Bitter roots

[dolorosa_12]

The sweltering, humid weather continues, so thank you very much to everyone who commented on my most recent Friday open thread post. There's some good advice about tricks to combat sleeplessness, and I learnt a lot, which I very much appreciate.

I had to go into Cambridge for some errands yesterday, and as usual when this happens, Matthias and I made a day of it. Central Cambridge itself was heaving with people, so we avoided it for the most part, instead walking out across the fields for 5km or so into Madingley, where we ate lunch at the pub/restaurant there, sitting outside under a canopy, eating cold seafood, asparagus with potato dumplings, and heirloom tomato salad, washed down with crisp, white wine. It was lovely and relaxing, and the walk, while short and mainly across flat lands, was made more challenging by the heat. I stuck up a photoset on Instagram.

Twitter has been actively triggering (and I do not use that word lightly) for me for similar reasons relating to at least three unrelated situations, and by Friday I realised I'd hit my absolute limit, and haven't been back since. I'm pretty good at avoiding the place for long stretches when I know it's necessary (the longest period probably lasted around nine months, a couple of years ago), so it's likely to be a significant period of time before I go back again. To calm down and restore some sense of equilibrium, I've been focusing on the sorts of Instagram accounts that I find soothing — a lot of cottagecore-ish stuff, and generally people who post beautiful things. Here is a short, but illustrative list:

westcountry_hedgelayer: a man who builds and restores traditional hedgerows in rural Britain

provencallife: a man who posts beautiful photos and videos from various parts of Provence

boroughchef: soothing cookery videos of vegetarian meals

redrubyrose: a woman who makes bags, wallets, purses and scarves using hand-dyed materials, with lots of photos of her inspirations from nature, and the process of creating the products

alysonsimplygrows: gorgeous photos of gardens, interiors, and renovations

momentsbyjemma: photos and reels of interiors, cooking and baking, gardens and farmland taken by a woman who lives on a working farm in the south coast of New South Wales in Australia

theswissshepherdess: breathtakingly beautiful photos and videos by a woman who, together with her husband, herds sheep, goats, cows and horses in the Swiss alps

The combination of the heat, and everything else, has left me feeling fairly uninspired when it comes to reading, but I've been working my way through rereads of the more 'summery' books in Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series: so far I've done the two set in a Cornish seaside village (Greenwitch and Over Sea, Under Stone), and I'm just about to pick up Silver on the Tree. The first two make me yearn for the seaside, which I suppose is unsurprising. Silver on the Tree will likely irritate me all over again with that ending (if you know, you know), but we always have fanfic, of which I have contributed my share of fix its to this particular canon.

I'll close off this post with a strong recommendation for the film that Matthias and I watched last night: Rye Lane, a romantic comedy about two young Black people in London, meeting in strange circumstances, telling each other their stories, revealing (and not revealing) truths about themselves, during a rambling, sweeping wander through the streets of London that in some way mirrors the rambling, sweeping way in which they both let one another into their lives. It's a glorious love letter to London — but a London seen through the eyes of an alternate universe version of Wes Anderson who is a Black, British, TikTok-using twentysomething, with a keen eye for the surreal and quirky. If you have Disney+, it should be available for you to watch as part of the subscription. It's compassionate and warm-hearted, made me laugh out loud in places, is sharply observed, and gorgeous to look at.

Comments

[oracne]

Rye Lane sound very lovely!

Thank you for the Insta links.

[dolorosa_12]

It's a lovely film, and I strongly recommend it if you have a way to access it. And I'm glad to hear you like the Instagram links!

[blackcatofmisery]

I'd not been on Twitter long enough to not know they have separate "For You" and "Following" feeds. The first one was awful to scroll through, so I've switched to my alternate "writing account" and avoid the first feed. Even then, I don't go on so much. It really has gotten overwhelming. For many reasons. It's just not a real good place anymore, but it's so widely used that it's kinda like Facebook and people you keep in contact with there. Can't avoid it.

I appreciate the list of Instagram accounts, particularly for the hedgelayer. I watched a really good series about reviving a working farm in various eras of British history, and at one point a hedgerow needed to be repaired. There are still hedgelayers who do it like it's been done for eons, and I found it fascinating. I love old fences. They worked. And they lasted, for the most part, with some pretty seamless repairs.

=^..^=~

[dolorosa_12]

'For You' is a cesspit, and it's only a recent thing — before that, it was possible to set your feed to be chronological, only people you followed, without 'recommendations,' and without seeing tweets that people you follow liked. Now, the 'Following' feed is like that, but the 'For You' tab is always there and can't be switched off. I hate it.

