Diane
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dianeashton1958.bsky.social
Diane
@dianeashton1958.bsky.social
130 followers 75 following 80 posts
Left of centre, second half of life, getting more lefty as I get older. Mildly eccentric, mostly harmless.
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Diane @dianeashton1958.bsky.social · Nov 15
…and just like that, I don’t feel like an alien any more. Good morning from Scotland, Bluesky! ❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
dianeashton1958.bsky.social
Multiple Doses of Little Blessings thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/12/19/m...
Multiple Doses of Little Blessings
When I sat down to write my blog this week, I couldn’t see any obvious themes…and then I realised that the past week has been a patchwork of little blessings. Last weekend, DB** and I spent a wonde…
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December 19, 2025 at 5:36 PM
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Streamlining Christmas – keeping the best bits thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/12/12/s...
Streamlining Christmas – keeping the best bits
DB** and I have always ‘done Christmas’ with great enthusiasm. We still do, although it looks a little different these days. Twenty or thirty years ago, we would typically: have Advent candles and …
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December 12, 2025 at 4:04 PM
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Building an Ark in the Kitchen thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/12/05/b...
Building an Ark in the Kitchen
I’m so glad DB** needed painkillers at 0300 today. If he hadn’t needed painkillers (or if he had noticed the pack of tablets next to the bed) he would never have gone downstairs to the kitchen…and …
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December 5, 2025 at 4:47 PM
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Intentional Joy thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/11/28/i...
Intentional Joy
I am no fan of relentless positivity, despite being a natural optimist. Life can be hard work even on good days, and sometimes life is really, really difficult. I have little time for the kind of t…
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November 28, 2025 at 3:55 PM
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Taking the Pulse of our Wider Circle thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/11/21/t...
Taking the Pulse of our Wider Circle
DB** and I spend a significant (and legitimate) amount of time and energy monitoring our own states of mental, emotional and physical health: his – to determine what he is currently able to d…
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November 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM
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Cats as Senior Citizens thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/c...
Cats as Senior Citizens
Mitzi and Pebbles are now over 15 years old, and doing very well in their dotage. Pebbles had her annual health check and inoculations this week, and Mitzi has hers next week*. *On one occasion, I …
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November 14, 2025 at 4:10 PM
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Goodwill…and the right use of power thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/11/07/g...
Goodwill…and the right use of power
Yesterday I was in Glasgow City Chambers, attending an event to celebrate 60 years of the Glasgow Council on Alcohol (GCA). I was there in my capacity as Convener of its equivalent organisation in …
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November 7, 2025 at 10:54 AM
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Big Steps and Little Steps – latest on the chronic illness journey thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/10/31/b...
Big Steps and Little Steps – latest on the chronic illness journey
This has been a significant week for DB**. So significant, in fact, that the only way for me to articulate things in fewer than 500 words is via a series of lists. Here goes… DB’s chronic illness j…
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October 31, 2025 at 1:28 PM
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That Extra Hour… thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/t...
That Extra Hour…
This weekend, the clocks go back an hour in the UK. For me, that signals the beginning of official winter months, despite the current evidence of our unseasonably mild autumn. Chlorophyll-depleted …
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October 24, 2025 at 2:39 PM
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What we did on our holidays thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/10/17/w...
What we did on our holidays
DB** had a break from work this week, so I rearranged my diary to accommodate the resulting social whirl: Monday Hospital appointment with DB in the ENT department. Turns out that his various sinus…
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October 17, 2025 at 4:07 PM
dianeashton1958.bsky.social
More good stuff from Nadia:
open.substack.com/pub/thecorne...
We admitted we were powerless over our algorithms
and our lives had become unmanagable
open.substack.com
October 14, 2025 at 8:22 AM
dianeashton1958.bsky.social
Security, Freedom, Privacy – which two would you choose? thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/s...
Security, Freedom, Privacy – which two would you choose?
