Vanessa (Ness) Thompsett

Powis Castle stands talll on top of a hill, daffodils grow in the garden below

The house at Bodnant Garden viewed across a large expanse of grass with daffodils blooming

Dyfryn Gardens with the house and daffodils bathed in sunshine

A child is stood on top of hay bales with the Welsh flag placed in them

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus | Happy St David’s Day

Here’s to Cymru! The nation’s language, traditions, culture, and the heritage that connects us. From dragons to daffodils, Wales’ story is told through the places we look after.

Photos: Powis Castle, Bodnant Gardens, Dyffryn Gardens, Chirk Castle.

Photo of a white human hand holding a little white cat paw against a black pillow and a floral pillow. Kitty's pink nose is also visible and very pretty.

Black and white photo of a white woman in a dark checkered coat, smiling at the camera and pointing to the beautiful medium haired tabby cat she cradles in her arms. The cat also looks at the camera.

My cats are totally fine but I've read about some devastating losses for others today. Hold your kitties. Celebrate them. Soak up every moment because our time with them is far too short. 💔

One of my favourite things about my dad and I is that I'll show him videos like this and he'll be like
"wouldn't that be a glorious pet"
"yeah"
"absolutely terrible beast to have in the house though"
"absolutely"
"we'd regret it"
"totally"
*pause*
"Still want one"
"Me too"

A new series of the Kitchen Cabinet kicks off at 10.30am on BBC Radio 4, the start of an (almost) unbroken 13 week run, and we begin at Zoe Lauglin’s institute of Making at UCL. Here she is with a display of her TKC experiments.

Someone's added flags for peace and pride to one of the Oxford roundabout lampposts 🥰

"What's your proposed business model?"
"Oh, I figured we'd catch people at the absolutely most despairing, lonely, vulnerable and deranged point in their life, and monetise the fuck out of protracting that state. Using AI."
"I'm in."

An ancient Egyptian figurine of a hedgehog blue in colour with dark blue or black bumps to represent the spikes

Happy #NationalHedgehogDay 🥺

This little Egyptian faience model of a hedgehog is from a tomb at Abydos, and was made around 1,500–1,300 BCE.

Hedgehogs had a favourable reputation in ancient Egypt, and were often seen as a symbol of rebirth and renewal of life.

In my ongoing attempts to give you a break from *gestures widely* THE HORRORS:

Let's talk about the utterly bizarre science of cats' purring.

Here's a weird starting point:
There are NO cats (Felidae) that can BOTH roar AND purr.

Cats that roar = genus Panthera
Cats that purr = genus Felis

Went to see 'Mercy' the other evening and, yeah, it was a decent action-thriller movie with sci-fi and the element of a protagonist who's mostly sitting down, great soundtrack, liked it, would watch again, etc.

However.

Couldn't get "He's NOT Judge Judy and executioner!" out of my head, could I.

that inkradio guy is such an annoying guy, he does this loads and does it SHAMELESSLY. awful character

We have an update on Charlie’s newfound love of printing.

Perhaps the surest sign of AI not being super intelligent is the amount of tailored scams targeting the finances of authors, which is as rewarding as trying to mug a seagull.

Inside this isolated rural church is a magnificent and potentially unique medieval treasure.

This is St Peulan's, Llanbeulan on Anglesey, which was founded in the 7th century.

1/8

I will always have a spot in my heart for RR, though :)

2026 thread of books read - I've missed doing this the last few years, so starting it up again :)

1. 'The Chrysalids', John Wyndham.

Onwards ❤️

This is the 15th year of #DuvetKnowItsChristmas, which is preposterous. Rules: if you find yourself dealing with unusual / claustrophobic / gaudy sleeping arrangements this Christmas Eve, share a picture with the world. Use the hashtag (with capitalisation) and cc me if you can be bothered.

It is EXHAUSTING not only being made responsible for coming up with new kinds of assignments for our students; it's also tedious reading op-eds that suggest the core problem is a crisis in teaching. But, as Chris and I lay out here, this isn't a crisis in teaching; it's an attack on learning.

Remember: It ys okaye to be lonelye. It ys okaye to feel lost. It ys okaye to be sad. It ys okaye yf nobody ys arounde. It ys okaye to have no plannes or just small plannes. It ys okaye to have big plannes that seem exhausting. It ys okaye to be a mess. Take care of thyself. Thou art amazinge.

Fun fact: when Michael Flatley drinks champagne he turns into Michael Bublé.

The ghostly world of M.R. James Best known for his horrifying tales of the supernatural, the author was inspired by his work as a medievalist and the spookiness of antique objects, writes Christina J. Faraday

‘Ask any curator, particularly if they work in an old building, and they often have strange stories to tell.’ And none more than M.R. James who drew deeply on his work as a medievalist and as director of the Fitzwilliam Museum for his ghostly tales, writes @cjfaraday.bsky.social

Oh no, I'm sorry. ❤️

Grey fluffy cat fast asleep in a basin on his back, legs in the air.

OK. I'll just go and wash my hands somewhere else, shall I?

a man wearing a party hat is drinking from a bottle Alt: A fella in a party hat blowing one of those party streamer things that unroll as you blow into them. Whether snakes give a merry toot when you do this to them isn't mentioned in the scientific literature. Yet.

Was told by a vet that you can 'probably' perform CPR on a snake, and all I could think was...

So here's something shitty: Apparently when they moved to Disney, all the Netflix Marvel shows got their subtitles redone, & so now, when you have English captions on, there are No English-Translated Subtitles for non-English dialogue.

Like… What the actual fuck is the good of that???

Four pictures of a ridiculous tuxedo baby who had no idea how pampered he was about to be. Look at his silly little face, he's got no clue about anything

5 years ago today, Pandemic Year. It had been a month since I opened my "side project" (lol) cat rescue in the spare room of my flat in London.

I saw an ad for a male kitten with "balance & walking problems" who urgently needed a home. And so it began. HAPPY SMOL PAUL DAY!