The MS of the week is RIA MS D ii 1, the Book of Uí Mhaine. This late 14th century manuscript contains a late Middle Irish versified form of the 17 Wonders of the Night of Christ’s Birth. This apocryphal tradition includes miracles such as fruiting vines in the middle of winter🍇

A vile column from Murdoch’s Times. Can they really believe child abuse is something that should be forgiven/forgotten? A newspaper that wrongly considers some Queer ppl subhuman & threats to children, but calls for >actual< child abusers, & their facilitators, to be forgiven? Sick stuff.

🎁 Ever heard someone say, “It’s a shame to tear the packaging”? We agree! At the National Museum of Ireland, boxes and containers tell stories as fascinating as what’s inside. Discover more in our latest blog: www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collec... #NMIBlog #RegistrationCorner #Museumology #MuseumBlog

As part of Gaelic culture ppl are judged on their hospitality & generosity. We even have a word for it: flaithiulach. Indeed, the expectations of hospitality, by class, were laid down in the early medieval period in the Brehon Laws. There’s no worry about Ireland losing its culture.

Flowers in stone | Paul Klee

The apothecary Pierre Quthe, with his herbal. Painted in 1562 by François Clouet, whose day is today.

The singer-songwriter Chris Rea, known for hits including Driving Home for Christmas, has died at the age of 74, a spokesperson for his family has said

It’s v hard to take seriously, a tulip who used his law degree to be responsible for urine-testing sailors in the US Navy & advising on torture legalities. A morally-shorted man with a tiny mind, all het up. Or at least as far as his platformed, elevator lifted, Cuban heels!*

Given how amazingly fit Alan is, I have decided that he is doing my allotted amount of exercise. Whilst he was up sprinting through the wilderness, I was having mince pies for breakfast! Apologies Alan but you’re running for two of us 😉 Happy Holidays!

A very sensible reply I got. I tried to work out what context it was. Was it Irish, English, Canadian or US? This matters in how one might respond, as each country has diff events & contexts. So even if you want to be completely anonymous, at least add your country to your bio*

It’s not enough that people can dehumanise others, with the excuse of ‘free speech’, now they cannot be allowed to protest at that. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”*

Two very perfect Amanita muscaria grows side-by-side in a wonderful coastal pine forest 📷 Canon 5D Mk III Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM M, f/2.8, 1/80, ISO 320 Stack of 60 images 10/23/21 Northern Oregon Coast #mushroom #fungifriends #mushrooms 🍄📷 📸🎞 🌿🌱 🟢 🍄 🍄‍🟫

Archaeology Advent Calendar Day 21 "Jug with a Man and Deer" Cypriot Red-Polished Ware Jug with figurative scene of seated human, deer and bowl. Perhaps he is milking the deer? Early-Middle Cypriot, c. 2300–1600 BCE Getty Museum 2001.79 www.getty.edu/art/collecti...

Hopeful male Hazel (Corylus avellana) catkins getting their pollen ready early, in chilly North Leitrim. (Sharing these photos for the sheer unlikeliness of them coming out at all...trembly tree, gale force winds, flappy phone case and the wrong glasses 🤣) @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

The Irish mind cannot comprehend this [or school shootings] - source NYT

It's Sunday, it's 8pm so it must be #WildFlowerHour! Please share pix of any wild or naturalised plants you spotted in bloom last week across Britain & Ireland. Mystery plant? Use #WildFlowerID to summon help from friendly @wildflowerhour.bsky.social botanists!

There’s much mumbo-jumbo about the Solstice & ersatz ‘Celtic’ religious practise about this feast. It can be quite painful hearing self-appointed foreign ‘believers’ combine everything from the Tuatha Dé Dannan, to Nazi mythology, in their ignorant claims. So here’s some factual info on Grianstad!

Someone made the mistake of saying Western culture was in danger last night. I read them the riot act, pointed out that although Ireland is part of the West, it has a separate culture & that that culture is central to our lives every day. When they tried arguing, I switched to Irish & they shut up.

I repost Tristan on a regular basis because he is that singular person - a botanist’s botanist. And he takes superb photos.

Nollaig Shona Duit! Remember people who tell you they have, or who expect, a perfect Christmas are either on a very high Xanax titration, or are passively aggressive towards humanity!

Early July 2025 in the Swiss Alps. Vanilla Orchids Gymnadenia rhellicani were abundant in all the Alpine meadows: countless thousands of raspberry pom-poms.

Here’s a blast from my past in 1978. Farmhouse Kitchen was two no-nonsense sensible women sorting out the cooking. This was a Christmas special. The [old] cookbook was presented to me by my mum when I left college 33y ago, & has followed me around the world ever since!

Housewife has had quite a lot too much to drink and soon will be flat on floor alongside dog. Fun times in Dutch Golden Age w/ Pieter de Hooch, born OTD 1629.

Happy Solstice 2025 Watch live: Winter Solstice sunrise from ancient tomb at Newgrange #newgrangesolstice #speirgorm www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

🧵 With recent direction to the FBI to treat Queer organisations as domestic terrorism, I know there are many LGBTQ ppl looking for options. There are two Irish paths. One is to apply for further education, the other is to look at whether you qualify for Irish citizenship by descent. Here’s more info

There is no longer famine in Gaza, a global hunger monitor has said, after access for humanitarian and commercial food deliveries improved following a fragile 10 October ceasefire. The latest assessment … comes 4 months after ⁠it said … nearly a quarter of … Gaza[ns] - were experiencing famine.

