Kay McKenzie Cooke
@kayfrances53.bsky.social
A writer from southern AoNZ (Waitaha Kāti Māmoe Kāi Tahu) Scottish Irish English
Arts Murihiku Trustee.
All photos are my own.
Arts Murihiku Trustee.
All photos are my own.
The problem with being a writer that reads is you keep interrupting the reading to write. It never seems to be the other way round though.
December 27, 2025 at 4:24 AM
The problem with being a writer that reads is you keep interrupting the reading to write. It never seems to be the other way round though.
‘Pensioner wields hammer in Caversham music feud’
Just another ODT heading gem.
Just another ODT heading gem.
December 26, 2025 at 11:57 PM
‘Pensioner wields hammer in Caversham music feud’
Just another ODT heading gem.
Just another ODT heading gem.
… Seek, then,
No learning from the starry men,
Who follow with the optic glass
The whirling way of stars that pass -
Seek, then, for this is also sooth,
No word of theirs - the cold star-bane
Has cloven and rent their hearts in twain,
And dead is all their human truth.
WB Yeats
(None other).
No learning from the starry men,
Who follow with the optic glass
The whirling way of stars that pass -
Seek, then, for this is also sooth,
No word of theirs - the cold star-bane
Has cloven and rent their hearts in twain,
And dead is all their human truth.
WB Yeats
(None other).
December 26, 2025 at 8:10 PM
… Seek, then,
No learning from the starry men,
Who follow with the optic glass
The whirling way of stars that pass -
Seek, then, for this is also sooth,
No word of theirs - the cold star-bane
Has cloven and rent their hearts in twain,
And dead is all their human truth.
WB Yeats
(None other).
No learning from the starry men,
Who follow with the optic glass
The whirling way of stars that pass -
Seek, then, for this is also sooth,
No word of theirs - the cold star-bane
Has cloven and rent their hearts in twain,
And dead is all their human truth.
WB Yeats
(None other).
Afternoon dip. Nana nap. A bit of bliss right there.
a cartoon teddy bear is sleeping on a bed with a cell phone on its head .
ALT: a cartoon teddy bear is sleeping on a bed with a cell phone on its head .
media.tenor.com
December 26, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Afternoon dip. Nana nap. A bit of bliss right there.
Someone was paying attention to give me a Yeats poetry book for Christmas. And someone else to give me a Snoopy diary. Pointers to how multi-faceted / conflicted my personality?
December 26, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Someone was paying attention to give me a Yeats poetry book for Christmas. And someone else to give me a Snoopy diary. Pointers to how multi-faceted / conflicted my personality?
Two American words I’ve never been able to accommodate either in an adjacent way or fully accepting as reasonable Americanese. There are other words, but for me these two words are probably uppermost: Bangs. Diapers.
December 22, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Two American words I’ve never been able to accommodate either in an adjacent way or fully accepting as reasonable Americanese. There are other words, but for me these two words are probably uppermost: Bangs. Diapers.
Christmas Past
kaymckenziecooke.com/2025/12/21/c...
kaymckenziecooke.com/2025/12/21/c...
Christmas Past
All my early memories of Christmas seem to have rolled into one big memory – Mum decorating the ceiling with strips of red, white and green crepe paper draped maypole fashion from the kitchen…
kaymckenziecooke.com
December 20, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Christmas Past
kaymckenziecooke.com/2025/12/21/c...
kaymckenziecooke.com/2025/12/21/c...
open.substack.com/pub/seasoned...
Word from a friend in the UK about life for brussel sprout growers in winter, after a lean season dogged by drought. Plus a window on adjacent cottage industries - in this case, fermenting.
Word from a friend in the UK about life for brussel sprout growers in winter, after a lean season dogged by drought. Plus a window on adjacent cottage industries - in this case, fermenting.
Friday ferment #25: win a place on a fermenting workshop in 2026
Why I’m cross about 5p sprouts and an AMA next Monday
open.substack.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:30 PM
open.substack.com/pub/seasoned...
Word from a friend in the UK about life for brussel sprout growers in winter, after a lean season dogged by drought. Plus a window on adjacent cottage industries - in this case, fermenting.
Word from a friend in the UK about life for brussel sprout growers in winter, after a lean season dogged by drought. Plus a window on adjacent cottage industries - in this case, fermenting.
Yay. I’m all for establishing Murihiku on the literary map. Two recent books out that feature Ruth Dallas, the Manapouri book nominated by Steve Braunias as best illustrated, an Elizabeth Knox novel - all add weight to books featuring my turakawaewae. I tipu ake ahau ki Murihiku.
