Mary B

Photo of cream magnolia bud.

Photo of stone water course.

Spring.

The picture shows a needle made of bone, it resembles its modern descendants with an eye at one end and a tapered end.

Things used in everyday life are the real archaeological treasures!

This sewing needle was made from animal bone some 13,000 years ago.

Some designs simply don't need to be improved, because form and functions were perfectly matched from the start

Length: 5.6 cm

📷 Landesmuseum Württemberg 🏺

Detail from Landseer’s Man Proposes, God Disposes, 1864. A dark scene of one of two polar bears in the remains of the Franklin expedition. Arctic scene of fallen mast with ice and polar bear with a rib in his mouth. Painting. 

‘He once told me about polar bears - what solitary animals they are.’…
'Then what do polar bears exist for?’
‘Then what do we exist for?’ ~ Haruki Murakami.

Tomorrow for #BookWormSat we celebrate Landseer’s birthday with literature’s horses, dogs, deer, falcons and lions. Oh, and Polar Bears.

Inside the witch is a library of feral spirits, a hundred books that need not be written for their knowledge is best told by tree root and hedge blossom. Her living practice is a curation of wonders and wild wisdom. – #EmilyCBanting, 1982 #WitchSky

Some will claim phantoms patrol places of broken stone due to a persistence of pain. That ruins are haunted because shades are bound to them by trauma. Is it not possible that many ruins have their ghosts in the ordinary way, spectred for nothing more than once being home? – #CJosiffe #Ghosts

Oh yes!🐾

I've finally got see a copy of the Rev F G Lee's rare 'More Glimpses Of The World Unseen' (1876) but it was in a reading room so unfortunately I had to give it back. I like the cute little jack o'lantern on the front cover.
#PhantomsFriday #folklore #ghosts #BookChatWeekly #Victorian

Two gold hoop earrings with sculptural details - each has Eros riding a dove, a bird sacred to Aphrodite. The birds' wings, tail feathers and the down on their heads, as well as the wings of the Erotes are accentuated with beaded wire arranged in circles and long loops. Greek, Hellenistic, 3rd century BCE. Met Museum, New York (1995.539.9a, b)

These delicate, highly detailed gold hoop earrings depict winged Erotes riding doves. The dove, of course, was a sacred bird of Aphrodite (mother of Eros), symbolizing love, beauty, and fertility. 🏺 #ancientbluesky 1/

Greek, 3rd c. BCE. #MetMuseum
📸 me

In 2013 archaeologists uncovered the skeleton of a large dog at Leiston Abbey- locals claimed it as the remains of Black Shuck. However, scientific analysis indicated the skeleton belonged to an elderly male farm dog from the 18th century, carefully buried rather than feared… 🐾
#PhantomsFriday

Poster in green red and blue of a female face and flowing text

Bonnie MacLean, US artist known for her 1960s and 70s classic posters using an iconic psychedelic art style to promote the concerts of rock bands and other well known performers #womensart

Goodnight from the 400 bus to London, where Joan Gale is aware certain passengers seem to disappear without ever getting off. Goodnight from Charlie Merrick, worried he hasn’t done enough to prevent his sins from being recorded in the Bone Angel’s Book of Reckonings. Goodnight from Hookland.

Three Little Boars. Gaston Phoebus, Le Livre de la chasse, Paris ca. 1407. NY, Morgan, MS M. 1044, fol. 1v. #medieval #MedievalArt

Three Little Boars. Gaston Phoebus, Le Livre de la chasse, Paris ca. 1407. NY, Morgan, MS M. 1044, fol. 1v.
#medieval #MedievalArt

Photo of wren, description from ebird: ‘A small, warbler-like wren of Andean cloud forest. Plumage is gray and white with a barred tail and vent, brownish crown, and faint streaking on the head. When seen from below in poor lighting conditions, the barred tail is usually the best feature to look for. Stays high in the canopy and is almost always encountered with mixed-species flocks. Vocalizations are very high-pitched and include gravelly trills and siren-like whistles.’

Wren of the Day:
Grey-mantled Wren
📷 Mario Córdoba H.

Detail of a Roman tomb wall with a semicircular painted lunette showing faded red and blue figures on a white background.

New discovery: A large burial ground dating from the Early Imperial Age to Late Antiquity has been uncovered in Rome’s Ostiense Necropolis during pre-construction works.

cultura.gov.it/comunicato/2...

Observing the bird behaviour of two nesting heron birds. The heron on the right was flying back and forth collecting nesting material. When the heron returned to the nest, joy and love was exchanged.

