Maylin
@blithespirit4.bsky.social
Canadian living in Liverpool, UK. Knitter, reader, hiker, lover of all textiles and the great outdoors. Once a bookseller, always a bookseller.
Been in a reading slump lately ( read two dull Booker shortlist titles), but McBride pulled me out with her intense, energetic, immersive writing. The details of this destructive relationship were definitely hard to read at times but I couldn't stop. I do need a break before the sequel though.
November 8, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Been in a reading slump lately ( read two dull Booker shortlist titles), but McBride pulled me out with her intense, energetic, immersive writing. The details of this destructive relationship were definitely hard to read at times but I couldn't stop. I do need a break before the sequel though.
Fourth park run, fourth location. Jumped on Merseyrail early this morning and headed to Chester. This was a proper cross country run with a stretch of muddy paths. Also the hilliest one I've done. But lovely volunteers and now I get to spend the day in Chester.
#parkrun
#parkrun
November 8, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Fourth park run, fourth location. Jumped on Merseyrail early this morning and headed to Chester. This was a proper cross country run with a stretch of muddy paths. Also the hilliest one I've done. But lovely volunteers and now I get to spend the day in Chester.
#parkrun
#parkrun
Great window display at Type Books on Queen W.
Ready for Game 3 - go Jays!
Ready for Game 3 - go Jays!
October 27, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Great window display at Type Books on Queen W.
Ready for Game 3 - go Jays!
Ready for Game 3 - go Jays!
Walked the park run at Bellevue Park, Sault Ste Marie this morning. Beautiful morning, lots of autumnal colour. Lovely route. Came first in my age group. Was only one in my age group, ha. Going to set myself a challenge of walking 100 different locations before I hit 65. Today was #3.
#ParkRun
#ParkRun
October 25, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Walked the park run at Bellevue Park, Sault Ste Marie this morning. Beautiful morning, lots of autumnal colour. Lovely route. Came first in my age group. Was only one in my age group, ha. Going to set myself a challenge of walking 100 different locations before I hit 65. Today was #3.
#ParkRun
#ParkRun
Calm and sun before the storm. Took a bus to Scalloway and a lovely walk towards the headland and lighthouse. Nothing but sea, sky, ponies and sheep and bracing fresh air. Just what I needed. Hunkering down inside now with tea, biscuits and knitting while waiting for the storm to pass.
October 3, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Calm and sun before the storm. Took a bus to Scalloway and a lovely walk towards the headland and lighthouse. Nothing but sea, sky, ponies and sheep and bracing fresh air. Just what I needed. Hunkering down inside now with tea, biscuits and knitting while waiting for the storm to pass.
Shetland Wool Week - impossible to sum up in a post. Workshops, exhibits, talks, meet-ups with friends, music, yarn shopping, lots of laughs and inspiration. SO much fab knitwear to gawk at. Shetlanders so friendly and gracious with their time and knowledge - there's really nothing like it. #yarnsky
October 3, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Shetland Wool Week - impossible to sum up in a post. Workshops, exhibits, talks, meet-ups with friends, music, yarn shopping, lots of laughs and inspiration. SO much fab knitwear to gawk at. Shetlanders so friendly and gracious with their time and knowledge - there's really nothing like it. #yarnsky
Novels by Alison Moore are perfect to take on vacation because you're guarenteed to have a better time than her characters. There are sad scenes of cringe worthy of a Mike Leigh film and an underlying menace akin to a subtler Celia Fremlin. I find them weirdly entertaining. @saltpublishing.com
September 29, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Novels by Alison Moore are perfect to take on vacation because you're guarenteed to have a better time than her characters. There are sad scenes of cringe worthy of a Mike Leigh film and an underlying menace akin to a subtler Celia Fremlin. I find them weirdly entertaining. @saltpublishing.com
Shetland Day 3:
Another great day - did the Park Run on Bressay ( the most northern park run in the UK) which was so much fun and conviently ends at a cafe. Lunch with friends, then picked up my SWW annual and am musing on projects while working on my Sunburst Cowl by Julia Billings.
Another great day - did the Park Run on Bressay ( the most northern park run in the UK) which was so much fun and conviently ends at a cafe. Lunch with friends, then picked up my SWW annual and am musing on projects while working on my Sunburst Cowl by Julia Billings.
September 28, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Shetland Day 3:
Another great day - did the Park Run on Bressay ( the most northern park run in the UK) which was so much fun and conviently ends at a cafe. Lunch with friends, then picked up my SWW annual and am musing on projects while working on my Sunburst Cowl by Julia Billings.
