[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 27 July 2026].
putti: a different light
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 21 July 2026].
As promised in my previous post, though later than I'd planned (it's no longer Sunday, not by a long chalk in any hemisphere), this was the light on the same grave when I revisited the churchyard of St Mary's in Linslade, Bedfordshire, in May with my friend Phil.
Had I not previously visited the cemetery and churchyard in such lovely light as I had in November, I probably would have zealously photographed the graves in the churchyard and the adjacent cemetery.
But having seen it during the golden hour after a morning of rain, this light was simultaneously too flat and too harsh.
I'm so pleased my first encounters with these places were in the right lighting.
putti: a death (k)nell
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 14 July 2026].
I took these photos of a grave in the churchyard of St Mary's in Linslade, Bedfordshire, in November 2025, the second time I sat Jilly in her new home in Leighton Buzzard.
I set out for a photo walk from Jilly's house along the Grand Union Canal to the church and the Old Linslade Cemetery after a morning of rain.
Photographing the neighbouring locations around 15:00 in autumn was perfect timing, capturing the church in the golden hour before the early sunset.
The light as I walked back along the canal to The Globe Inn was lovely, though there were only sheep, no cows, for me to remark upon the lovely light upon them.
It was almost pitch black by the time I finished my post-walk pint and headed back to give Jilly her dinner.
Phil and I followed in my footsteps during a photo walk in early May this year.
The weather was perfect for our walk, especially as we were taking photos on 120 film using two pinhole cameras Phil owns. We took our time wandering along the canal, discussing life, the perils of AI and all manner of other topics.
I also had my D700, though I had neglected to charge my spare battery the night before and the charge remaining in the battery in my camera was very low, so I was sure it would run out of juice before we finished our walk (it didn't!)
When we arrived at the churchyard, I remarked upon how much difference the light made. It had seemed almost magical the first time I had visited, and I had taken over 70 photos in November.
In May, in "glorious" sunlight, I captured only 12 photos.
I've revisited places before and taken as many or more photos as the first time. But the light just wasn't right. It was too harsh and bright, and the magic just wasn't there.
I captured a few photos for my season's grievings series and a handful of other photos of the church and churchyard, but something was lacking, which I admitted to Phil at the time.
When I share the one photo I took of this grave on my second visit next Sunday, you'll see what I mean.
In the meantime, I was going to call this post 'cherubim: a death (k)nell'. However, in checking my usage of the word, I learned that the chubby, angelic children with wings many of us know from Renaissance paintings as 'cherubs' are not what was described in the original biblical references.
So, instead, I've chosen the plural of the Italian word, putto, used for the figures depicted in so many artworks we can think of.
Once again, my photography (and mild obsession with semantics) has increased my knowledge.
with bells on
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 21 December 2025].
holly wreath
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 20 December 2025].
A day late and posted late in the day.
I'll be back on track for tomorrow's instalment!
work christmas party
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 17 December 2025].
I finished work for 2025 today.
I'm still technically employed until 31 December, but I also finished my last working day for an organisation I worked for for almost four years this afternoon.
Thankfully, our work Christmas party a couple of weeks ago didn't look like this.
pre-christmas overwhelm
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 13 December 2025].
This week was busy (which underplays that the previous weeks were too).
I ran out of time to share a 'season's grievings' photo on Thursday, or on Friday as a catch-up.
So, here is today's contribution. It pretty accurately sums up how I'm feeling at the moment after such a busy week.
Don't get me wrong. Most of the past week was positive:
Kitteh visits with two local kittehs and two slightly less local kittehs that I'll be sitting more often in the new year, staying overnight.
My last "anchor day" in my current job was on Wednesday, as I finish up my contract next Wednesday.
Eating pizza in honour of the departure of another colleague and me (which is a breakthrough for me after over three years, for those who are in the know).
A cheeky pint near work sponsored by our CEO.
Visiting the Night Owls and Abstractions exhibition at Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank, the annual exhibition of art by "individuals in prisons, secure hospitals, young offender institutions and immigration removal centres, as well as people on community sentences and probation" that Sabine and I have been trying to coordinate to visit together for a few years now (maybe as many years as I've been sitting her kittehs for). It did not disappoint and was very inspiring.
Preparing to go to Oxford for the weekend to visit, this is what you get, with a couple of longtime friends. It's an exhibition of artwork by and related to Stanley Donwood, Thom Yorke and Radiohead.
