I wanted to post this New Year’s Day, but hey ho! I was sitting in a coffee shop in Bromborough a few weeks ago one Sunday morning with the plan afterwards to go for my usual walk near Thornton Hough, but it was TEEMING outside, so I thought I’d stay where it was warm and cosy and write a little review of the past year. Not something I’ve ever done, but just thought it’d be fun. So, here we go…

Although it’s likely a teeny thing to most folk, winning the WSA 2025 People’s Choice Award (confirmation here) was definitely a highlight of the year. Selling pictures is always a bit of a highlight never mind winning anything. It’s given my confidence a bit of a lift, so I’ve got some other pics on the go now with the hope of having them done for next years WSA exhibition, limited as I am with my current living situation (but still very grateful for it after last years eviction).

Another highlight was finally finishing Spell Bound and having it accepted into the Willaimson’s 2025 Open. I’ve had many kind words said about it and, again, helps very much with confidence, so thank you everyone who gave it the thumbs up and voted for it. I didn’t win the Kriterion Award (the people’s vote), but was pleased to see that the winner was I Spied A Peacock by Judy Musselle. If I was going to lose to any painting there, I would have chosen that one, so congratulations to Judy.

Not sure I’ve mentioned, but I did do a few websites and their accompanying social media graphics which took up a fair bit of my time this year. A good friend of mine has created an app for missing persons, the site for which I did being here if you wanna see the UK version. The app itself (or the idea for it) is going through a massive upgrade which may (hopefully) be a global thing. We’ll see.

Seeing Agnes Obel in London at The Royal Albert Hall in late September with my cousin Elaine was just wonderful and was the sort of thing that, as much as I wanted it to last, slipped through my fingers like dry sand, but maybe it was its ephemeral nature made it all the more magical. Thinking about it, I should’ve done a post about it. Ah well, here’s a few photo’s I took of my few days in the capital, and yes, that’s Agnes at the piano amongst a forest of heads 😁 She did 3 new songs (Laymelli, Faustian Deal, and Gemini) and I can’t wait to hear the studio versions. I love Agnes (sorry girls! 😂).

Oh, and while I was in London, I paid a visit to the grave of my fave artist John William Waterhouse at Kensal Green Cemetery. It’s been restored since I was last there about 15 years ago and I wasn’t overly impressed with the result, truth be told. It looks a bit of a mess and they’ve removed the original urn that sat at the foot of the headstone. The image below is how it used to be, the following 2 from my recent visit. But, a recent search on the web says it was restored late this year, so I guess I must’ve caught it just before it was finished? I’ll look into it. Anyway, I thought it such a curious thing to think of Waterhouse’s paintings being worth millions and adored by many art lovers around the world and yet his grave is such a simple, unadorned thing and a bit difficult to find to boot!

A sad farewell to my lovely aunty Dinah, one of the last of my aunts and uncles from the Scottish side of my family. As Dinah spent most of her life in London, I sadly never saw too much of her, but will always remember her with much fondness and I know she’s deeply missed by her family 💖

A sad goodbye, too, to The Courtyard Coffee Shop at Brimstage which closed its doors for the last time Dec 13th, a place I’ve been popping into for a number of years now and which I’m missing already, always being at the end of my usual walk through the fields and bridleways from Thornton Hough. Sitting outside in the morning sunshine on warm clear days doodling ideas in my sketchbook will always be fondly remembered, so thank you to Sandie, Tim and girls for making it what it was. Feels like losing a tooth! Ugh 😕

I don’t get to the flicks very often, but my son treated me to an evening out to the cinema at Cheshire Oaks for my birthday August past, and we watched The Life of Chuck. Loved it! So much so, I asked him to get if for me for Christmas and I watched it again that night. There aren’t many Stephen King stories that have been turned into genuinely good movies (Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption being wonderful exceptions), but The Life of Chuck is definitely one of them. I won’t say too much about it, but the story works backwards and is, as some of the reviews have pointed out, ‘life-affirming’ in the way that recognition of our own mortality can be. I succeeded (well, mostly! 😋) in not balling my eyes out a number of times through the film. A 3rd viewing is due, I think.