I'm glad you like the Instagram accounts. The hedgelayer is a new find of mine — I think someone else I follow recommended his account, and it was an instant follow for me! I really love seeing people still doing old crafts in the slow, old-fashioned way — I remember seeing similar videos once of Japanese craftspeople hand-dyeing kimono, making paper, and so on, and videos of elderly Italian women making pasta by hand in bulk. I find it very impressive, and simultaneously soothing.

[kore]

I know some people that tried to duplicate the old feed by just making a list of the people they were following, and checking that, but making it is kind of a pain and it sounds like you still get ads. And suggestions even.

[dolorosa_12]

Yeah, it sounds like a lot of work to get something that doesn't really solve the problem.

My issue isn't really the 'For You' tab or the ads, anyway; I don't use the 'For You' view of Twitter, and I block every ad that comes my way. My current problem is people I've actively chosen to follow currently (in at least three different and unrelated contexts) posting or retweeting or responding to stuff that's triggering trauma responses in me, meaning the only solution is to avoid Twitter, or stop following those accounts.

[blackcatofmisery]

There used to be some additional codes via browser plug-ins that could hide certain things, like I never cared for their recommended accounts. Since changing browsers, I can't remember what I'd used and haven't found an equivalent. ;; But it really is just not a good layout anymore. There's too much, and so much of it is stuff users do not care about, so it's kind of like using a site that's more ads than anything else. Kinda like reading magazines these days, actually.

Impressive and soothing is a really good way to describe process videos. I really love watching people making lace by hand. It's like the one craft I have absolutely no interest in, because of how complex it is, but seeing an old pro go at it and produce actual results so fast is incredible. Food shows can be fun, but the nice feeling really isn't the same.

[dolorosa_12]

Impressive and soothing is a really good way to describe process videos. I really love watching people making lace by hand. It's like the one craft I have absolutely no interest in, because of how complex it is, but seeing an old pro go at it and produce actual results so fast is incredible. Food shows can be fun, but the nice feeling really isn't the same.

The lacemaking sounds really cool!

I feel the same way about cooking shows, but for some reason short Instagram cooking videos (especially those that have no commentary, just music and/or the audio of the food being prepared) are extremely soothing to me!

[vriddy]

I'll have to keep an eye out for Rye Lane when the DVD comes out at the library! (...I'm assuming and hope that these movies are available outside of streaming at some point.)

Sorry Twitter's been so much to deal with, and good on you for noticing and stepping back. Every time I click out of carefully selected art tweets people send me, I end up regretting it. I can't handle the place at all anymore.

[dolorosa_12]

It was a great film! I hope they release it on DVD, but sadly that's no longer a given, particularly if something starts off on streaming services rather than getting a cinema release.

I can handle Twitter if — and only if — a certain set of circumstances align. Thankfully, I'm much better at recognising my own warning signs and stepping back before things reach breaking point.

[kore]

Rye Lane sounds neat!

Twitter....urgh. I try to curate my feed pretty carefully (friends, Marvel fannish stuff, museums, book stuff, NO political accounts) but the politics and nastiness creeps in anyway and I just don't want to support Elon Musk at all anymore. And there's just SO. MANY. ADS, and a lot of them are just weird now.

Ooh boy time to medicate the cat.

[dolorosa_12]

On Friday before I closed Twitter, almost every fifth tweet was an ad, and they were all weird crypto scams, 'financial advice' companies that seemed to be crypto scams, dodgy tech startups, and accounts that seemed to have paid Twitter to promote their music. I block every one of them as soon as they pop up, but as I say it was almost every fifth tweet. Elon Musk's Twitter!

Rye Lane, on the other hand, is delightful! If you have access to Disney+, I recommend it!

[chestnut_pod]

Greenwich is the perfect summer read! And, in particular, the perfect read for summer nights, I think. So much of the action takes place in the warm dark.

[dolorosa_12]

It's such a great book, and definitely my favourite of the series, although I'm not sure it's quite a summer read — for me it always seemed to take place at a time of year when Britain was colder and darker, with longer nights, perhaps in the spring. But I may be wrong.

It's definitely a book for nighttime, though — you're absolutely right about that!

[merit]

My instagram is always suggesting beautiful interior design. It is very inspiring and makes me ponder painting various walls shades of pink or blue or green.

[dolorosa_12]

I know, right? I end up following all these people who do large scale house renovations, and wishing I had the time, money and energy to do something comparable!

[svgurl]

Sounds like a nice way to spend the day! The pics look good, especially the trail. :)

Thanks for all the IG recs! I'm looking forward to checking them out.

[dolorosa_12]

It was a great way to spend the day, although a bit too warm for all the walking (even though it was a comparably easy walk — just 10km on very flat terrain).

I'm glad you like the Instagram recs! They're wonderful and calming.