The downside was a heartbreaking update I received yesterday evening about a friend in Australia.
Although being busy with sittings is a good thing, especially in the lead-up to finishing my contract, I'm looking forward to a three-day work week next week. I'm looking forward to no pet-sittings, and time for job-hunting, editing photos and catching up on life admin, before a mix of social and anti-social Christmas festivities kicks in.
(Does it count as "social" or "anti-social" if your interactions are only with cats and a hamster?)
This year, Sabine and I will be able to enjoy an early Christmas dinner together before she goes away, as neither of us will be working (I'm usually working).
I have an(other) early Christmas dinner scheduled with friends in Bromley for Christmas Eve eve.
And there will be cheese, cider and kitteh cuddles galore (as well as binge-watching TV and films) over the break.
I'm also hopeful for some creativity and reading!
I hope the lead-up to Christmas is more zen for all of you! x
how do you like them apples?
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 9 December 2025].
a hessian-bound christmas bouquet
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 7 December 2025].
a wreath with all the trimmings
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 6 December 2025].
a mushroom village near pauligin huvila
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 31 October 2025].
I found this mushroom village under a tree by Pauligin huvila (formerly known as Villa Humlevik), a grand house built for master baker Gustav Ulrik Sandberg and his wife Ulrika Charlotta, with construction beginning in 1873.
The building was undergoing further updates when I detoured to take a look at it between visits to Hietaniemen hautausmaa (Hietaniemi Cemetery) and the Sibelius-monumentti (Sibelius Monument) (and to rest my blistered feet).
I have photos to share of all three in future posts. I'll share more information about them then.
For now, here are some fun guys.
bianca frangipani
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 17 August 2025].
Early in the new year, I received a message in my Instagram DMs from a woman in Massachusetts, Monica, who had seen photographs I'd taken at Pinner New Cemetery. I posted several photos I took in December 2023 as part of my annual season's grievings series in the lead-up to Christmas.
Monica's aunt, Bianca, passed away tragically at the age of 31 in 1962 and is buried in Pinner New Cemetery.
Bianca and Monica's mother had kept in touch over the years, but family circumstances had kept them apart. With Bianca in London and Monica's mother in the US, she (and Monica) had never seen the memorial laid on Bianca's grave in the cemetery.
My friend and former flatmate, Floriana, was the reason I visited Pinner New Cemetery in December 2023, as she works in Edgware on Saturdays and was attending a work Christmas lunch at a restaurant in Pinner. Consequently, we'd organised to meet at The Queen's Head before her lunch.
Monica asked me if I would be willing and able to revisit the cemetery to take photographs of the grave for her.
Coincidentally, I already had plans to meet Floriana again the following weekend. We had planned for Floriana to revisit my neck of the woods (our shared flat was in Wood Green, and I live in the adjacent suburb of Hornsey) to meet.
However, I contacted Floriana and suggested we meet in Edgware or Pinner instead, as that would allow me to revisit the cemetery and be more convenient for her. (As it turned out, there weren't many options for pubs near her work, so she drove me home from the cemetery, and we went to my local instead, as we'd originally planned).
When I agreed to look for Bianca's grave, Monica sent me further information, including the plot number, maps of the cemetery and the location of the grave.
Exploring Pinner New Cemetery
Looking at the map Monica had sent me, I was almost 100% certain I hadn't ventured into the section where her aunt had been laid to rest, but I looked through my existing photographs first to confirm my memory.
When I visited Pinner New Cemetery for the first time, I almost immediately came across a section dedicated to infants and children, which was towards the front of the cemetery. The section was simultaneously beautiful and heartbreaking, and I walked the full length of it to a corner of the cemetery, taking photos as I went.
Among other things, the child and infant section offered plenty of opportunities to capture season's grievings images, as so many of the graves were decorated for past Christmases (it was slightly early for decorations for the current year).
I explored other areas of the cemetery during my approximately 45-minute visit. However, as the days were short at that time of year, I stopped taking photographs at about 15:30 and started heading home, having only covered about half of the cemetery.
It was my second cemetery visit of the day - I visited Paines Lane Cemetery around midday before meeting Floriana - and ultimately, I had an even longer journey home afterwards than I'd expected. I don't recall the exact journey time, but it was substantially more than the already long 1.5-hour Tube journey it should have been due to train issues.
Seeking others' ancestors
A woman from Ontario contacted me in June 2023 via a comment on my photo of a grave in Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries. She approached me about locating and photographing the graves of two of her ancestors.
