@astralfrancisco
@Converge fan. Plays 🎹 in Spheres Of Resonance and in S.O.R. spin-off band Outsider Songs. Poet, artist, musician & loon. USE YR IMAGINATION! (they/them accurate but he/him is okay) https://linktr.ee/paulfrancisco
Soft pink blossom flowers clustered along a branch, with deeper pink centres and fine stamens, set against a pale blurred background.
“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” - Marcel Proust (1871-1922). #ThursdayThought
Comparison is the thief of joy. We are all unique, all different. Welcome yourself, however you are with nonjudgemental compassion, & kindness, then not only is however you find yourself perfectly okay & workable, but you also don't lose that sweetness that always rejoices in others joy. 🌷🌺🌻🪻🪷💕
I am a weed, popping up in unexpected places. Life constantly trying to make me smaller. Not overly bonny like a daisy or bright sun like a dandelion. But I know someone who gently moves around me, nurtures me with things that help me thrive. To them I am a flower..
#vssdaily weed
#vss365 Bonny
"To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life."
~ Robert Louis Stevenson
The Small Meadows in Spring
🎨 Alfred Sisley (1880)
A square collage of nine close-up photographs of spring flowers in soft natural light against blurred green backgrounds. The blooms are mostly yellow and white and include cowslips, several varieties of daffodil and narcissus, a white daisy with a golden centre, a glossy winter aconite bloom with a green ruff, a bright yellow leopard’s bane daisy-like flower, and a starry lesser celandine. The arrangement creates a cheerful patchwork of early spring blossoms.
In Norse mythology the goddess Freya is associated with the return of spring. It is said that as she wanders over the earth shaking her curls, spring flowers flow from her golden tresses and a warm breeze is created by the swishing movement of her green cloak. #LegendaryWednesday
It's hard to believe that just 15 years ago, this was virtually empty space, with none of the native trees, epiphytic mosses, yellow flag, reed buntings, bullfinches, or other life now present, and increasing in diversity year on year.
Rewilding is how we reverse nature loss in Ireland.
A gentle full stop to the day.
Weary on the meadow path, surrendering the day’s unmet expectations, a ladybird stopped me in my tracks.
Ladybirds are made to hold the light — their tiny shields catching sun and reflecting it back.
As though the whole day were gathered there.
Enough. Full stop.
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
Excellent analysis by Carole Cadwalladr of what we are currently facing.
To restore democracy and create a fairer, safer, greener world, we need massive taxes on the ultra-rich. As in the 1940s. People get confused about this. The main purpose of such taxes is *not* to raise revenue. The point is to stop the few dominating the many. It's an essential democratic measure.
Drifting off to...
• Sara Teasdale •
Such wonderful news!
Christ, the state of supermarket potatoes these days! Every man jack of them riddled with blemishes & befoulments. “Grown in Scotland” were you? By “Mark Smeaton”? TO WHAT END?
Enjoyed listening to this today, written by a friend of mine from York. Really well put together and it’s available FREE!
"Sometimes, carrying on, just carrying on, is the superhuman achievement."
~ Albert Camus
Le Moulin de la Galette (1886)
🎨 Vincent Van Gogh
Venerable Thubten Chodron. 🥀🌻🪻
"The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof."
~ Barbara Kingsolver
#InternationalWomensDay2026
🎨 Eduard Niczky (1893)
Collage about folklore of quaking grass. A carved wooden mouse sits on a stump beside photographs of quaking grass (Briza media) showing delicate, heart-shaped seed heads trembling on slender stems, alongside a vintage botanical illustration of Briza media from Plate 380 of Atlas de poche des plantes des champs, des prairies et des bois (1891) by Amédée Masclef.
In Yorkshire the quaking grass Briza media, with its heart-shaped seed heads that tremble in the breeze, was known as “trimmling-Jock”. Country belief held that bringing a stem indoors kept mice away:
“A trimmling-jock in t’ house,
And you weeant hev a mouse.”
#FolkloreSunday
What does it mean to truly be in this present moment? My latest free post on Substack.
open.substack.com/pub/begininw...
“A country that can instantly fund endless wars but debates every dime for healthcare and education doesn't have a budget issue--it has a values issue."
A billion dollars a day going towards the war in Iran so far.
A butterfly blessing. On a grey, drizzly day I find myself reflecting on a brimstone sunbathing on the wall yesterday. Said to have given all butterflies their name — from Anglo-Saxon buttor-fleoge, “butter-fly.” Folklore claimed they slipped into dairies to steal cream — fairies, perhaps.
Crucial and powerful essay by @virginiaheffernan.bsky.social. Lest we forget.
www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-bi...
Poems for Lent (Day 15)
• William Wordsworth •
For anyone who would like the clip (including George).
May all beings overcome low self-esteem and sadness by reflecting on their own goodness.
Goodnight everyone look after yourself.
Gently read...
• Wendell Berry •
The end game is Armageddon and The Second Coming - they have literally said so.
Ha!
Brilliant!
This is a very important point that I wish more people realised.
