Three yellow daffodils in a green glass bottle, backlit by the sun, on an oak table.

Perfection: our own daffodils on our kitchen table in the spring sunshine.

Picture of an orchid flower against a dark background

Leporella fimbriata - the Hare Orchid

One of our autumn flowering orchids which can be found in Western Australia as well as in Southern Australia & Victoria.

Hare orchids are specifically pollinated by flying male bull ants (Myrmecia sp.) 🐜

#orchids #ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #nature

Donald Trump tried to ‘use nuclear codes’ claims: what we know Larry Johnson - a retired CIA analyst - claimed Trump tried to access nuclear codes but was stopped by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

www.newsweek.com/donald-trump...

Jon Stewart on the cycle of demands and threats toward Iran that make up Trump's "Art of the Deal"

Did Alfred the Great send an embassy from England to India? - Medievalists.net A new study is taking a fresh look at one of the most surprising lines in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle—the claim that, in the 880s, King Alfred the Great sent two men on a mission to India.

Did Alfred the Great send an embassy from England to India? www.medievalists.net/2026/02/alfr... #AlfredtheGreat

A camel shaped teapot with a person at the right hand side

Good morning and happy National Tea Day! 🫖

Has anyone got a more obscure teapot than us? #NationalTeaDay #TimeForTea

My photo shows a Paleo-Babylonian clay tablet inscribed with cuneiform text, still partially enclosed in its original clay envelope. The clay is pale orangey-brown in colour displayed against a grey display case background. The outer envelope has been broken open, revealing the inner tablet beneath. Both surfaces are covered with densely packed wedge-shaped characters, which record a contract for the sale of a house purchased by Mannum-balu-Samas at the price of 1/3 shekel and 15 grains of silver. This is followed by the names of the numerous witnesses including the mayor Sin-magir and the courier Apil-ilisu. The same text is repeated on the envelope in the event of a dispute, which was broken to inspect the internal document. It is dated 32nd year of Hammurabl's reign, 10th month, c. 1750 BC. The clay envelope measures 87 mm (height) × 55 mm (width), while the inner tablet measures 64 mm (height) × 43 mm (width). On display at the Museum of Antiquity in Turin. Collection number MAT 740.

A 3,750 year-old contract for the sale of a house recorded on a clay tablet, still in its original clay envelope!

Museo di Antichità, Turin
📷 by me

#Archaeology

Jon Stewart Dissects Trump’s “Art of the Deal” Iran Strategy... That Isn't Working | The Daily Show YouTube video by The Daily Show

Jon Stewart Dissects Trump’s “Art of the Deal” Iran Strategy... That Isn't Working

youtu.be/Jc_zlInukSA

Two sheep stand in a field facing the camera, with more sheep scattered across rolling green countryside in the background. Long grass fills the foreground, framed by a nearby tree, and the sky glows with soft pink‑orange light.

The South Downs showing off again.

📸: Thomas Carpenter

A photo of the Porta Nigra, a massive Roman city gate in Trier. Constructed of sandstone blocks, featuring two large cylindrical towers with multiple arched windows and passageways. The weathered structure stands prominently in a modern urban setting, surrounded by buildings. Sunlight casts shadows on the stone facade, highlighting its intricate details and imposing presence.

The Porta Nigra in Trier is the best preserved Roman city gate North of the Alps. It was built around 170 AD and converted into a church in the Middle Ages.
The Porta Nigra was restored to its original state in 1804 at Napoleon's behest.

📷me

🏺

😂👏🖖!

A cartoon-style drawing shows two cats sitting in front of a pet carrier. One cat says: “I go in, and when I come out I’m at the vet… then I go back in, and when I come out I’m home…” The other cat responds: “Could it be? A wormhole!”

😆

An evening view of a lighthouse across rocky cliffs

Good evening from beautiful Skokholm island 🥰. Lots of archaeological potential here which we are just beginning to uncover 👌

We are looking at a painting of St Liphardus - a 6th-century lawyer, hermit and abbot in Meung-sur-Loire near Orléans, France. He is wearing bishops clothing including a surplus and mitre and is holding a crook. On a lead is a small knee high green and blue dragon.