December 16, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Yay. I’m all for establishing Murihiku on the literary map. Two recent books out that feature Ruth Dallas, the Manapouri book nominated by Steve Braunias as best illustrated, an Elizabeth Knox novel - all add weight to books featuring my turakawaewae. I tipu ake ahau ki Murihiku.
Playing Favourites kaymckenziecooke.com/2025/12/13/p...
Playing Favourites
This photo was taken last year at Christmas Eve’s Midnight Mass in St Joseph’s Cathedral. I enjoy a little bit of iconography. It reminds me of attending Mass as a kid in country Cathol…
kaymckenziecooke.com
December 13, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Playing Favourites kaymckenziecooke.com/2025/12/13/p...
Scribbled Notes In An Old Notebook kaymckenziecooke.com/2025/12/10/s...
Scribbled Notes In An Old Notebook
From our garden – orange teapot and green chives THIS IS WHERE I MAKE USE OF SCRIBBLED NOTES IN AN OLD NOTEBOOK: Aids To Looking Younger: (Practice in the mirror first). Lift your eyebrows to…
kaymckenziecooke.com
December 10, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Scribbled Notes In An Old Notebook kaymckenziecooke.com/2025/12/10/s...
Seagulls above our house being blown off course. I worry they’ll break a wing.
December 7, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Seagulls above our house being blown off course. I worry they’ll break a wing.
Hearing Val McDermid on a podcast saying how walking beside water’s great for writers, just as I was walking beside water, which was kinda neat. She said that any water was good, something about the movement & the light - even if it was just ‘a wee bun’. Took me a minute but of course! ‘Wee burn’.
December 7, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Hearing Val McDermid on a podcast saying how walking beside water’s great for writers, just as I was walking beside water, which was kinda neat. She said that any water was good, something about the movement & the light - even if it was just ‘a wee bun’. Took me a minute but of course! ‘Wee burn’.
I remember on hot days like this one, us kids begging our parents to take us to the river for a swim. We just took it for granted the water was clear enough. We never had to check if ‘we can see our toes’. #Waikaia-MatauraRivers
December 7, 2025 at 2:33 AM
I remember on hot days like this one, us kids begging our parents to take us to the river for a swim. We just took it for granted the water was clear enough. We never had to check if ‘we can see our toes’. #Waikaia-MatauraRivers
Spotify reckons I have the musical taste of a 24 yr old. I know I don’t like how 24-yr olds drive but have no idea what they listen to. Spotify said that my taste was hard to define, which I feel super stoked about. Their My Biggest Music Listening Day take made me wonder if I was asleep at the time
December 7, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Spotify reckons I have the musical taste of a 24 yr old. I know I don’t like how 24-yr olds drive but have no idea what they listen to. Spotify said that my taste was hard to define, which I feel super stoked about. Their My Biggest Music Listening Day take made me wonder if I was asleep at the time
Gonk. Hand-sewn (badly) by moi (KFM) 1974.
December 6, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Gonk. Hand-sewn (badly) by moi (KFM) 1974.
Despite the Weather, Summer Didn't Disappoint; Looking Back: January - February, 2025 kaymckenziecooke.com/2025/12/02/d...
Despite the Weather, Summer Didn’t Disappoint; Looking Back: January – February, 2025
JANUARY: A walk to the beach 2025 started off with an extended family holiday at Kakanui with a little bit of sun and lots of summer breeze. 13 of us gathered together for three days of family fun …
kaymckenziecooke.com
December 2, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Despite the Weather, Summer Didn't Disappoint; Looking Back: January - February, 2025 kaymckenziecooke.com/2025/12/02/d...
That feeling when they’ve survived over 3 hours of surgery. It’s like they’ve come back from the dead tbh.
November 26, 2025 at 3:49 AM
That feeling when they’ve survived over 3 hours of surgery. It’s like they’ve come back from the dead tbh.
Southern Charm kaymckenziecooke.com/2025/11/21/s...
Southern Charm
I had the good fortune to travel south to Waihōpai Invercargill this week. Back to the province of Murihiku Southland where I grew up. On any trip south there’s always a feeling of returning …
kaymckenziecooke.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Southern Charm kaymckenziecooke.com/2025/11/21/s...
Excited for a J&K On the Road Again venture happening in Feb 2026. We have a rural north Otago hotspot in our sights.
November 10, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Excited for a J&K On the Road Again venture happening in Feb 2026. We have a rural north Otago hotspot in our sights.
England With Tea & Cake kaymckenziecooke.com/2025/11/09/e...
England With Tea & Cake
Nearly a decade ago now … this visit of mine to catch up with my friend Chrissie in England. Here we are outside St Pancras Railway Station just before we enjoyed a high afternoon tea there w…
kaymckenziecooke.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:48 AM
England With Tea & Cake kaymckenziecooke.com/2025/11/09/e...