Finding HopeMay 2026 in Photos
Posted on June 1, 2026
TW: mentions of depression and pet loss/grief.
As I’ve said in previous posts, I love a good photo challenge and I really liked the prompts posted for May: I felt like they allowed for more creativity than some of the previous months have (hence why I didn’t end up doing or finishing them) and, as a result, I enjoyed the challenge a lot more. I started the month in a really deep bit of depression so it wasn’t the worst thing for me to have something to do each day, even if it was as simple as finding something to take a photo off, and then, as I came out of that pit, it served as a good way to remember what a very hectic but also really special month…
Sooty, The Littlest Kitten
Posted on May 24, 2026
TW: sick pet, pet death, pet loss, pet grief, medical environments, medical equipment, etc.
Several weeks ago now, I got home late, high on the adrenaline of an incredibly fun and productive day in the studio to find the youngest in my family of cats, Sooty, collapsed in the garden, lethargic and clearly in pain. Despite having just driven for two hours, my Mum and I bundled her up in the cat blanket and got back in the car, headed for the out of hours vet. We arrived at about ten o’clock and she was whisked away, having only gotten more distressed during the drive. I wasn’t in denial – it was clear that something was wrong – but I was trying not to jump to the worst case scenario, at least until we had more information. I didn’t want to torture myself unnecessarily, especially since we didn’t know how long it would be before someone came back to give us an update. My hope, which I felt wasn’t desperately unrealistic, was that she’d eaten something bad for her or something like that and that dehydration from lying in the sun for who knows how long had worsened her condition; I hoped that, perhaps, if that dehydration could be resolved relatively easily, then whatever the bigger problem was wouldn’t be quite as serious as it appeared. Looking back, I don’t know if that was reasonable or unreasonable but I was just trying to get through each minute of waiting for an update.
ALICE (Music Video) by Erin LeCount: A Very Emotional Analysis
Posted on May 12, 2026
TW: non-graphic discussions of eating disorders, mental health, trauma, hospitals, and therapy.
If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you’ll already know how much I love music and storytelling and songwriting, more than anything in the world: I love diving into the work of others and I love writing my own songs and nothing brings me more joy. I’ve been listening to Erin LeCount for over a year now and while I’ve been working on a broader piece about her songwriting and posting fun little EP analyses on TikTok (here and here), I’ve also been wanting to write about her most recent music video, for the song ‘ALICE,’ ever since it came out because it had such a profound impact on me. But between trying to unravel all of my thoughts around it and life stuff flying at me left, right, and centre, I just haven’t been able to get everything down with any sort of coherence. But now that The PAREIDOLIA Shows are about to happen and Erin has posted about having “something very special” planned for the performance of ‘ALICE,’ I wanted to get all of my thoughts down before I see it, before it can potentially change the way I feel about the song – I already know that I will only love it more (and maybe there will be a Part II to this post) but how I feel about it now is so precious to me that I wanted to document those feelings alongside analysing different elements of the video.
Of the songs on Erin LeCount’s latest EP, PAREIDOLIA, the song ‘ALICE’ didn’t immediately jump out to me as a favourite, not with ‘MACHINE GHOST’ and ‘DON’T YOU SEE ME TRYING?’ clamouring for my attention, competing for the top spot in my ranking. Those two songs immediately clicked for me and I felt them so deeply that it took me a while to start unpacking ‘ALICE’ and all of the layers in the lyrics and the storytelling.
Finding Hope 