We’re very sorry sir but you cannot bring your emotional support dragon in here.

CUCKOO 1: I heard you finally found work
CUCKOO 2: Yeah I got a job in a cuckoo clock
CUCKOO 1: How are you finding it?
CUCKOO 2: Pretty boring, but it gets me out of the house

The picture shows a pair of Egyptian sandals made of woven reed and palm leaves, the sole with bound edges and pointed toe. One sandal is completely preserved with ankle strap and toe strap.

#Egyptian flip flops: a pair of sandals made of woven reed and palm leaves. Dating around 1500-1400BC

On display at Museum of the University of Tübingen

📷me

🏺

#MosaicMonday

The Lady of #Carthage is a mosaic probably dating back to the 6th century AD. It is considered a portrait of a #Byzantine #empress. The technique of alternating quarry tiles with glass tiles, and beauty make it an important piece.
#Art #History #Archaeology

A monochrome geometric #Roman floor mosaic, still in its original ancient position in the city of Italica (Spain), where it has lain for some 1700+ years

#Archaeology #MosaicMonday #AncientBlueSky

A bit of sparkle to start the week off with. Taken this morning in St Michael's tower on Glastonbury Tor.

Mosaic with blue/red/white guilloche borders top and bottom. Silenus caped in panther skin cloak behind a panther on the left, following Dionysus holding a wine vessel on the right, his arm around a young satyr.

#MosaicMonday
How to make an entrance: bring a panther to the party. Dionysiac scene of Silenus, a panther, Dionysus and Ampelos, a young satyr.
One of impressive #Roman mosaics at Musée départemental Arles antique, excavated 1914 in Trinquetaille area of Arles, thriving port area C1 BC-C3 AD. 🏺

A detail of a geometric mosaic of squares in shades of black, green and white, giving a 3D effect. The border is open guilloche with coloured centres.

For this fine spring day (in the UK), shades of green. This simple, elegant mosaic is in the museum in Aquileia.
#MosaicMonday
#AncientBlueSky 🏺

My photo shows a Hellenistic era hemispherical mosaic glass bowl viewed from above. The glass has a floral pattern made up of tiny, many-petalled blue, white, and yellowy-green flowers against a dark purple background (looks black in my photo). The bowl has an alternating diagonal-striped black and white glass rim. The bowl has been reconstructed from fragments and the plain light blue areas are where missing glass fragments have been replaced during reconstruction. It measures 13.2 cm in diameter and 7.5 cm in height. It was made in the eastern Mediterranean about 200-100 BC.

This Hellenistic mosaic glass bowl looks so modern, yet it was made over 2,000 years ago!

Ancient glassmakers created the tiny flower pattern using a technique now known as ‘millefiori’ (thousand flowers). A timeless design still made by glassmakers today!

British Museum 📷 by me

#Archaeology

Meeting on the shore

First to Second Century AD floor mosaic from Rome with the head of Medusa at the centre. Now part of the collections at the Terme di Diocleziano in Rome. 📸 My own. #MosaicMonday #Rome

#Spring #Flowerpower in the hedgerows ❇️🌸🌹🌻🌼

St Michael weighing souls in a bench end at St Mary Magdalene, Ickleton, Cambs.

A rather sweet Kempe musician at St Michael and All Angels, Hallaton for #StainedGlassSunday

Megalithic tomb in Galicia in Baiñas, Spain. The Neolithic Atlantic funerary culture stretched from southern Sweden via Britain and Normandy to coastal Spain and Portugal. #StandingStoneSunday

🦫 Studies show that watching a beaver eating cabbage lowers stress levels by 15% 🦫 @NatureUnedited

There is a time and a place for everything... 🥰
Bet he's perfectly content on the sofa right now! 😉