🧵 From my home to yours, I’d like to wish you a merry Christmas! My biggest annual creation is my tree, as you can see here. I spend most of my time creating one-off ink on paper drawings, which you can see in this thread! There’s also a special at the moment. [1]

By early June 2025 it was time to explore the dark art of Sedgology. Here are Dotted Sedge Carex punctata, Bog Sedge Carex limosa, Slender Sedge Carex lasiocarpa, and Soft-leaved Sedge Carex montana, all in Hampshire's New Forest. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

My friend called over, just for a chat & on top of a Christmas present, she also gave me a tin of homemade mince pies. Now that’s the festive feeling! ❤️

🧵 With recent direction to the FBI to treat Queer organisations as domestic terrorism, I know there are many LGBTQ ppl looking for options. There are two Irish paths. One is to apply for further education, the other is to look at whether you qualify for Irish citizenship by descent. Here’s more info

Irish HSE (NHS equivalent) has criticised the terrible National Gender Service (NGS), which many view as transphobic, & reactionary. Govt has made clear they want a healthcare system that’s right for trans & non-binary ppl. This is unprecedented & the first time that the HSE has called out the NGS.

The holidays can bring things up. There is always someone to listen. In Ireland, & the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123. In the US call 988. Listening; even in silence, being there. Everyone goes thru something. If you are in a different country, feel free to share my example with your helpline.

Cot A woman bends Whispering loving words Soft hand on my cheek She draws my breath In a silver thread Through my open lips Weaving it between her fingers Hoping to take my voice I bite the silver She folds to the earth floor And turns to sand She does not know I have the bard's tooth #PegsPoyums

🧵 From my home to yours, I’d like to wish you a merry Christmas! My biggest annual creation is my tree, as you can see here. I spend most of my time creating one-off ink on paper drawings, which you can see in this thread! There’s also a special at the moment. [1]

The EU is not valid, based on law & the European Convention on Human Rights, if it does not face up to the dehumanisation & persecution of LGBTQ ppl in Hungary. The Commission needs to answer, why are the 9.7% LGBTQ Europeans, valued less than other Europeans? 👉Teacher facing jail

Many thanks to Monkstown Educate Together NS for the lovely cards and presents. D Watch Dun Laoghaire were delighted to drop Santa there last week for their Christmas Fair.

For readers who are about to lose care, I have been told that the Trans Youth Emergency Project is helping the families of trans youth contingency plan to access that care. www.transyouthemergencyproject.org

2025 continues. By mid-May the local chalk woods are the haunt of orchids. Fly Orchid Ophrys insectifera in the Meon Valley, and Bird's-nest Orchid Neottia nidus-avis and White Helleborine Cephalanthera damasonium around the village, ten minutes from the door. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

The two most interesting areas of research I think, where visionary things are happening, are the science of the brain & work on anti-virus drugs. As always cancer breakthroughs* are the thing to watch. A lot of media focuses on less important things. This is a great overview of some brain research:

Special find Ancient Beech Woodland near 11th Century Norman motte-and-bailey Castle remains Erddig Park. Rare glimpse of Verdigris Roundhead Stropharia aeruginosa, looks Emerald Green projects deep Blue-Green. Retains Flaky veil unlike Blue Roundhead #fungifriends

I heard a conversation about adult sex abuse, where the belief was if the victim didn’t react, it wasn’t abuse! As someone who experienced abuse, being groped at a funeral by a priest, I can tell you that shock, disbelief & embarrassment play a massive part in not reacting*. Believe survivors.

Irish President Catherine Connolly, this afternoon, received Swedish activist Ms. Greta Thunberg at Áras an Uachtaráin on a courtesy call. Great to see two strong women on the right side of history!

Delighted with this very thorough and engaged review by Laura Kelly of Jenifer Redmonds and my book ‘the politics of gender and sexuality in modern ireland; a reader’ availsble from Four Courts Press #history #irishhistory #speirgorm www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Here’s how to get my one-off ink on paper drawings. There’s a special offer now, where when you purchase a drawing, you can get a second for just €50 [about £45/$55]. Just DM me to let me sort it out for you! Visit: robbohan.etsy.com

Nigel Farage’s 25 schoolmates call him out: ‘We have recalled the verbal abuse you regularly directed at … pupils of Jewish, Black and Asian heritage; as well as loudly and proudly proclaiming your high regard for Fascist leaders and orgs, from Hitler to Mosley, from the Nazis to the National Front’

🧵 I was quite worried when President Trump said Europe was in civilisational erasure. As an Irish European [I even have French ancestors] doing my bit for culture, I don’t want to be rubbed out!! If you want to ensure I’m indelible here’s how to acquire my one-off drawings! My pic is of Dublin [1]

The My Voice, My Choice campaign gets a vote on Wed. in the European Parliament. It would enable women from EU countries that restrict abortion to have free abortions in another member state. It's expected to pass but the European Commission ​must still decide whether to adopt the proposal.

What a legend.

🧵 Constantin Hansen (1804-80) was from the Golden Age of Danish art. He created beautiful & charismatic portraits & was fascinated with the Classical world & reflected that in his neoclassical work. I like that despite a certain Danish coldness, his personality shines through. [1]