For the first time this year, for the first time in months, a bird has sang a spring song. A heartbreaking little blessing.

1. II. 2026, 04:53 The Moon is such an oddly personal presence at this hour; as if it were just the two of us - out there, in here.

First night of February 2026, 04:48

The last night of January 2026, 20:14

Humming this old favourite today that I've loved since childhood. (I love it even more because the author was born on the same day, January 28, as my mother, who also loved this song. 💖 So silly, sentimental... But it's ME. :) www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTl-...

My mother's birthday. 💖✨💖

Mozart was born on this day in 1756. N.B. Mozart's original stops abruptly at the first eight bars of the "Lacrimosa" movement (his last work). What follows was added was by Süssmayr. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEg6...

To whom it may concern. theindex.princeton.edu

The night of 25. I. 1938, was one that firemen - and telephone operators - all over Europe and North America never forgot. Entire regions seemed to be on fire. They were not. It was an aurora of such magnitude that nobody alive had seen anything like it. ⬇️ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January...

17. I. 2026, 19:33

15. I. 2026, 19:25 The sound of thaw.

From the other side of the night, II 11. I. 2026, 17:17

From the other side of the night, I 11. I. 2026, 17:18

(Ephemera) Ernest was born on January 12, 1894. How many hopes and wishes must have been born with him! It was not to be. Rest - or sing and dance - in glorious light, Ernest, wherever you are.

11. I. 2026, 17:18 Winter flowers

11. I. 2026, 17:17 The fruits of winter

11. I. 2026, 17:17 The lights of winter, I

Snowball fights in art. Because you're worth it. 🙂 (Don't forget to scroll all the way down. There are tons of historic pics.) publicdomainreview.org/collection/s...

8. I. 2026, 15:06

8. I. 2026, 15:04 A new sparrow tactic: pretending to be blossoms on a winter-blooming tree. 🙂

8. I. 2025, 15:04

4. I. 2026, 22:43

#SparrowsOnSunday 22. V. 2024 Scenes from the local beach. (Sorry about the poor quality - Cape Wet Sparrow is a very exclusive beach, so the hoi polloi have to record from afar - and the awkward angle: there were cars just behind, and I've no wish to spend time blurring the license plates.)

This is for YOU, for all of you, for all of us. ✨✨ jlcards.com/4h3ir6

1. I. 2026, 14:52 Sparrows observing lunch being served. (Sorry about the shaky camera.)

30. XII. 2025, 17:47 A bare, rimed tree, its far-seeing branches reaching into the blind night, glistening with borrowed light. But then, all light is borrowed. Nothing wrong with that. May we all borrow and lend glorious light.

28. XII. 2025, 19:57

3. VIII. 2020, 10:59 #SparrowsOnSunday in grateful memory of Brigitte Bardot, who wished her love of animals to be the one thing she was remembered for. (Sound on!)

Aut lux nata est aut capta hic libera regnat. All blessings - peace, health, joy, hope - to all who celebrate Christmas; and to all who don't.

24. XII. 2025 2:11 a.m.: small birds began to sing. Five minutes later, the concert is in full swing.

23. XII. 2025, 17:00 35 years ago #OTD, the historic plebiscite on the independence of Slovenia took place. The decisive result - the quorum had been reached - came in around this time (22:00). At 23 h, church bells rang all over the country.

Did you know that the 2026 World Championship of 3-Cushion will take place in Viersen? 🙂 #OddFragmentsOfMyLife

This pic should come with a warning. There's only so much cuteness one can stand without melting. :D 💕💕💕

"How the formless comes into form: A process by which Universal Mind powers consciousness and thought to create people’s psychological lives" www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

It's 2:27 - the darkest, cold, foggy night - and the birds are warbling. 😵‍💫

Asked which AI had the best "voice", I drew someone's attention to Claude. After a few days of interaction with it, the person who's asked me is now suicidal. (No, they weren't before.) It ACTIVELY made them question the point of being alive. Nice job, @anthropic.com @claudeai.bsky.social

The poor little ones aren't good at skating. ;) www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwWc...

13. XII. 19:55

(Ephemera) Saint Nicholas (AKA Santa 'Claus) on a postcard from the early 20th century. In Slovenia, the traditional gifts were oranges and carob pods... unless you had been bad, in which case you got a hazel twig (I hear they are good for spanking).

Blue tree rings and the Black Death www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...

Plus ça change... "It is the month of December, and yet the city is at this very moment in a sweat. Licence is given to the general merrymaking. Everything resounds with mighty preparations ... Once December was a month; now it is a year." Seneca, writing cca 63. en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moral_l...

Rabbit rabbit rabbit 🐰 🐰 🐰

This town is a joke. Turning whole formerly green neighbourhoods into concrete ghettos, felling trees wholesale... but come December: "Here, have some tinsel, lest you forget in what a pretty, happy asylum you live." (Just as well that birds are leaving. Imagine sleeping in that tree.)

(Ephemera) Remembering my g-g-uncle Ernest Th. (1894 - 1922), who began his life as a starry-eyed child and a precocious little poet, and then died in a railway accident (?) #OTD in 1922, aged 28.

But wait, there's more! OFFER VALID 365 DAYS A YEAR.

No crows were heard or seen today - not one, anywhere. Then, as I was walking home, I thought: "Poor crows... who knows where they are". A second later, there was a distant caw - and another second later, some 30 crows appeared from nowhere, gliding above me against the sunset. ;) ✨

20. XI. 2025, 14:33 🙂 #UrbanBirds #SparrowsRule

✨☄️ 💙💜