A down-hanging slender branch of a London Plane tree, new leaves around half full size, bright sun making them glow against a deep blue sky

As the leaves mature so the green deepens. #MorningWalk

Sunshine on a slender bough of a London plane tree against a deep blue sky

Ah! Tender leaf green gleam, spring sun shining future seed #MorningWalk

A small clump of violets growing out moss-patched concrete

Violets next to the bus stop #MorningWalk

Map of the UK, showing the huge proportion of land used for beef, dairy and lamb production and the tiny proportion used for crops, next to a plot showing that 68% of UK calories and 52% of our protein come from the plants.

Maybe these need to be put on a few menus/supermarket walls. These are from the UK National Food Strategy, showing the proportion of UK land used for different things (huge for beef/lamb, tiny for crops), & where we get our calories and protein (68% & 52% from plants). The difference is staggering.

“Do you know the legend about cicadas? They say they are the souls of poets who cannot keep quiet because, when they were alive, they never wrote the poems they wanted to.”

~ John Berger (1926-2017)

#Painting, Omoda Seiju, ‘Cicada,’ 1930.

UK currently generating 112% of its electricity demand (with the extra 12% being transferred or stored)

Gas is generating < 12%

So UK is currently meeting 100% of its electricity needs via renewables

❤️ ☀️ 💨 🌳

This short film resonates so much. I've long been fascinated by the overlap in English between words for flawed ceramics and pejorative terms for mental ill-health - "cracked", "crazed".

Two for the birds and #knitsky

Mmmm. Sienna. Like juiced plum with bits of skin, a hint of stone.

A coat with a long train covered with a patchwork of individual works of textile art. The person wearing it has their head bowed. People hold the edges of the skirt of the garment away from the ground.

Still not moving yet. This is a good sign. Here is the Coat of Hopes. It is so moving seeing the effect it has on each person who takes on this mantle of collective aspiration. www.coatofhopes.uk #knitsky @togetheralliance.bsky.social

Hanging out in the faith block feeling (and hearing) the love @togetheralliance.bsky.social Yet to start moving, hope this indicates the level of support!

All about the knitting today (balm, soothing, mind-saving etc). Just look at that sleeve! A batwing-sleeved garment with a Barbara Walker mosaic stitch pattern lurks just out of the frame. Mmmmm. #knitsky

This. Changes. Everything. (Ok, many things.) #knitsky

A favourite things is watching a kid get on the DLR in London and run to the front seat, so they can pretend to drive it.

It never matters who is sitting there. EVERY adult gets up and concedes that seat.

As humans, we recognise and are bound by a sense of joy and wonder. Above everything else.

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.

— Carl Rogers

Roberto Pare (Cameroonian, born 1998)
The Arnolfini Spouses, 2021
Oil on canvas
59 1/10 × 47 1/5 in

#art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

A wonderfully weird creature you'll find deep in the endangered Chocó Rainforest of Ecuador.

It's a moss-mimic walking stick insect (Trychopeplus laciniatus).

#insect #camouflage #rainforest

The takeaway: While companies say they don't optimize for engagement, LLM conversational tactics (like claiming sentience or romantic affinity) may prolong and deepen delusional spirals. We need better safeguards and transparency to protect vulnerable users.

When Sister Rosetta Tharpe played at Chorlton railway station in Manchester in 1964 -

youtu.be/5SoZG4yDaJA?...

Blooming in the Mud Inspired by the example of a lotus growing amid mud, we can notice and cultivate joy and awe amid pain and suffering, preparing us to thrive.

I’m teaching a #Psychology of Well-being and Thriving course this semester and my students are inspiring me so much! It’s a ray of hope amid so much heartbreak and outrage. I hope folks are finding moments of joy and awe amid everything else.

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind...

Buddhist here 👋
But I suspect a lot of people would be surprised at how close to god they can get by staring unflinchingly into boredom.

#TombTuesday
Little is left of the cairn at Pierowall, Westray #Orkney, due to quarrying, but this ornately carved lintel stone did survive. Discovered in 1981 by a digger driver, it has similar carvings to those in the Boyne valley tombs, #Ireland. It is on display at the Westray museum 📸 mine.

Architecture of the Plain

Architecture of the Plain www.wikiart.org/en/paul-klee/architectur...

Women’s bodies emerge on the shoreline between biology and culture | Aeon Essays A pang of hunger, a stab of pain, a sense of dread – these experiences emerge on the shore where biology and culture meet

For International Women’s Day, we’re revisiting this powerful Essay by Mallory Feldman and Kristen Lindquist which explores how women’s experiences – of pain, hunger, emotions – are at once enculturated and embodied buff.ly/mUdevDA #InternationalWomensDay

Cover of Gisele Pelicot's book A Hymn to Life

On #IWD2026, it feels fitting to sing the praises of this extraordinary book, read beautifully by Emma Thompson.

If you’ve yet to read it, please do. Gisèle Pelicot’s strength, courage & basic human decency ring out from its pages - as does the grotesque misogyny of her courtroom experience...

Silent Flight An ideal reader and honest seeker dives into the world of Zhuangzi, the great Chinese philosopher.

A classic of world philosophy, the Zhuangzi revolutionized ethics and ontology forever with its Dao.

Now, in our latest issue, Rose Novick brings this masterpiece to a new generation of English readers with her magisterial translation & commentary.

strangematters.coop/rose-novick-...

A stunning male 'Northern' Bullfinch in Lerwick on Friday. Up to five individuals have spent the winter in and around the town following the influx into Shetland during late Autumn 2025.

#BirdingScotland #UKbirding #UKWildlife #Birds

Knitted fabric consisting of narrow band of ribbing in yellow-orange with marled and solid squares in various combinations of blue, green and red yarns held together.

So much grief today, global and local. Soothing with listening, colour and small repetitive movements across the midline (aka knitting). Pattern: Warp by Sara Ottosson. Podcast: The Blind Spot Podcast www.YouTube.com/@BlindSpotPo...

An array of 9 purple discs on a blue background. Figure from Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt.

A nice shift in perceived colour between central and peripheral vision. The fixated disc looks purple while the others look blue.

The effect presumably comes from the absence of S-cones in the fovea.

From Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt:
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.115...

Veil Dance

Veil Dance https://www.wikiart.org/en/paul-klee/veil-dance-1920