Another great day - did the Park Run on Bressay ( the most northern park run in the UK) which was so much fun and conviently ends at a cafe. Lunch with friends, then picked up my SWW annual and am musing on projects while working on my Sunburst Cowl by Julia Billings.
Shetland Day 2:
18k walk on Bressay, first climbing its highest point, the Ward of Bressay. From there you can see Noss and I was intrigued by a structure on Ander Hill ( turned out to be a ruined WW1 tower), so headed there next - sunny, warm day but the wind was so strong it nearly blew me over.
18k walk on Bressay, first climbing its highest point, the Ward of Bressay. From there you can see Noss and I was intrigued by a structure on Ander Hill ( turned out to be a ruined WW1 tower), so headed there next - sunny, warm day but the wind was so strong it nearly blew me over.
September 26, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Shetland Day 2:
18k walk on Bressay, first climbing its highest point, the Ward of Bressay. From there you can see Noss and I was intrigued by a structure on Ander Hill ( turned out to be a ruined WW1 tower), so headed there next - sunny, warm day but the wind was so strong it nearly blew me over.
18k walk on Bressay, first climbing its highest point, the Ward of Bressay. From there you can see Noss and I was intrigued by a structure on Ander Hill ( turned out to be a ruined WW1 tower), so headed there next - sunny, warm day but the wind was so strong it nearly blew me over.
Shetland Day 1:
A walk around The Knab, a bit of wool shopping ( excited to see J & S 5ply Gansey yarn in person), and dinner with friends at my favourite restaurant.
A walk around The Knab, a bit of wool shopping ( excited to see J & S 5ply Gansey yarn in person), and dinner with friends at my favourite restaurant.
September 25, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Shetland Day 1:
A walk around The Knab, a bit of wool shopping ( excited to see J & S 5ply Gansey yarn in person), and dinner with friends at my favourite restaurant.
A walk around The Knab, a bit of wool shopping ( excited to see J & S 5ply Gansey yarn in person), and dinner with friends at my favourite restaurant.
Calm, smooth sailing into Lerwick this morning. Whew! So excited to be in beautiful Shetland again.
September 25, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Calm, smooth sailing into Lerwick this morning. Whew! So excited to be in beautiful Shetland again.
An odd, little romp which careened from one surreal plot twist and complicated relationship, to another. Protests, pain, philosophy & the plague - all in this unusual love story. Reminscient of Muriel Spark, Iris Murdoch & Penelope Fitzgerald, but fell a little flat by comparison. #SpinsterSeptember
September 20, 2025 at 4:28 PM
An odd, little romp which careened from one surreal plot twist and complicated relationship, to another. Protests, pain, philosophy & the plague - all in this unusual love story. Reminscient of Muriel Spark, Iris Murdoch & Penelope Fitzgerald, but fell a little flat by comparison. #SpinsterSeptember
My next read for #SpinsterSeptember, this novel about Dorothy Wordsworth is told partly through the eyes of a servant at Rydal Mount, and partly through the imagined words of her destroyed red diary. Beautiful nature writing and some interesting speculation on her later illness. An enjoyable read.
September 19, 2025 at 2:32 PM
My next read for #SpinsterSeptember, this novel about Dorothy Wordsworth is told partly through the eyes of a servant at Rydal Mount, and partly through the imagined words of her destroyed red diary. Beautiful nature writing and some interesting speculation on her later illness. An enjoyable read.
Enjoyed this memoir of moving and building a life in Shetland. No knitting content ( I'll have my fill when I head there next week), but lovely descriptions of nature, and peppered with Shetland phrases mostly about the weather - i.e Steekit stumba (a thick mist), Trollamist ( a thick, dark mist).
September 15, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Enjoyed this memoir of moving and building a life in Shetland. No knitting content ( I'll have my fill when I head there next week), but lovely descriptions of nature, and peppered with Shetland phrases mostly about the weather - i.e Steekit stumba (a thick mist), Trollamist ( a thick, dark mist).
I'll watch any movie with Trevor Howard so delighted when @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social screened Green For Danger. Recorded it so I could read the book first. Both marvellous - tension in the book was so palpable ( and better than the movie) but casting Alistar Sim as Cockerill was brilliant.
September 7, 2025 at 9:43 AM
I'll watch any movie with Trevor Howard so delighted when @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social screened Green For Danger. Recorded it so I could read the book first. Both marvellous - tension in the book was so palpable ( and better than the movie) but casting Alistar Sim as Cockerill was brilliant.
First book for #SpinsterSeptember a rather sad tale of a woman's annual holiday spent in a hotel on a Danish island, in what was her former home before the war. Some wonderful portraits of the other guests (another spinster among them). A novel about memory and history told and retold.