This week in our house has been a bit of a tech-a-thon. In response to the recent harassment and vandalism by a tiny group of local youngsters (mentioned in previous blogs), we have now had proper …
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October 10, 2025 at 1:03 PM
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Life with Feline Overlords thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/10/03/l...
Life with Feline Overlords
A few things you need to know about cats in general, and our cats in particular: All cats are amoral, unburdened by conscience Mitzi hates the cold Pebbles loves dairy products (yes, yes, I know ca…
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October 3, 2025 at 3:08 PM
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Community – more than just a word thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/09/26/c...
Community – more than just a word
DB** and I had a visit from a Police Community Officer yesterday. It was in connection with the recent spate of violent attacks on our house by local youngsters, and followed our escalation of the …
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September 26, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Reposted by Diane
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Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam!
September 20, 2025 at 9:41 PM
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Old and New Rhythms – a seasonal song thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/09/19/o...
Old and New Rhythms – a seasonal song
In the last few days I have experienced some familiar rhythms, and a few welcome new ones. DB** and I are looking forward to a weekend of catching up with friends, a blessedly regular occurrence th…
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September 19, 2025 at 2:51 PM
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Confessions of a terrible Completer Finisher thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/09/12/c...
Confessions of a terrible Completer Finisher
Admin has never been my favourite thing. Processes and details tire me out very quickly. This goes along with my consistently low ‘Completer Finisher’ (CF) scores on the Belbin* Team Type inventory…
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September 12, 2025 at 1:39 PM
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Taking the Little Wins thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/09/05/t...
Taking the Little Wins
This has been a week when the ‘little wins’ have really mattered. Some time ago I mentioned some recent acts of harassment/vandalism by local youngsters. This has since been repeated (I’ll spare yo…
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September 5, 2025 at 3:42 PM
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Feline Groovy thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/08/29/f...
Feline Groovy
Let me introduce you to our cats. Mitzi (front) and Pebbles (behind Mitzi) are twin sisters, and they are a truly impactful combination of tortoiseshell (traditionally noisy and gobby) and Burmese …
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August 29, 2025 at 3:00 PM
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In Praise of Resilience – Human and Otherwise thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/08/22/i...
In Praise of Resilience – Human and Otherwise
Yesterday my car passed its MOT. Hardly headline news, you might think – except that this is my beloved Toyota Yaris, 13 years old, 106,000 miles on the clock…and it passed FIRST TIME. I was …
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August 22, 2025 at 3:09 PM
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More Superpowers – Critical Thinking and Curiosity thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/08/15/m...
More Superpowers – Critical Thinking and Curiosity
Last week’s blog about sleep as a superpower got me thinking. Some skills and abilities over-deliver, punching way above their weight in terms of impact. The ability to sleep well puts a positive s…
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August 15, 2025 at 1:08 PM
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Sleep as a Superpower thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/08/08/s...
Sleep as a Superpower
The Land of Nod has featured quite prominently in our lives this week. I have long been thankful for my ability to sleep pretty well. Many of us find that sleep becomes more elusive and less settle…
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August 8, 2025 at 2:47 PM
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Entropy…and the peace of a well-placed slab thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/08/01/e...
Entropy…and the peace of a well-placed slab
A favourite science teacher introduced me to the concept of entropy as a ‘degree of disorder’ when I was a teenager, and this has stuck with me. The universe, it appears (and this is a massive gene…
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August 1, 2025 at 3:38 PM
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Result! When it all pays off… thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/07/25/r...
Result! When it all pays off…
Some weeks ago I shared a little bit of my own health journey, specifically my slightly raised cholesterol levels, and what I was doing about it: This week I had my appointment at our local GP prac…
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July 25, 2025 at 12:43 PM
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The Luxury of Being Challenged thoughtmulch.wordpress.com/2025/07/18/t...
The Luxury of Being Challenged
I am writing this week’s offering in the brief space between the morning and afternoon sessions of my Coaching qualification course, mentioned in last week’s blog: Much of my time this week has bee…
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July 18, 2025 at 3:51 PM