Dr Francesca Santoro

Reverend Jesse Jackson called on each of us to be heralds of change, to be messengers of hope; to step forward and say “Send me” wherever we have a chance to make an impact.

How fortunate we were that Jesse Jackson answered that call. What a great debt we owe to him.

Parasol 🏖️
#NatureWithin

Extended light

#blackandwhite #B&W #photography #photo #bwphotography #bnwphotography #monochrome #mono

But they assured me that cats are "less needy."

Russia just crashed a five‑story apartment building onto people’s heads in the middle of the night‼️

The building is simply gone! It was homes, families.

Japanese artist Kuroda Seiki (黒田清輝) painted this work in 1893 after nearly a decade studying painting in France, where he absorbed Impressionist approaches to light and color. Returning home, he traveled to Kyoto (京都), where traditional neighborhoods, geisha culture, and local customs felt newly vivid after years abroad. These impressions inspired works such as “Maiko” which depicts a young apprentice geisha sits beside an open window overlooking the softly flowing Kamo River (鴨川) in Kyoto. She wears a richly patterned kimono layered with subtle tones that catch warm backlight entering from behind her. Her elaborate hairstyle, decorated with ornaments typical of a maiko, is outlined by the glow of daylight. The sitter is turned slightly toward another unseen figure, suggesting quiet conversation rather than a posed portrait. The textures of silk, hair, and wooden interior surfaces are rendered with careful observation. Outside the window, the river reflects the afternoon light in shimmering bands, giving the scene a calm rhythm. The figure’s composed posture and attentive expression suggest a moment of listening or reflection, capturing both the elegance and discipline associated with maiko training. The painting blends Western oil techniques of naturalistic light, atmospheric perspective, and subtle tonal modeling with distinctly Japanese subject matter. At the time, Japan was rapidly modernizing during the Meiji era, and Kuroda became a key figure introducing yōga, Western-style painting, into the Japanese art world. The maiko represents a living tradition of young women trained in classical dance, music, etiquette, and conversation within Kyoto’s old entertainment districts. Kuroda, saw these traditions through the eyes of someone who had spent years immersed in Western culture. The composition reflects this dual perspective as the river outside the window becomes a quiet metaphor: flowing steadily through the ancient city while the world around it changes.

“舞妓 (Maiko / Apprentice Geisha)” by 黒田清輝 / Kuroda Seiki (Japanese) – Oil on canvas / 1893 – Tokyo National Museum (Japan) #WomenInArt #KurodaSeiki #黒田清輝 #Kuroda #SeikiKuroda #洋画 #TokyoNationalMuseum #JapaneseArt #BlueskyArt #1890s #Maiko #舞妓 #東京国立博物館 #art #artText #artwork #東博 #JapaneseArtist #鴨川

Thank you, Sir, for speaking plain truth.

Decodex – A Daily Cryptogram Puzzle Game Decode a quote a day! Play the daily cryptogram at playdecodex.com.

Decodex 2026-03-07
🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢
Time: 1:57
Play here: playdecodex.com

@lightacandle.bsky.social @tonylarch.bsky.social

Featured in today's puzzle😼:

😿😢😭😪😰

The sun rises over the tree line Boulevard and a strip of yellow flowers flanked by green grass leads down to a small wooden bench

Good morning from Haarlem.

#GoodMorningFromHaarlem

DOJ finally admits tens of thousands of Epstein files were removed to protect Trump The Department of Justice has quietly admitted what many critics had long suspected. Nearly 48,000 files tied to federal investigations into Jeffrey Epstein were pulled from public access, even as the...

DOJ finally admits tens of thousands of Epstein files were removed to protect Trump

dailyscroll.co.uk/2026/03/05/d...

A tabby and a dilute calico are hugging and sleeping together on a couch.

Got up to start some laundry and came back to these two in my spot on the couch. I am sitting in a different place now.

Rupert was helping me do some work in the dining room at lunch.

#cats #catlady #residentcat

Everyone stop and look at this floof

Image 1

2,400 year-old skeleton mosaic discovered in Turkey with the caption: “Be cheerful, enjoy your life”

Original post

Trump says he wants to pick the new Iranian leader. Why on earth would the Iranian people want a leader that was picked by pedophile Trump? How is this good for the Iranian people? Why would they want to be a puppet state?

