiscoming #spring #flowers🌾 @evenleywoodgarden
• Always good to see the mark of your friends on the next read, @lexiesox... #amreading #TheFamiliars @staceyhallsauthor

25 March

• Just kickin' back and relaxin'... #catsofinstagram #catsagram #cats
• The lodger having a tentative cuddle... #catsofinstagram #catsagram #cats

26 March

• Chloe getting herself familiarised with the house... #catsofinstagram #catsagram #cats

27 March

• Lots of great raffle prizes to be one at Saturday's #Storytelling concert! #Repost @abingdonconcertband • • • • • No points for guessing some of the great pieces that will feature in our storytelling #concert this Saturday #30thMarch. However, here is a selection of the fab raffle prizes up for grabs! Tickets available here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/storytelling-music-inspired-by-stories-tickets-55865508239 #Oxfordshire #MakingMusic #Abingdon #familyFriendly #MothersDayGift #books
• These lovely #vouchers for the @audible_uk #audiobook of #MrTumnal will be up for grabs in the @abingdonconcertband #Storytelling concert on Saturday!

28 March

29 March

30 March

• The day my writing and musical worlds collide, playing in the world première of #MrTumnal, a theme by @vnemma and made into a piece of music by @neilbrownless, performed by @abingdonconcertband. Thank you to Neil for making it possible, and to @laurapicklechop and @sarah.cronin.73744 and the rest of the band for making it a thing. 😊🎵🎶🎷🎺📯✒

31 March

April 2019

1 April

2 April

3 April

4 April

• Why do I always draw buildings with so many bricks? #somanybricks #amillustrating #illustration #bookshopsofinstagram #bookshops #bookloversguidetobookshops

5 April

6 April

• Had a 10% voucher for @mostlybooks_shop following last week's @abingdonconcertband concert. Oops! I didn't mean to honest...! And then a cup of tea at @throwingbuns after...

7 April

8 April

9 April

10 April

11 April

12 April

13 April

14 April

• On the road to Manchester and the @ncbf_festival finals... @abingdonconcertband #windband #concertband #notacompetition
• Jnct 16 of the M6... a reminder of university days. I can see #MowCop as we head north to @ncbf_festival... ••• #alsager #creativearts #cheshirefield #woodiwissforever #mmucheshire
• Listening to wind at @ncbf_festival... #music
• Listening to the Band of the Band of the Scot's Guard at @ncbf_festival #windband #musicinspires 🎶📯🎺🎷
• So already @laurapicklechop has the celebration and/or commiseration drinks planned for after our @ncbf_festival set...
• We've only gone and done it again! @abingdonconcertband take #gold🥇 at the @ncbf_festival national competition! #windband #musicinspires #music 📯🎺🎶🎵🎼

15 April

16 April

17 April

18 April

• Enjoying the first evening of the Easter recess in the garden... #catsofinstagram #catsagram #cats
• Our lodger, Chloe, has been soaking up the sun...

19 April

• Anemones are not our enemies, at the sign at Stoke Woods says... #Spring #flowers🌾 #woodland #walks #GoodFriday
• Walking amongst the bluebells on #GoodFriday... #woodland #nature #spring #flowers🌾 #bluebells
• Cup of tea, book, and #Easter🐥🐰 biscuits... 😊
• My first Ringuey Pie that I've made. This was one of my favourites when I was little that my Mummy would make... 😊 #recipes #summercitrus #GoodFridayBaking #Easter🐥🐰
• First al fresco dinner of the year, and a barbecue too... #Easter🐥🐰 #GoodFriday #steak #garden
• Birdies bathing in the garden...
• Flame-grilled cow for dinner tonight... #GoodFriday #Easter🐥🐰 #steak #barbeque

20 April

• I think that was successful... #ringueypie

21 April

• A little perambulation before Easter Sunday dinner... #Easter🐥🐰
• Apple blossom and coconut gorse.. 😊 #Easter🐥🐰
• The face that launched a dozen years. Happy Anniversary @vnemma! 😊❤💕xxxx #12years #firstdate #anniversary

22 April

• A walk in the woods... #spring #Easter🐥🐰 #deer #dogs

23 April

24 April

25 April

26 April

27 April

28 April

29 April

30 April