Knowing how vast and overgrown those two cemeteries are, that there's no clear demarcation between them and how old the graves she sought were, I hadn't been too hopeful of finding them.
On that occasion, I spent about 45 minutes searching for the graves with no luck, and I couldn't find any groundskeeping staff on site to ask for assistance.
I contacted the Friends of the Cemetery shortly after my visit to see if someone could point me in the right direction. I was cat-sitting for a friend nearby so I could return more easily than usual. However, without a section letter, they couldn't assist. I passed the information on to the woman who had contacted me, but she chose not to pay for access to records that might have provided her with the complete plot number for me to follow up further.
Finding Bianca
I was far more confident that I could locate Bianca's grave with the map and plot location provided.
Monica had mentioned in her messages that she feared the grave would be overgrown. I hadn't expressed my concern that it may be worse than that.
When I visited both Paines Lane Cemetery and Pinner New Cemetery, I recall being shocked at how poorly maintained the graves seemed. Admittedly, I was visiting during the depths of winter, and it had been raining much of the time while I wandered through Paines Lane Cemetery. And while the weather had cleared somewhat before I reached Pinner New Cemetery, the paths were still far from dry. But the drainage in Pinner New Cemetery seemed insufficient, especially in the sections I spent most time in, which were at the bottom of a gentle slope.
I was nervous that I would visit Bianca's grave and find it waterlogged.
Thankfully, on the day I visited, it was a brisk three degrees, and the grass and flowers still held a light frost in the early afternoon, but there were blue skies and no rain to worry about. Bianca's plot is also at one of the higher points of the cemetery, so it's less affected by poor drainage.
The map Monica sent me proved very helpful in locating Bianca's grave, although I initially overshot into the furthest section of the cemetery.
Once I rechecked my location, I questioned what the map was showing me. Beyond the first row or two of graves near the path, a large part of the section seemed to be only lawn at first glance.
But then I realised there were flat headstones inlaid into the lawn that had become partially sunken. That made it hard to be 100% sure which plot was which, and I initially lifted away fallen leaves from a gravestone about two plots over from Bianca's.
I should have photographed each gravestone before I pulled away the leaves, in case I had found the correct grave. But I didn't think of that as I was more intent on discovering Bianca's final resting place than making aesthetic choices and capturing photographic 'reveals'.
When I found the right plot, I was pleased but simultaneously disappointed for Monica and her mother that the grass and soil had encroached so far across the inscription.
After removing all the leaves, I found that, short of asking a groundskeeper (none were in sight) or gently taking a trowel (that I didn't have) to the surrounding lawn, I would only be able to photograph about half to two-thirds of the gravestone for them.
But at least I could see enough of Bianca's name, month of death and age at passing that I could be sure I had found her.
I took photos of the gravestone and of it in the context of the surrounding graves to share with Monica. I placed some of the leaves I had removed from the marker back onto the grass by the grave.
Although I'm not particularly spiritual, I talked to Bianca while photographing her gravestone. Letting her know her niece had sent me to find her and that her family was thinking of her.
I took most of the photos of the grave with my D700, but I captured a couple with my iPhone and sent one to Monica before I left the cemetery to let her know I had found Bianca.
Monica hadn't told her mother about my mission until she sent her the photograph I had sent. It was lovely to hear about her emotional response to the photo.
It gave me a warm glow to have been able to go just a little out of my way to capture something so important to others, to be their eyes across the pond.
strangers' cemetery
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 19 May 2025].
I photographed the Strangers' Cemetery on the Isle of Portland as Phil and I walked past it on our way to The Merchant's Incline.
I had every intention of returning to photograph the graves more closely from inside the cemetery before we left the island, but we ran short on time, so all of my photographs are from beyond the stone wall.
There's very little information about the cemetery online. The Portland Town Council's entry is, literally, a blank page.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission's entry has only slightly more information, noting three Commonwealth War Graves from the First and Second World Wars, the cemetery's location, a photo and little else.
The only other interesting information I've found is that, apparently, the buildings surrounding the cemetery were built to house competitors, etc., for the sailing competition in the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Based on what I can find online regarding other cemeteries or burial grounds with similar names in the UK, Jersey and Guernsey, it seems likely the occupants were not local, possibly foreign nationals, paupers, or other folk without any known surviving relatives. However, as I didn't get close enough to read any inscriptions, I can't confirm the veracity of that assumption.
how come u don't call me anymore?