The world is in need of a little more love. 🐦

#UKWildlife #Birds #Ornithology #GreyHeron #Nature #WildlifePhotography #Photography #Sonyalpha

All wise children in Hookland know that the gauge doesn't just measure the river at flood and drought, but tell you whether the brook is deep enough for Stay Belows to swim. – Stella Fleet #VOH

Collage with a realistic looking green plant with yellow flower against a black background

Oenothera Biennis, Common Tree Primrose. 1781, collage by Mary Delany (1700-1788),known for her botanical flower collages or 'paper-mosaicks' #WomensArt

Goodnight from Ben Knight, wondering if there’s a special god he can pray too that will reward him with Aurora Monster Scenes model kits. Goodnight from Clive Farley, sleeping in a burnt out Ford Consul on Gutridge waste, surrounded spirits curious about his dreamt terrors. Goodnight from Hookland.

This striking silk juban (under-kimono) from the Taishō era (1912–1926) is a bold example of Japanese design that bridges traditional folklore with a modernist aesthetic. The garment features a repetitive, large-scale motif of shishi-mai heads—the distinctive lion-dog masks used in traditional Japanese lion dances. The masks are rendered with expressive faces in shades of orange and brown, each trailing a long, stylized mane of flowing white hair that swirls across the fabric. These dynamic white forms are set against a vivid red background characterized by undulating, flame-like patterns, creating a sense of constant energy and movement. Small, circular crest-like symbols in light blue and yellow are scattered throughout the composition, adding a graphic, contemporary touch to the classical subject matter. The use of high-contrast colors and sweeping, fluid lines reflects the artistic innovation of early 20th-century Japan, turning a functional undergarment into a powerful canvas for cultural storytelling.

This silk juban is a striking example of early 20th century Japanese design that bridges traditional cultural motifs with modernist aesthetic sensibilities. The primary motif features shishi-mai heads - the distinctive lion-dog masks used in traditional Japanese lion dances . 1912-1926, Japan

We adorn buildings with lithic lookouts not just for their delivering of stern beauty, but because some atavistic element aches for protection. Soot=scarred they may be,, but we first set those stone spirits to watch what was beyond our own eyes to see. – #CLNolan, BBC National Programme talk, 1933

My photo shows part of a limestone wall panel carved in bas relief from the Fifth Dynasty mortuary temple of king Userkaf at Saqqara, Old Kingdom, 2465-2458 BC. It shows a Hoopoe, a crested bird with black and white wing pattern, and an ibis, with long curved beak, amongst papyrus plants in the marshes of the river Nile. My photo was taken in 2022 at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Lovely naturalistic relief of a Hoopoe and Ibis, carved by an Egyptian artisan some 4,500 years ago!

Limestone wall relief from the 5th Dynasty mortuary temple of Userkaf at Saqqara. Egyptian Museum, Cairo 📷 by me

#ReliefWednesday
#Archaeology

The approach to Dunadd Fort at the southern end of Kilmartin Glen in Argyll. Occupied since the Iron Age, the fort was a major centre for the Gaelic kings of Dál Riata from around AD 500 to AD 800. 📸 My own. #HillfortsWednesday #Dunadd #Argyll

A circular terracotta relief featuring a face with a wide grin and its tongue sticking out. The face is framed by wavy, snake-like hair.

A terracotta antefix with the head of Medusa, the snake-haired creature whose sight turns everyone to stone.
Medusa’s head was a popular motif and used to ward off any evil.
Antifixes were used to conceal the ends of the tiles that ran along the edge of roofs. Ca. 480 BC

📷 me

🏺

Spring is told in bulb bloom, wild garlic crowding. Spring is told in stretching shadows, the waking of ghosts. For the gentle kiss of the sun is a summoning. Whether at meadow edge or a town's neglected alley, few things can refuse it's call. – #EmilyCBanting, 1982

The witch knows that places weave themselves into her story with the dance of their shadows, the singing of their songs. She becomes aware this process is bidirectional. The witch walks the wood and it remembers her footfall, every conversation with its spirits. – #EmilyCBanting, 1982 #WitchSky

Painted image of a hare and white flowers in a golden frame

Liza Adamczewski (aka the Accidental Ecologist), contemporary fine artist living on a re-wilding farm in Wales who has created a series of 'Garden Icons' - inspired by local wildlife #WomensArt

Embroidered textile banner featuring the name Boadicea in gold letters and a golden chariot wheel motif

Suffrage banner commemorating Boadicea (or Boudica) the Britjsh warrior queen, designed in 1908 by Mary Lowndes #womensart

Goodnight from DI Callaghan, explaining to DS Nokes that the phrase ‘diabolic liberties’ has more than one meaning in the county. Goodnight from the painted lead soldiers in Neil Miller’s study, grandly pissed off to be fighting the battle of Hare Hill yet again. Goodnight from Hookland.

Painting of a hare to the right looking up at a full moon in a golden sky

Artwork by Jackie Morris, artist, illustrator, author #WomensArt #FullMoon #March

Semi-abstract art painting with forms and colours

Suzanne Duchamp, French Dadaist painter and collagist, a younger sister of Marcel, who has only recently been recognised by art history #WomensHistoryMonth