Gentle routine resumes with our readings: Bede, Pepys, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Book of Saints, closing with some Bijan Omrani

Listener mail is warmly welcomed 🙋‍♀️Good evening, I would be so honoured if you would join me for a long half an hour of gentle ponderings and readings, as we sit in a Dorset garden, and rejoice in the big skies and merry crows, while grieving the flight of the swifts to warmer lands. Let’s hope the fledglings survive, to return next year to the golden sheltered eaves of Sherborne School. Thank you to dear Bijan Omrani for permitting me to read from his stunning book ‘God is an Englishman’.  Thank you dear Michele for the thoughtful present which I will always cherish, and for the lovely messages, including from Anne.  I wish you well on your journey to happier lands. .We can’t always dictate the direction of the journey we are on, but we have much power over the small, daily steps that we take.  Tiny decisions: to spend ten minutes a day reading before getting dressed; five minutes each evening sitting outside to catch the first stars and bat; to not say or do anything that casts shame or blame on another person: all these things we can do.  Goodnight and best wishes 🦉 🐦‍⬛ 🦇  Support the showGretel le Maître likes to look for the beauty and curiosities in life, one day at a time.  She shares with you snippets from books about history, art and literature and regularly takes you on adventures to new locations, to explore churches, cathedrals and architecture.  We’ve reached over 80,000 downloads.  Don’t try to listen in order, unless you’re very committed.  Dip in and out, choosing an episode based on the title information.  Whether you are interested in history, literature, poetry or one-to-one chatting, I try to give you something that will interest you.  This is a podcast for the curious, the kind and - possibly - the suffering or lonely.  Historian Tom Holland is the Honorary Patron of this podcast.  Thank you Tom🙏 Gretel invites you to accompany her as she navigates the world a day at a time;  the podcast is unscripted, it’s ad-free.Gretel loves the world and history, architecture, literature and people. And so is determined to walk this path with light footsteps and with humour and warmth.  Let’s gather up the beautiful things and ponder them in our hearts.Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes.  I would be so grateful if you would spare the time to give me a kind review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😬☺️🥴Previous guests include  historian Tom Holland; Sir Richard Eyre; Actors Guy Henry and Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Writer David Willem; Author Nicola Cornick; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela T...