A nice hike yesterday 😁
But for the first time I had to explain to someone how "allemansrätt" or right of public access works.
They wanted to chase me out of their forrest because it was "private", but that's not how it works in most Nordic countries...
After a years long break I finally went out snorkling again, it was cold and windy, the water was murky, and I was barely able to got my wetsuit off afterwards. 😂
But I did find a stone of flint, that looks like it may have been hacked to be sharp on the bottom, so by my standards it was a success! 🥳
Ursprünglich im Süden Brasiliens beheimatet und dort vielfach an Gewässerrändern zu finden. Die Pflanze ist mit ihren Blättern von teils über 1 m Durchmesser an bis zu 2 m langen #bedornten#Blattstielen sowohl in Gruppen als auch Solitärpflanze ein beeindruckendes Gewächs.
Im Frühsommer erscheinen die bis über einen Meter langen Blütenstände, die tausende sehr kleine, grünlich-rötliche Einzelblüten tragen.
Massive science stuff happening . I ordered Professor Dugatskin book. The well Connected animal! https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo212549914.html
On a side note
Here’s one for you I think you will find fascinating and quite enjoyable and relatable.
I like the authors playful but candid style of writing.
Camilla Pang, a computational biologist, cancer researcher and writer :)
I’ve just finished The Next Big Thing by Anita Brookner which was a great and sometimes difficult read. It’s about Julius who’s in his 70s and is now retired. His parents and brother have died and his wife has left him. He’s living alone in central London, his adopted city after his family fled from Nazi Germany. He’s looking for the next big thing in his life, pondering his past and feeling concern for his failing health. Sounds gloomy, right?! Well, the insightful writing just carries you along and pulls you in before you know it and you’re hooked on this story of loneliness and regret in later life. I found myself, like I often do with Anita Brookner, rereading sections due to the beautiful prose. Here’s an example to give you a flavour:
“He raised his eyes to a rooffline bristling with television aerials , lowered them again to windows still blank before the evening lights were lit. The sky was already darkening; signs of spring were absent, and yet the chilly damp held a promise of greenness, of new life only just in abeyance. it was even possible to appreciate that sky; its opaque blue reminded him of certain pictures, though no picture could compete with this strange sense of immanence. With the crust of the earth ready to break into life, the roots expanding to disclose flowers, the trees graciously putting forth leaves. The impassivity of nature never ceased to amaze him. This awakening process was surely superior to anything captured on canvas, yet art made all phenomena its province.in its unceasing war with the effort of capturing moments of time art won this unequal contest, but only just. The majestic indifference of nature was there to remind one of ones place, and no doubt to serve as a corrective to the artist’s ambition. When the canvas was finished it was already a relic, outside change. And surely change was primordial; all must obey it. To ignore the process was to ignore the evidence of one’s own evolutionary cycle.’
Haunting, introspective and with a hint of dark comedy this was so good, just maybe one to approach with caution if yu’re about to retire! This novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2002. #bookstodon#AmReading#Braille#BookReview#nature@bookstodon
Kajū-ji or Kanshū-ji (勸修寺) is a Shingon Buddhist temple in Kyōto founded in 900 by Emperor Daigo. It is near Daigo-ji and was built where the Emperor's wife lived as a tribute to her. The Imperial family traditionally provided the head priests.
I go there mainly for the garden and pond, which are also historic. Wisteria blossoms are over, and now there are yellow, purple, and white irises in the pond along with pink and white water lilies. I've also noticed big herons nesting in the treetops, but they are too far for a mobile phone to capture a clear picture. By the pond I did startle a young egret, to my regret 😅 .