Good morning dear hearts! What I especially love about Springtime (which is actually everything, obvs), is that there is always something to look forward to! It’s the point at which ‘one thing after another’ is quite, quite wonderful! Happy Tuesday to you!
That is terribly sad. He has been a genial and expert presence on social media for many years. Rest in peace.
A fascinating obituary of Magdalen alumnus Desmond Morris, who has died aged 98.
www.thetimes.com/article/1daa...
real estate remains robust
Fabulous.
And I am a massive fan of Stew
Stewart Lee with EarthBall playing Hawkwind's 'Ejection' last night at Cafe Oto. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAw...
Wonderful!
Grey cat lounging on a sofa
Tsk tsk
Grey cat sitting in a tree house, with his head emerging from one doorway, tail through another. One paw on the threshold.
Ozzy in his cat condo, with an extra doorway for his tail.
Yes!
Wonderful!
I've just had a walk around, and the College is looking breathtaking.
Bluebells, lilac, cow parsley and buttercups in the meadow - and a mass of tulips in pots.
On a sunny day like this it doesn't seem real.
View through a gothic arched showing cloister and tower. Wisteria in bud framing the arch.
But not yet quite out in the Cloisters
Wisteria on a stone wall. Hanging flowers like bunches of pale violet grapes.
It looks like it's going to be a bumper year. Just coming into full bloom.
The New Building at Magdwlen College. Built in tue 1730s. Classical facade in honey-coloured stone with a colonnade and wisteria. Immaculate green lawns. Blue sky. Very symmetrical.
There's no place like home
And
"My way of life
Is fall'n into the sere, the yellow leaf;
And that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have; but, in their stead,
Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath,
Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not."
A wood carpeted with bluebells
Oxfordshire looking good
Half of all the world's bluebells are in the UK. I can't imagine living in a country where the woods don't turn into this every spring.
We went to Guestling Wood, just up the road from Hastings today, for a walk.
The blubells were looking great, and the birds were sounding pretty hapoy too.
Ancient oaks in a wood surrounded by bluebells and anemones.
Back in Oxford - at Shotover Hill
Cats enjoy different spots to sleep in at different times. Sometimes a spot may only be in favour briefly, sometimes it will be returned to regularly forever, sometimes it will be part of a rotation, sometimes it might be a one-time thing. All that matters is that the cat must not be impeded.
I don't really understand NDC. She comes round and goes to sleep, which is most likely what she does at home. That's cats for ya I guess.
Grey cat lounging on a sofa half asleep
Very true
Anglo-Saxon Crypt, Ripon Cathedral. An extraordinary survivor from St Wilfrid's original AD 672 church.
📸2025
An interview in Gramophone with composer Nico Muhly, discussing his new album with the Magdalen College choir: the product of several years of collaboration.
www.gramophone.co.uk/content/feat...
It looks horrendous to me
I don't know why this is now his favourite place - but it is.
Large grey cat completely overwhelming an arm chair.
Out of scale
!!