And now, for the first time ever, you lucky folks get to see what books I’ve read over the year! As I kinda like writing, I’ll read a broad range of things to try and learn from, even though they may not be necessarily what I’m into. So I’ll read horror, romance, crime, non-fiction, children’s etc. If it’s written well, then I’ll read it, but that’s not always the case of course, so some get ditched. I also like the exploration of ideas, even if (and maybe especially if) those ideas are way out there. As I get older, I find the truth is more likely to be way out there than in the mainstream. Just saying 🙃

Anyway, here ya go:

The Vanishing of Aveline Jones – Phil Hickes

Tuning the Human Biofield – Eileen McKusick

Elatsoe – Darcie Little Badger

The Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien

The Dark is Rising – Susan Cooper

Electric Body, Electric Health – Eileen McKusick

Scarlett & Ivy: The Dance in the Dark – Sophie Cleverly

He Loved Me Some Days. I’m Sure He Did – Charlotte Eriksson

The Two Towers – J.R.R. Tolkien

The Absence – Budgie

Always Remember – Charlie Mackesy

Rewitched – Lucy Jane Wood

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – Kate DiCamillo

Brother Eagle, Sister Sky – Susan Jeffers

The Skull – Jon Klassen

The Power of Now – Eckhart Tolle

Potentiate Your DNA – Sol Luckman

The Magic Place – Chris Wormell

Love All The People – Bill Hicks

Wizards & Witches – Time Life Books

Anastasia – Vladimir Megre

The Haunting Season: Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights – 8 different authors

The Essential Collection – Neville Goddard

A Wee Few Thoughts

I loved The Vanishing of Aveline Jones, Phil Hickes’ 3rd in the series, the previous 2 I loved as well. I really hope he does more.

Eileen McKusick’s 2 books were wonderful and I’m planning on re-reading them. I feel like they’ve finally helped me come to a better understanding about the difference between what we call soul and spirit, terms I’ve often used interchangeably and, I think, that many others do to. But I won’t go into that here.

My re-read of The Lord of the Rings has definitely been worth it. I first read it in the mid-90’s but it kinda passed me by: I was so disappointed after The Hobbit being one of my best reading experiences ever. But I’ve started on the 3rd of the trilogy now, The Return of the King, and I’m enjoying it so much more.

I loved Kate DiKamillo’s book, too. Full of heart and simply, beautifully written (it is a kids book after all), but maybe that was part of its charm. The ending…erm…made me cry. (There, I’ve said it! 😋).

The Power of Now has deepened my practice of being mindful and present and is definitely recommended if that’s your thing. I tried reading this book some years ago but I guess I wasn’t ready for it at the time and ditched it, but I heard about it a number of times in a short space of time, earlier in the year, so I guess it was calling to me.

The Bill Hicks book…..well, Bill was Bill and BOY do I wish he were around today to comment on today’s nonsense. A great mind and greatly missed.

I read Rewitched ‘cos the girl who wrote it was from Bebington and went to Wirral Grammar. It wasn’t bad, though I don’t think I’ll read the follow-up, but good on her for putting herself out there and finding some success with her debut novel.

Lastly, I’ll just leave you with this wonderful song my friend Dave put me onto recently called Waters of March by Antonio Carlos Jobim, though here I’ve put up my fave version by Art Garfunkel released in 1975. As many of us are likely looking already to the more temperate climes of Spring, the following, beautiful refrain from the chorus is more than apt:

And the riverbank talks of the waters of March
It’s the end of all strain, it’s the joy in your heart.

Oh, and you may have to watch this on YouTube itself as some browsers (like mine) don’t show it as embedded. If yours is the same, just click on the ‘Watch video on YouTube’ message below.

 

 

Well, Happy New Year, one and all. Let’s see what 2026 brings.

I’m outta here,

Jimbob ☺️

P.S. Btw, the image of the fox at the top of the page is an old pic I did, but not one I’ve uploaded to the site, so I thought I’d stick it in here. It’s still Winter, after all!

 

P.P.S.

I feel I’ve got to say something about the planned introduction of digital ID’s here in the UK (and I’m going to add this now to all my posts from now on until this insanity is defeated). It’s imperative for our freedom in this country, and indeed the world at large, that we say ‘no’ to these digital ID’s. Otherwise we’re just allowing an invisible prison to be built around us all the while believing ourselves to be free, like rats in a maze, free to roam wherever the little plastic tunnels allow them to go.

I strongly encourage you to watch the following 2 videos:

The Agenda: Their Vision – Your Future

FINAL WARNING: Dr. Mike Yeadon

It’s not just our own lives, but that of our children and our children’s children ad infinitum. I’m currently writing more about this stuff, so keep an eye out 😊