Clare Gaylard Glass 

I found the following Emily Dickinson poem myself, many years ago, and gradually hunted out (without money for books or the wonderful/terrible internet), her considerable canon of poetry. There is a special sense of ownership that comes with personal discovery.

After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs –                                                                                               The stiff Heart questions ‘was it He, that bore,’

Art by Lizzie Gaylard, I will declare an interest, we are related, Magpie and Me, Market Hill, Framlingham.

I have always been fascinated by what goes on under the surface: substructure, intrigue, undercurrents, architectural underpinnings, skeletons and subtexts. So when I find an object like this partial rabbit skull, it feels like a treasure and a key Also because nature round here usually  so efficiently disposes of such items. It is beautiful to me.

I'm liking art by Zachari Login.

Three books for my birthday today, gifts that keep giving.

At Easter we visited The Ashmolean in Oxford and found an exhibition of Kenneth Coates art. He is a bit of a Renaissance Man on a fine scale, Jewellery, precious stones and metals, fine drawing, sculpture and the inspiration behind each piece gathered into one complete object. Top right.

Artist Marina Bychkova expresses herself through the unusual medium of iconic porcelain dolls, each one an idea or story given shape through her incredible skills with a dizzying range of media. I'm waiting but happily for this one as it's a signed copy! 

Les Tres Riche Heures de Duc du Berry: my parents had the wonderful cloth-bound facsimilie, each page gilded. The fine detail and scope.. God casting the rebel angels down to Hell.... utterly fascinated me as a child. Another sibling has the family copy, now I have my own.

There is a great little second-hand book shop in Helmsley near Rievaulx Abbey. I beat my daughters to this beautiful little 1945 Penguin hardback edition. I have always been drawn to miniatures and fine detail, I didnt realise that the word for this work: 'limning' derived from 'Illuminating' as in the illumination of manuscripts.

Valentino's Spring 2014, I'd almost sell my soul to be twenty again and have the chance to wear a thing like that. 

From a local fund-raiser, those colours.

One of my daughters wanted to go to school on World Book Day as Death from Terry Pratchett's 'Reaper Man'. My other daughter not only made her an amazing skull mask, but on request, a pocket sized Death of Rats. If I do nothing else useful I will have helped to bring this glorious thing into the world..

Creatures from El fill me with delight, each character deserves its own story or mythology and Ellen is an artist whose studio I would dearly like to visit.

A slightly tardy shout-out to my remarkable mother Kate Brown. Had seven children and a husband with a heart condition, yet was and continues to be an ever-abundant source of inspiration and creativity. To which it would be hard to do justce

Words fail me a bit when I look at Maskull Lassere's work, best just go to his website and gaze in awe instead. www.maskulllasserre.com

A splendid, unsolicited gift of a drawing and a bone (we exchange these things) from sharp-eyed and skilled young nephew Owen.

Love this, 'Tattoo and Taboo' Korean artist Kim Joon. I particularly like the fractured components and the pattern extending inside.

So my sister sent me this and called it 'Glasspunk'..... we grew up a bit.

I wanted to get a photo of the stack of shells on our garden table as the colours suddenly jumped due to a shower of rain. My scrapbook fell open in a perfect place.

Massive toadstools this year, washed out colours and an obliging moth on the window.

What a wonderful place this is. My neice showed me her own sketches of the very strange bird ladies (thanks Mia!) so I was delighted to stumble across them. I love the whimsy of the gold cat among the birds and the curious hand of Sabazius. I could happily spend days there drawing but its usually a couple of uneasy hours scratching out the odd sketch while chaperoning the children and their friends and racing back to check that they haven't been lost or stolen.

Saw this in London and not sure if it's a Banksy or not, the message seems a bit mild, the style is such common currency now.

Our good friend is one hundred years old today, that's a fairytale, historical, more-than-biblical sort of age. He loves animals and when his dearly loved dog died, he decided not to get another in case it outlived him. Some twenty-five years later we first got to know him as the kind gentleman who always has dog biscuits in his pocket. I'm pretty sure his particular friendship kept our small dog alive throught the trauma of losing a leg.

Lived through two world wars, served in the second, still independent, honourable, generous and aiming to make sense of his life. We salute you Mr Riches!