Wim 🅾→Ⓣ

Amazing carpet of crocuses in the old graveyard of Rhu and Shandon.
#bloomscrolling
#photography

Look what one of my students wrote in the course feedback form:

"The lecturer clearly cares about this subject. It is clear that he has a passion for the subject and genuinely wants us to enjoy it just like him. Asking questions and curiosity is rewarded with a breadth of knowledge from the lecturer, and when something isn’t known, they’ve come back the next day with further information. Genuinely awesome and committed lecturer who cares about their subject and the class."

I am really moved by this! 💚

#academicChatter

My partner spotted the nest in a hedge, I spotted the bird in the nest.
#photography #nature

More reflections
#SilentSunday
#photography

#SilentSunday

Yesterday was the first day of spring, and for once the Scottish weather agreed with it. I went to a garden in Rhu near Helensburgh to see the huge magnolia trees in bloom.
In the picture I've tried to give an idea of the scale, rather than zooming in on the flowers.
#magnolia #bloomscrolling

#mosstodon

#mosstodon

It's cherry blossom season so here are some cherry blossoms
#blossoms #sakura #桜 #photography

I made some studies for a new drawing and posted them on my other account as they progressed. Here are the finished versions. The final drawing will be a double portrait with both characters. It's based on a scene from Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. 2nd Gig Episode 11 "Affection". The Japanese title is 草迷宮 (kusameikyuu; here it means "Kusanagi's labyrinth" but there is more to it).

#GitS #Japanese #drawing #art #traditionalArt

A few moments of sun and blue sky is all we need.

#photography
#magnolia
#blooms

I love the magnolia flowers best at this particular stage, just before they are fully open.

#photography
#magnolia
#bloomscroling

I love those carpets of fallen blossoms too.
#photography
#blossoms

#SilentSunday

That garden also has many fabulous rhododendrons, you can see one of them in the background.

#photography
#magnolia
#blooms

Another close up of the blossoms on the kojo no mai dwarf cherry
#桜 #bloomscrolling #spring

It's about a year now since the octodon went under. Previous fedi instances have a special kind of nostalgia.

In the background you can see yet another magnolia tree, a slightly different species.

#photography
#magnolia
#blooms

This robin was singing lustily in a nearby shrub. By the time I had my camera out of my pocket, it had shifted away, but it still turned out all right.
#photography #birds

More pics of the kojo no mai dward cherry
#桜 #bloomscrolling #spring

There us such variety in those flower, despite their superficial similarities.

#photography
#magnolia
#blooms

On Friday afternoon I went back to the garden with all the magnolia trees. It was rainy and the walk there was against a strong wind along the sea. But a storm had been forecast for the weekend so most of the flowers would be gone by Monday. It was worth it: I'd never seen the trees in such magnificent bloom.

#photography
#magnolia
#blooms

This cherry tree decided to blossom way before all the others.
#photography
#sakura
#spring

This year, the dwarf cherry tree on the balcony has lots of flowers. They have just peaked.
#桜 #blossoms #spring

Moments later it was cloudy again

#photography
#magnolia
#blooms

I love to see a martenitsa amongst the plum blossoms

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martenitsa

#blossoms
#spring

Just some nice reflections
#photography

More daffodils 😃
#bloomscroling #spring

TIL: the Japanese word シャボン (SHABON) means "soap", and was borrowed from Spanish jabón in the early 1600s. There is also サボン (SABON), also "soap", but borrowed from Portuguese sabonete. SHABON was common in the Edo era (1603--1868) but from the Meiji era onwards, the formerly literary word 石鹸 (sekken) became common parlance, and now SHABON is only used in the word シャボン玉 (SHABON-dama), "soap bubble", which often gets abbreviated to just SHABON. And that's how I came across it (in the song 片思いファイター by GO!GO!7188)

#Japanese

I'm reading about the Mozarabic rite, also called Spanish rite or Hispanic rite, a liturgical rite of the Latin Church once used generally in the Iberian Peninsula, and the resistance to it being replaced by the Roman Rite. It's called Mozarabic after the Mozarabs, the Christians of the territories of Iberia under Muslim rule from. There are some fascinating stories.

Alfonso VI, King of Castile and Leon, introduced the Roman Rite in 1077. This was resisted by his subjects, and on Palm Sunday, 1077 occurred the incident of "El Juicio de Dios". Two knights—"one a Castilian and the other a Toledan"—were chosen to fight "pro lege Romana et Toletana". The champion of the Spanish Rite, Juan Ruiz de Matanzas, was the victor. It is also said that two bulls, one named "Roma" and the other "Toledo", were set to fight, and there also the victory was with Toledo.

But, in spite of the result of the trials by battle, Alfonso continued to support the Roman Rite, and a Council of Burgos (1080) decreed its use in Castile. In 1085 Toledo was taken back from the Muslims and the question of rites arose again. The Mozarabic Christians resisted the change. This time another form of ordeal was tried. The two books were thrown into a fire. he Spanish rite miraculously leaped from the flames, only to rejoin the burning Roman liturgy when Alfonso VI kicked the tome back into the pyre.

By the time the Roman book was consumed, the Toledan was little damaged. But still the king insisted on the introduction of the Roman Rite, though this time with a compromise. All new churches were to use the Roman Rite, but in the six old churches, Sts. Justa and Ruffina, St. Eulalia, St. Sebastian, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. Torquatus, the Mozarabes might continue to have their old rite, and might hand it on to their descendants.

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/3/216
https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10611a.htm

#history
#religion

Hurray, the daffodils are finally out.
#florespondence
#photography

In my mind, VNV Nation's "Darkangel" and the scene in Ghost in the Shell "Innocence" where Togusa quotes verses about the fall of Lucifer from Milton's "Paradise Lost" while he and Batou are descending on Etorofu are inextricably linked.

"Monte Criollo" sung by Azucena Maizani

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnzJwFcPbmw