Don’t Throw Away Lemon Peels—Cleaning Pros Share 6 Smart Ways to Use Them for Cleaning and More Cleaning experts share how to repurpose lemon peels to use them all around the house for a number of tasks.

'Next time you're using lemons to cook or prepare cocktails, don't throw away their peels.
🍋 Lemon peels can play an extremely useful role in all kinds of household cleaning tasks, whether you're using them on their own or in combination with other ingredients.'
www.thespruce.com/ways-to-reus...

Freud was right, I thought, when he compared analysis to archaeology, implying that the task of both was to unearth a hidden past.

Alice Steinbach • Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman

'The Women of Amphissa,' by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1887

Modern Witch shou Puer small batch

another day of fresh tea samples, another morning shou

A photo of a copy of the 2007 Bloomsbury 21s edition of Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

"She wore a gown the colour of storms, shadows and rain and a neckless of broken promises and regrets."

"A young woman who had no hair, but who wore a wig of shining beetles that swarmed and seethed upon her head."

This Exhibition Proves That Blackness Is as Vast and Limitless as the Universe Itself “Blackness is not marginal, but central to how we comprehend being, time, and the universe.”

At the Museum of the African Diaspora, artists are exploring the connections between Blackness, cosmology, metaphysics, mythology, spirituality, and the universe itself. trib.al/hgLFb5Y

Artist Creates His Own Renaissance Sculpture-Inspired Drawings Made of Millions of Dots “I always thought that there is more living in sculptures than in people.”

Ukrainian artist Rostislaw Tsarenko creates intricate drawings of fantastical characters and surreal scenes, often spending up to 60 hours on a single piece. trib.al/TgAWN6u

cristaux octahédrique tabulaires de skutterudite présentant un lustre métallique brillant

A complex skutterudite from Morocco, with tabular octahedral crystals exhibiting an intense metallic lustre

Skutterudite complexe du Maroc, avec des cristaux octahédriques tabulaires d'un lustre métallique intense

See it : www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGrd...

#Mineral #skutterudite

stanley blueberries, painted by james marion shull, 1940

stanley blueberries, painted by james marion shull, 1940

Why African Borderlands Keep Burning | African Arguments Africa’s margins have become its main theatre of violence. From the Great Lakes region to the Sahel, armed groups exploit borderlands as safe havens and logistics hubs.

africanarguments.org/2026/04/why-...

From food trips to creating a skateboarding community for women An all-women skate group strengthens confidence and community among females of all ages in Metro Manila

Philippines: From food trips to creating a skateboarding community for women
An all-women skate group strengthens confidence and community among females of all ages in Metro Manila.

Architecture of Assumed Speech

Africa becomes the new crossroads of global oil as U.S.–Iran tensions weaken reliance on the Strait of Hormuz Africa is emerging as a central player in global energy and trade logistics, as Iraq and Gulf states accelerate efforts to bypass the Strait of Hormuz following recent disruptions that have raised con...

'West Africa, especially Togo's Port of Lomé, is positioning itself as a key Atlantic gateway.
As global trade routes adapt to new risks, Africa is capturing a greater share of shipping traffic, reshaping global trade patterns & infrastructure investment.'
africa.businessinsider.com/local/market...

Blackout in Havana – in pictures Cuba’s electricity network collapsed this week, leaving about 10 million people without power amid a US-imposed oil blockade that has crippled an obsolete generating grid

'Cuba’s electricity network collapsed [in late March 2026], leaving about 10 million people without power amid a US-imposed oil blockade that has crippled an obsolete generating grid.'
www.theguardian.com/world/galler...

Sky hit us with this

The sun shines on a dirt path surrounded by trees with some light green leaves finally appearing.

Wednesday
Morning walk
Enjoying the sunshine

Museum Talk: Benin Bronzes – a controversial past and present. The story of an ‘expedition’ that destroyed a civilisation, killed thousands and looted billions.

On 20 May 2018, I was invited by the Bristol Museum to talk about the Benin bronzes on display there. The talk, in which I used narrative and song to explain that return is the only response, is reproduced here. Most of the bronzes are yet to go home.
folukeafrica.com/museum-talk-...

White flowers from an American Plum tree.

American plum (prunus Americana) I wish you could smell them, they smell amazing.

Photograph of olivine bomb specimen

Macro photograph of olivine crystals

No yapping today, just polished #Olivine bomb in basalt 😊

In the words of Don Draper:
“That’s what the money is for.”

The Fallen by Louise Brangan review – an enraging account of Ireland’s Magdalene laundries The horrifying story of the Catholic-run institutions that incarcerated thousands of women and girls

New book on Ireland’s Catholic-run institutions that imprisoned thousands of women and girls. In Canada, meanwhile, records are blocked by federal & provincial laws. It raises a haunting question: what happened to the babies born in our Magdalene asylums?
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...

The Fallen by Louise Brangan review – an enraging account of Ireland’s Magdalene laundries The horrifying story of the Catholic-run institutions that incarcerated thousands of women and girls

'Dr Brangan writes:
“In a regime distinguished by its excessive inhumanity, the Magdalene laundries were its deep end.
In 1951...for every 100,000 females, 70 were in a laundry.
These were not peripheral: they were Ireland’s main carceral institution.”'
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...

Tourists wearing kimonos pose with cherry blossoms in Kyoto at the end of March 2026. Photo • Manami Yamada &Reuters

'Now, following a search launched by Acisu last week – sparked by fears that no one would be able to continue the 1,200-year cherry blossom record – a researcher in Japan has stepped forward and offered to make formal observations of the mountain cherry’s spring flowerings.'

After 1,200 years, cherry blossom record to live on despite Japanese scientist’s death Prof Yasuyuki Aono’s meticulous work charted shifting bloom dates as a marker of climate change

'Acisu & colleagues first realised something may have happened to Prof Aono when they noticed in January that his university web page was no longer active.
They learned he had died & that no other researcher/institution had emerged to carry on his observations.'
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Alice Steinbach • Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman

I awoke to the low, musical sound of women's voices in the living room.
As I listened through the half-open door to the soft,blurred conversation, its slow cadences as reassuring to me as a cool hand on my brow, I thought of Mother & Grandmother,talking at night on the porch just beneath my window.

I submitted two poems to a journal today.
Wish me luck.

tiny little cherry like fruits

these little cherries are in season and they’re delightful

A photo of a copy of the 2007 Bloomsbury 21s edition of Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell.

Seventeen pages in and we're in Mr Norrell's house with its intimations of Piranesi and have just heard about the fairy called Cold Henry and why did I wait all these years to read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell?

First Venue Solely Dedicated to Pioneering Artist Ruth Asawa Will Open This Spring On May 9, Ruth Asawa’s family-run foundation will open the first permanent venue solely dedicated to the late artist.

Ruth Asawa’s family-run foundation will open the first permanent venue solely dedicated to the late artist, who is best known for her looped-wire sculptures. trib.al/McjVVJ2