@tonylarch.bsky.social I think I fell asleep: that should read: "an assortment of burglars, ..."😵‍💫

This was a 50/50 tossup, cuddles or claws 😹

A long tailed bird with a bright red bill and feet.

Red billed blue magpie.
#BirdOfTheDay
#ColourfulCaptures

“Like I said, some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die.”

That’s what the President of the United States is saying to the American people.

He won’t be hurt by a retaliatory attack or high gas prices. But you will — and that’s a sacrifice he’s willing to make.

Binx, a black Bombay with stretchy arms.

HEY YOU!

Stop doomscrolling and look at this cat for a sec!
She’ll make you feel better! 😊

A photo of Ripley, my cat, lying across my keyboard preventing me from working.

Thank you, Ripley. That’s enormously helpful.

Just read your alt text.🫠

Painted around 1880 and decades after An Gorta Mór (The Great Hunger in Ireland which lasted from 1845 to at least 1852 and was previously called the Great Famine), the work sits in Irish artist Thomas Alfred Jones’s “Irish Colleen” mode depicting an idealized image of rural Irish girlhood that blends endurance with visual lyricism. The bare feet, gathered fuel/food, and an exposed trail hint at labor and scarcity, yet the girls’ composed expressions and almost theatrical color accents (reds and tartans) steer the painting toward reassurance rather than reportage. Knighted in 1880 after starting as an abandoned child raised in Dublin, Jones depicts three young girls who dominate the foreground of a windswept mountain pass, seen as if we’re standing on higher ground. All three are barefoot on a stony path. Their skin appears light, their cheeks subtly warmed by low light. Each wears layered, work-worn clothing: long skirts, aprons, and heavy shawls pulled tight against the breeze. On the left, one girl’s vivid red skirt catches our eye. She carries a basket that is heavy with provisions gathered for the way home. In the center, a red-haired girl’s plaid shawl frames her face and shoulders with a pack slung across her back, shifting her posture forward with effort. On the right, the youngest clutches her apron’s gathered fold with one hand and grips her white shawl with the other, bracing against wind gusts. Behind them, Connemara opens into rugged, barren land washed in summer twilight that softens the hard terrain while the wind animates every hem, fringe, and fold. This might be a late-Victorian attempt to craft a dignified, marketable icon of “the West,” even as Connemara was widely associated with poverty and famine legacy. Wind becomes a quiet protagonist as it presses the girls together, turns their shawls into protective architecture, and makes care and kinship feel like the painting’s true subject showing three lives moving forward, burdened but unbroken.

“Connemara Girls” by Sir Thomas Alfred Jones (Irish) - Oil on canvas / c. 1880 - Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum, Quinnipiac University (Hamden, Connecticut) #WomenInArt #ThomasAlfredJones #IrelandsGreatHungerMuseum #IrishArt #GenrePainting #1880s #artText #art #BlueskyArt #IrishArtist #TheGreatHunger

And just what is that creepy crawler on the right side, just beneath the mushrooms—a rolly-poly sow bug? 🫣

I am frankly more concerned about the apathy of the American public and even more importantly the lack of leadership in the Democratic Party.

This is not a dress rehearsal. Every single American must speak out against this Facist administration.

Cartoonists in the Commons - Professional Cartoonists Organisation Protesting outside Parliament Our Westminster correspondent Glenn Marshall reports: Last Wednesday we were back in the House of Commons with our friends at WDC (Whale & Dolphin Conservation) supportin...

Last Wednesday @procartoonists.bsky.social
were back in the House of Commons supporting our friends at @whalesorg.bsky.social with their campaign to enforce the ‘Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act’ more details on our day and the campaign here:
procartoonists.org/cartoonists-...
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A tabby cat with white is curled into a ball in a big comfy bed.

He round
📷 Pentax K1000, 50mm f/2
🎞️ Cinestill 800T
#believeinfilm #catsonfilm

We have a depraved,rogue President who has no boundaries and the GOP IS TOO COWARDLY to put up guardrails like Gen. Milley and Gen. Kelly did. The criminals running our country are now totally okay with our troops dying in an illegal and forever war. Immigrants are dying in our concentration camps.

Problem: Bluesky is too 'nice'; there are few evil emojis, unlike The Other Place, which had sn sddortmentburglars, ghouls & other disreputable types.😼

NOPE