Hello, and I hope you are having a nice day. I thought rather than a recipe or a story about food, I’d write about some things that have happened, that you may be interested in.

1. I saw The Fabelmans at The Picturehouse Cinema in Exeter, Devon. Favourite line was from Michelle Williams: ‘You don’t owe anyone your life.’ I think this is really helpful to be reminded of, and stops me from thinking I’m ‘just being selfish’ for doing certain things and choosing not to do others. Also, it’s worth seeing the film for David Lynch and the way he slices the end off his cigar.
2. I love Tom Cox’s blog so much and all his writing but the highlight recently has to be his post The True Stories Behind Some Of The Photos In The 1970s Habitat Catalogues. I also love how he uses old childhood photos in his blog to write about memories in a very simple and affecting way.
3. Listening to David Sedaris on Desert Island Discs was unsettling not least because I still feel he belongs only to me. I loved all his music choices but Where is Love sung by a boy with a not particularly beautiful voice was lovely and painful in the way DS’s writing often is. I met him at a book signing a few years ago. He wrote I’m so happy you’re alive in my copy of Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, which I thought was really nice of him.
4. I wrote two pieces for Exmoor magazine, the Spring edition, which is out now. One piece was on a man called William who milks (occasionally) a cow called Bramble and when he is not doing it a girl called Willow is. From this milk he makes cheese and he also pots up the most amazing Exmoor honey from his hives. And then I wrote about a nice woman and her goats and the outstanding cheese she makes. She has never had a holiday. This is the bit I can’t get over.
5. Exmoor is very different from Dartmoor, where I have just been and where I grew up, if not actually on Dartmoor then nearby and it’s where I learned to ride horses. If Dartmoor is haunting, silent and still, and often quite barren, then Exmoor is lushly soft and secretive, a hug of a landscape. I often feel I have had a private affair with parts of Dartmoor, and after I leave feel a bit different about everything. Maybe it’s because it takes me back to childhood in a very specific way.
6. I overheard this conversation between two men on the bus the other day: ‘My love language is touch. My family was all about gifts. So then…resentment. Biting my nails…instead of asking, why are you doing it? They just said, put an ice cream in your mouth.’
7. I am currently an elk – this is my Spirit Animal at the moment. If you are at a loss for what to do on your next holiday, I recommend buying a set of Spirit Animal cards by Kim Krans. I have been variously an oyster, a lamb and a stingray and each time it has summed me up completely.
8. Down below is Exmoor magazine, which is full to the brim with lovely things. If you live out of the area you can get a copy here;  https://www.exmoormagazine.co.uk/shop/editions/spring-2023/