I want to pin a thread of my writing, that I plan to add to as it comes. Here it goes. My first book: Ragged: Spiritual Disciplines for the Spiritually Exhausted amzn.to/4l40Lps

My old drama teacher died. He was amazing. I just watched the funeral via a link. My neighbour who had just popped in watched it too & my husband. Strange sitting in Wales watching my teacher’s funeral who taught me in a school in London. A school report from him in 1989.

“My books are my daily refuge.” Wendell Berry

Building a home library for your children is one of the most important things you can do.

Happy Birthday to THLAS and all who join in. It's raining here in South London so that's a cue to select a decent pen, some creamy paper and refill the coffee maker.

The written word is always there to read again and again. My family letters by their own hand are precious. They took time to write ✍️ to me over the years. They are no longer here but I can read their letters any time I wish.

Shannon Kent was a trailblazing intelligence collector whose unmatched talent and drive led her into the most dangerous corners of the world during the Global War on Terror. She enlisted into the Navy in late 2003, two years after graduating high school. Her passion for learning foreign languages made her a natural fit for her role as a cryptologist. At the Defense Language Institute, she became fluent in Arabic, but on her first tour to Iraq, her immense people skills meant that she was soon working closely with US and Iraqi counterterror forces. Soon she was going outside the wire on missions to capture or kill high value targets using intelligence that she herself had helped develop. Shannon never let up, pushing harder and harder for more training, more deployments, more impact. Within a few years she was selected for one of the most elite but obscure units within the Department of Defense. It was there that she got to know her future husband, Joe Kent. Following her fourth tour, they built a life together, having two sons, Colt and Josh. Joe continued to deploy, and Shannon pursued a new career as a psychologist, intent on helping the operators and veterans that she had worked so closely with over the years. Shannon’s fifth overseas tour was unexpected, but despite being a mother of two now, she didn’t try to back out. This time she went to Manbij in northern Syria, where she worked to track down ISIS leader Abu Bakr aI-Baghdadi. It was there on January 16th, 2019, that she and three other Americans were killed on a crowded street during a mission. Shannon’s legacy was one of a cryptologist, a human intelligence collector, a warrior, a wife, and a mother. For episode 147 of the Spycraft 101 podcast I spoke with Shannon’s husband Joe Kent about her life, her work, her drive, and her humanity. The episode is available now. #sf #army #navy #specialforces #cryptology open.spotify.com/episode/50R…

Happy #PostboxSaturday from this hardworking trio: a pair of ERII pillars and an OG parcel box. They’re doing the heavy lifting for the former Gravesend General Post Office (1850), currently operating a skeleton service as a Customer Service Point. 💌 @letterappsoc

Good morning, Happy #PostboxSaturday 📮💌 Always lovely to see a familiar face when visiting the Hospital 📮🥰 The Royal Derby, from a few weeks ago 📮 @letterappsoc