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Nature
NB! · Museums · Observations · Palaeontology · Nature · Humour
The Giant Fossil Turtle from the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco: This Is How I See Russian Officialdom
The East · Geography · Art · Observations · Nature
Senchikhin's 1969 painting of the Aral and the disappearance of the Aral Sea
The Aral Sea, a boat, 1969. This picture hangs in my home in one of the most prominent places, beside several similarly unassuming subjects, all of them from the Aral. It is a fairly simple specimen of the genre study in the Impressionist manner, by an author who is not
Mores · Nature · Ethnography
Toads in British folk belief as companions of witches and the custom of seeing them out of the house
A Note for the Lady of the House:. in some parts of Britain toads were long held to be the familiars of witches, so if a toad happened to find its way into the house, it was swiftly but tenderly shown the door
Art · Observations · Nature
Marigolds from the Americas in European gardens and in a painting by Bartolomeo Passerotti
Fond of marigolds? Or perhaps you remember your grandmother planting these flowers between the rows of vegetables to save them from pests? Marigolds, or Tagetes, reached Europe immediately after Columbus's expedition to America, and in Russia they were in fact the very first overseas crop. Once in Spain,
Museums · Observations · Palaeontology · Paris · Nature
Hunting scenes with skeletons in the palaeontology hall of the Houston Museum of Natural Science
A human skeleton leaping onto the tip of a mammoth's tusk is not the only prank of the designers of the palaeontology hall at the Houston Museum of Natural Science; there are other diverting scenes, for instance, a group of human skeletons driving a mammoth, or a mammoth
NB! · Art · Mores · Nature · Humour
Ostriches attack ladies in feathered hats in an engraving of 1777
Enraged ostriches attack fashionable ladies in extravagant hats trimmed with ostrich feathers. Avian revenge, 1777
NB! · Museums · Observations · Nature
A narwhal tusk from the Anatomy Museum of the University of Edinburgh: a marvel, is it not?
Archaeology · The East · Museums · Observations · Nature
A noble stump of Lebanese cedar from the 1st century BC, in excellent condition, which is, however, characteristic of the wood of this species
A noble stump of Lebanese cedar from the 1st century BC, in excellent condition, which is, however, characteristic of the wood of this species. It stands in a place of honour by the main entrance of the National Museum of Beirut. With this venerable relic I should like to draw
NB! · Art · Observations · Nature · Humour
Psyche, a white Persian cat, portrayed by Francis Sartorius the Elder
Psyche, a white Persian cat, captured by the celebrated artist of the day Francis Sartorius the Elder (1734-1804). She looks like the Choupette of her age
Architecture · Faith · Observations · Nature
An unreal church in Luxembourg: I drove past this hairpin road last year, when Auntie Nina and I went to the market for meat (Luxembourg is considerably cheaper than Belgium), and I even thought, surely a cross cannot be sticking straight out of the roads
An unreal church in Luxembourg. I drove past this hairpin road last year, when Auntie Nina and I went to the market for meat (Luxembourg is considerably cheaper than Belgium), and I even thought, surely a cross cannot be sticking straight out of the roadside, I must have imagined it.
Books · Observations · Nature · Ethnography
English poem on the custom of telling the bees about a wedding, a birth or a death
On the traditions of respectful regard for bees, Rudyard Kipling writes, for example, in the tale "Puck of Pook's Hill":. A Maiden in her glory, Upon her wedding-day, Must tell her Bees the story, Or else they'll fly away. Fly away—die away—