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 14 May 2025].
Egads! Where did April go?
I had a sitting with my regulars near the start of the month, then the ten-day sitting with Dudley and Betsy mentioned in my last post.
My birthday fell just before Easter this year. Usually, I spend it visiting a gallery and/or photo editing. I had thought it would be a sedate affair, editing photos with the doggos for company, as I was away from home.
However, two friends took up my invitation to visit me and the puppers on separate occasions over Easter. I also had an in-person catch-up with a client I'm designing a website for the day before my birthday, which I'd booked as annual leave.
So, I was spoilt for social engagements and spoiled myself with cheese from The Bishop's Cave (as you do). A Cornish Yarg wrapped in nettles (I decided to try the original version, as it had been recommended to me previously, but I'll indulge in the garlic version next time!), a truffle Brie, and a Scottish Blue Murder, formerly known as 'Blue Monday', for those who are wondering.
Since I returned from Bishop's Stortford, I visited The World of Tim Burton exhibition at the Design Museum with a friend. I had another sitting with my regulars, which included three more social engagements, two of which were a little last-minute (and one was virtual and lasted over five hours!)
Then last weekend, I travelled to Brighton to catch up with friends and meet a kitteh called Chilli, whom I'll be sitting for the second half of June.
I'm doing daily visits with a local senior kitteh this weekend, and planning to visit The Face Magazine: Culture Shift exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery with a friend. Otherwise, I'm at home for a stretch, which is nice.
Aside from cheese and socialising, I've been dealing with some health stuff (nothing major), including learning about predictive genetic testing, working my day job, completing over 365 days of learning Welsh on Duolingo, trying to get back up to date with my life admin (more sinking than swimming, it sometimes feels) and trying not to wear my fingertips to the bones with doom scrolling.
I already have photos edited for posts later in the week, but I hope to spend a large portion of this week/end editing more and creating other pieces to share with you.
Oh, and this photo is from my visit to the Isle of Portland in September last year. Nice light on that telephone box.
If you feel inclined, let me know how you're doing in the comments x
the river stort
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 20 March 2025].
Last summer, I spent three weeks in Bishop's Stortford, sitting two cheeky puppers, Dudley and Betsy.
On the last Bank Holiday of the year, I popped out for a walk with my camera along the River Stort in the canalised section that runs through the town, known as the Stort Navigation.
I have a series of photos to edit and share with you from that day, but this one looks back along part of where I'd walked.
I'll be back in the town for ten nights next month, sitting those cheeky puppers again.
a solitary red bauble
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 11 December 2024].
white apples and berries
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 9 December 2024].
the reindeer section
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 4 December 2024].
My life is currently so chaotic, messy and stressful that I almost forgot it's time for season's grievings.
My current mood is something akin to this reindeer Christmas decoration on a child's grave in Pinner New Cemetery that I photographed just under a year ago.
I'm sharing this for patrons only a few hours instead of two days early to allow me to catch up.
I'll post the second image for this year later today, which will be closer to a day early.
The third will be posted tomorrow, two days early, and then I'll be back on schedule.
While I'm here and referencing the Scottish supergroup with my title for today's instalment, I highly recommend giving them a listen (if you haven't previously), specifically their second album, Son of Evil Reindeer.
he died of a broken arm
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 1 October 2024].
While reviewing photos to edit and share with you from my wander through the Bishop's Stortford Old Cemetery while sitting Betsy and Dudley a month ago, a new writing project idea struck.
Inspired by a combination of some of the inscriptions in the cemetery, personal memories and a conversation with a friend this evening about death. Specifically, euthanasia.
The words gently edging towards my fingertips aren't all about death, let alone euthanasia.
The ideas gently swirling aren't perhaps as melancholy as what I've written above may suggest (and how can you write about death without writing about life?)
But I'm probably feeling a bit too raw and tired (emotionally and physically) to pour those thoughts out in the wee hours of this particular morning.
So, instead, here's a photo I took of a grave I found paired with an irreverent title to lighten the mood.
Unrelated (maybe): have you heard the new single from The Cure, Alone?
I've listened to it a lot since it came out, but I only just properly listened while watching the lyric video (as I went to find the link for you) and took in the words and the visuals they've chosen, and I teared up for so many reasons.
And then the comments.
angelic youth
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 9 June 2024].