The Kiddie Pool

Lukewarm, shallow and not always filtered. Thirty-four (and counting).

[wai-nan]

[recordplayerbabyy]

[frostedmagnolias]

Stag Beetle Brooch

c. 1880

Northern Europe

Victoria and Albert Museum

[anetteva]

Nile Guirad

[jardindefruits]

“When autumn comes, and the glimmering sunlight turns feeble, I shall pay you homage through simple words, and love you as only the willow can love the languorous river.”

— Miklós Radnóti, from “From Psalms of Rapture,” Miklós Radnóti: The Complete Poetry in Hungarian and English (McFarland & Company, 2012)

[jamiemclellan]

Hydro

[thatsbutterbaby]

Netsuke in the form of a chestnut, 1880 - 1908. Probably Yamada Masanao (1848 - 1922) (carver). Wood.

Ashmolean Museum

[nobrashfestivity]

Nomura Hitoshi, Japanese, born 1945 'moon'score, December 19, 1975 1975, printed c. 2003 Gelatin silver print 37 7/8 x 39 3/8 in. (96.2 x 100 cm) (sheet)

[stackofturtles]

I have come into possession of an ornithology book from the 1930's and they had such a way of describing birds back then, modern publishers of birding booking should take note! Here are some of the bangers.

yes, this book refers to the anhinga as a water-turkey

[petaltexturedskies]

There between the curtains was the October night, calm, and lovely, with a star or two caught in the yellowing trees,

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

[ancientart]

A good example of why the study of art is so crucial when attempting to gain insight into past (and present) cultures.

Shown here is a small wooden dish from ancient Egypt, dated to ca.1390-1352 BC, depicting a bound oryx. On the surface level one might admire the craftsmanship of the work, and enjoy it simply for its visual appeal. It would perhaps be surprising to many how much this small piece reflects the complex belief system and world view of the Egyptians. The Brooklyn Museum elaborates:

The Egyptians’ concept of universal order stressed the difference between the fertile Nile Valley and the barren expanse of desert flanking civilized life. The desert sheltered the hostile forces of chaos, including the god Seth and his malevolent agents, often represented in animal form.

The oryx, a desert antelope, was seen as an incarnation of the evil threatening to destroy Ma'at [truth/ order/ justice, a complex but integral Egyptian concept]. Thus the motif of the bound oryx symbolized the Egyptians’ persistent need to hold the forces of disorder in check.

Artefact courtesy of the brooklynmuseum. Via their online collections: 49.54.

[desolationfires]

Sophie Bille Brahe

[disease]

TATTOO DESIGN by SUTHERLAND MACDONALD | 1905

[apokrify]

A tiny devil vitrified in a prism of glass. In the 18th century, the Imperial Treasury of Vienna attested that this was a real demon which had been trapped in glass during an exorcism in Germany a century earlier. ⁣From the Kunsthistorisches Museum Collection, Vienna.⁣

[wonders-of-the-cosmos]

Comet C/2023 A3

Credit: Mark Sansom

[aaaangel444]

[loubis-and-champagne]

X

[frostedmagnolias]

Dragonfly brooch

c. 1890

by Edgar Bense for Boucheron

The MET