Hello! Here’s another of those seasonal blogs where I post stuff you don’t necessarily need to know.
The header image visible on the blog here is of November in the South Downs looking south towards Angmering.
Thanks to everyone who has viewed, commented on and liked my posts this year. Posting stuff on here is a joy for me and it’s really nice to have your questions and comments to deepen the narrative. These posts tend to get more comments than some of my most finely-sculpted photo or prose posts, so let’s see what you have this time.
![](https://danieljamesgreenwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/nfnp_fungi_aug2023-13.jpg?w=739)
Where have all the mushrooms gone?
Not a comment on a mycological crisis in the woods, but the content that seems to ‘drive traffic’ to this website. As some of you may have seen, I’ve set up a separate fungi blog/website for my mushrooms pics: www.fungifriday.co.uk
The Fungi Friday blog is a home for my fungi photos with a focus on southern England’s rich funga.
I created it for a couple of reasons. One the main motivations was enforced – social media like Twitter (RIP) and Instagram are moving away from photography and instead towards poorly functioning hate-posting for the latter, and TikTok-lite in the case of ‘The Gram’.
![](https://www.nectar360.co.uk/app/uploads/2023/03/smartshop.jpg)
Then there’s Threads, which reminds me of the ‘smartshop’ self-scanning interface from Sainsbury’s. It’s also owned by Meta/Facebook, which is not great.
The second reason was that constant mushroom content doesn’t really fit with a personal website with varied, landscape-related subject matter. I value bringing hand-written landscape writing to this website, which the fungi content is not. If I’m ever going to make it as a writer, I’ll need to spend more time working offline with a pen and paper, and typing it up later.
Another key point is that fungi are ‘hyper-diverse’ and there is a lot to cover. I’m aware that quite a few people read this blog through their email inbox, and a mushroom a day probably isn’t what you need (though to some people, that’s exactly what they need). I’d like to post more longer reads about fungi in the cultural sense, as I did in lockdown (2020-21).
Anyway, I hope FungiFriday.co.uk can last the pace, and I’ll be posting my autumn photos over these bleak midwinter months. Please do #LichenSubscribe if you have a WordPress account.
Music in 2023
My favourite album of 2023 (though released in 2022) is Blue Rev by Alvvays. You can watch a live studio set from them above. Molly Rankin is part of the famous Rankin Family, and her voice positively sings of her ancestry. After the Earthquake is the song I couldn’t stop listening to in the spring/summer and the album has such depth to it for something so rockin’ and short. They are a total joy. Check them out!
I also loved the latest album by Alex G, God Save the Animals.
![](https://danieljamesgreenwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/img_20230403_213505.jpg?w=739)
Favourite books this year
As mentioned in the spring, The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers has been one of the best books I’ve read in ages. It’s brutal, violent and bleak, which isn’t my thing, but it had that pull that keeps you wanting to know what’s going to happen next.
It’s also now been serialised (sort of) by the BBC. I haven’t watched it yet, mainly because I loved the book and I’m worried about how my ancestors will be represented (see previous image) on the small screen.
![](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fbooks%2F1408309021i%2F6421888._UY630_SR1200%2C630_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=094476a5c519fc21ac0f3874ec49c9dfe088fbd93c7b01ca3e6b8b790e67dd46&ipo=images)
Colm Tóibín has been one of my other favourite authors I’ve read this year. My Irish diaspora family seem to spend a lot of their time consuming Irish culture in books, films, TV and music. I know I’m getting older because I am now doing that. This year I read Brooklyn, The Magician, House of Names and The Blackwater Lightship by Tóibín. Those books aren’t all about the Irish, but Brooklyn tells the story of a young woman’s migration to New York from a rural Irish village. England has descended into extreme far-right territory with its political language around migration, which you are probably sick of hearing about. But reading about the stories of migrants is probably a helpful way to educate one another and those close to us about the plight of others.
![](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thephoenix.ie%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F11%2Fqueen-of-dirt-600x358.png&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=022be73a80c63cbca6ac79657b5bb558a5e8987f94d50262d166c1438a55be5b&ipo=images)
In other Irish lit, I also enjoyed reading all of Donal Ryan’s novels, especially The Queen of Dirt Island.
![](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fchelseahistoryfestival.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F08%2FBetweenChalkSea_featured.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=052f84d1d2dbee5ced63f81f2386cabe5bba93aa63354f1c70ea6207d4791b27&ipo=images)
Another book I really enjoyed was close to home – Between the Chalk and the Sea by Gail Simmons. Simmons walks a path from Southampton to Canterbury she translates from the Gough Map, visiting large areas of the South and North Downs along the way. I love this part of the world and am so lucky to be a few train stops away from either landscape. This is definitely a great Christmas present and a book that walkers will love, especially if you like how the landscape can be read to tell the story of its past.
Also shout out to Owls of the Eastern Ice, which is an astonishing book that’s been around for a while now. I loved it.
My favourite film of 2023 is obviously Barbie.
![](https://danieljamesgreenwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/e1cb738fc85c80b66268f1166adb0ed2-2015831365.jpg?w=736)
Thanks for reading and your support in 2023. Ciao for now!
– Daniel