September 6, 2025 at 7:14 AM
First book for #SpinsterSeptember a rather sad tale of a woman's annual holiday spent in a hotel on a Danish island, in what was her former home before the war. Some wonderful portraits of the other guests (another spinster among them). A novel about memory and history told and retold.
Really enjoyed #Witmonth this August. Last book read for @deadinkbooks.bsky.social book club was Jeanne by Arielle Burgdorf, a translator writing about a translator. Lots of interesting observations about language, gender and identity, though plot fell short. A good companion to Fair.
September 1, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Really enjoyed #Witmonth this August. Last book read for @deadinkbooks.bsky.social book club was Jeanne by Arielle Burgdorf, a translator writing about a translator. Lots of interesting observations about language, gender and identity, though plot fell short. A good companion to Fair.
For #Witmonth I wanted to read some Québécoise lit and I loved this exuberant novel, translated by Sheila Fischman. It's a whirlwind of stream of consciousness as characters - rich and poor - with all the horrors of the 20th century embodied in them are juxtaposed against celebration.
August 29, 2025 at 7:58 AM
For #Witmonth I wanted to read some Québécoise lit and I loved this exuberant novel, translated by Sheila Fischman. It's a whirlwind of stream of consciousness as characters - rich and poor - with all the horrors of the 20th century embodied in them are juxtaposed against celebration.
"And so it ended, as a matter of course, like a sweater being knitted to completion."
An apt quote for this novel. Promising start, got a little tedious in the middle, cast off the last few pages, stood back to look at the whole creation and thought, it'll fit.
#Witmonth
An apt quote for this novel. Promising start, got a little tedious in the middle, cast off the last few pages, stood back to look at the whole creation and thought, it'll fit.
#Witmonth
August 14, 2025 at 10:05 AM
"And so it ended, as a matter of course, like a sweater being knitted to completion."
An apt quote for this novel. Promising start, got a little tedious in the middle, cast off the last few pages, stood back to look at the whole creation and thought, it'll fit.
#Witmonth
An apt quote for this novel. Promising start, got a little tedious in the middle, cast off the last few pages, stood back to look at the whole creation and thought, it'll fit.
#Witmonth
Happy Birthday Tove. Having a lazy Saturday morning reading comic strips. #Moomins #ToveJansson
August 9, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Happy Birthday Tove. Having a lazy Saturday morning reading comic strips. #Moomins #ToveJansson
A philosophical novel of dreamscapes involving illness, opera, stress about an upcoming academic conference, strange conversations in cafés and an immersion in the work of the poet Paul Celan. Think I'd have gotten more out of it if I knew Celan's poetry but would read her again. #witmonth
August 8, 2025 at 9:29 PM
A philosophical novel of dreamscapes involving illness, opera, stress about an upcoming academic conference, strange conversations in cafés and an immersion in the work of the poet Paul Celan. Think I'd have gotten more out of it if I knew Celan's poetry but would read her again. #witmonth
Wow. I almost started crying in the coffee shop as I finished this. As brilliant and powerful as everyone has said. I feel completely wrung out but determined to read the other two books of hers that @charcopress.com has published. But now, I need to go for a walk. Just read it!
#witmonth
#witmonth
August 7, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Wow. I almost started crying in the coffee shop as I finished this. As brilliant and powerful as everyone has said. I feel completely wrung out but determined to read the other two books of hers that @charcopress.com has published. But now, I need to go for a walk. Just read it!
#witmonth
#witmonth
Whew - this was quite an intense read! Sad, tragic, defiant, despairing and at times, menacing, are the emotions of 14 yr old Galla as she reflects on the poverty and violence of her life while cycling 20 miles from school to home. A rivetting, compelling voice. #witmonth #NYRBWomen25
August 5, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Whew - this was quite an intense read! Sad, tragic, defiant, despairing and at times, menacing, are the emotions of 14 yr old Galla as she reflects on the poverty and violence of her life while cycling 20 miles from school to home. A rivetting, compelling voice. #witmonth #NYRBWomen25
A very creative and original memoir/manifesto that could be applied to any of the creative arts. It certainly made me think about all the hundreds of decisions made my translators on every page. Grateful for their skill and creativity. Highly recommended.
August 4, 2025 at 1:54 PM
A very creative and original memoir/manifesto that could be applied to any of the creative arts. It certainly made me think about all the hundreds of decisions made my translators on every page. Grateful for their skill and creativity. Highly recommended.
Incredible patchwork jacket stitched all over with intricate flowers to hide the patches. In the Stitching in WWII exhibit at the Festival of Quilts. #FOQ25
August 2, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Incredible patchwork jacket stitched all over with intricate flowers to hide the patches. In the Stitching in WWII exhibit at the Festival of Quilts. #FOQ25