J Richards

Le Carre it ain't :(

The place that stayed with me: after a treacherous route through open desert, at Mina Mina I saw holiness ‘One day, Nangala,’ Aunty Agnes would say. ‘We’ll dance together at Mina Mina.’ And one day, for no good reason, I answered her: ‘Let’s do this thing’ * Read more summer essentials There are places on this Earth that still belong to themselves, places where very few people have stood. And some of those places are holy. It was the summer of 2018 when we packed my old Hilux and a Troopie and set off from Lajamanu to Mina Mina. It had been Aunty Agnes’s idea. Although she’d painted this place for decades, she’d never set foot on Mina Mina, on her grandfather’s Country, in the jaws of Lake Mackay, Northern Great Sandy Desert. Continue reading...

The place that stayed with me: after a treacherous route through open desert, at Mina Mina I saw holiness

This story is a metaphor for the USA RN no?

Country diary: This is true water music – and the more you listen, the more you hear | Derek Niemann Frome, Somerset: Get tuned in to the river’s sounds and you’re treated to a symphony of noise, from susurrating hisses to great belches

Delightful start to the day with a musical watery @theguardian.com country diary by @derekniemann.bsky.social.

#countrydiary #naturewriting

8 different mittens in varying colours with strong geometric patterns and borders. Blue, cream, white, red and a burnt orange colour. The wool looks chunky and cosy.

For a Monday in January, the Swedish mitten museum digitaltmuseum.se/search?descn...
You're welcome.

Week in wildlife: monkey spa day, a frisky kākāpō and a camouflaged owl This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Week in wildlife: monkey spa day, a frisky kākāpō and a camouflaged owl

Rare hair ice phenomenon in bright white color looking like feathers in the sunlight with dark black shadows.

Close-up of hair ice forming on a piece of wood. Thin, white, silky strands of ice are clustered together, resembling fine hair or cotton candy. The background is blurred, highlighting the delicate texture of the ice.

Close-up of hair ice growing on a small branch. The ice appears as a fluffy, cotton-like cluster with soft, rounded shapes, standing out against a blurred background of brown fallen leaves.

Close-up of hair ice on a piece of rotting wood among brown fallen leaves. The ice forms delicate, white, silky strands and curls, creating a fluffy, feathery appearance against the earthy background.

Have you seen any hair ice? 🍭❄️

These silky ice strands form on rotting wood when temperatures dip below 0°C. A certain fungus triggers a process that changes how the water freezes, making it form into fine, hair-like strands instead of solid ice.

📸Ana Ele/Alby DeTweede/K Neville

#HairIce

Uruguay’s Renewable Charge: A Small Nation, A Big Lesson For The World Uruguay built a power grid that runs 99% on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. Here’s how its bold energy overhaul became a global model.

“Uruguay did what most nations still call impossible: it built a power grid that runs almost entirely on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. The physicist who led that transformation says the same playbook could work anywhere—if governments have the courage to change the rules.”

‘Extraordinary’ iron age war trumpet find in Britain may have Boudicca links Bronze instrument or carnyx dug up in Norfolk in area inhabited by Celtic tribe led by warrior who fought Romans

Pretty sure that once upon a time, digging up an ancient war trumpet associated with bloody resistance to an overbearing empire would have been seen as some kind of omen.

www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

‘Extraordinary’ iron age war trumpet find in Britain may have Boudicca links Bronze instrument or carnyx dug up in Norfolk in area inhabited by Celtic tribe led by warrior who fought Romans

Absolutely sensational find in Norfolk - the most complete carnyx or Iron Age battle trumpet ever discovered, anywhere. Buried in the first century AD in the territory of the Iceni…

www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Iron Age Copper alloy war trumpet being excavated c Norfolk Museum Service

Iron Age shield bosses and wild boar standard

Iron Age Copper alloy boar standard being cleaned c Norfolk Museum service

More on the stunning Iron Age carnyx found in #Norfolk with boar standard and shield bosses

👇👇👇

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Found by PreConstruct Archaeology and featuring in episode 2 of the new series of #DiggingForBritain with @profaliceroberts.bsky.social on BBC2

Wowzers 🤩

A forlorn landscape of layered rocks in the foreground, with hills fading into the background haze. At upper top right, a small crescent moon, and a bright star.

Open up this picture fully.

Then look at the surface of Mars.

Then look up to the top right.

Spot Mars' moon Phobos high in the sky.

Then notice the bright spot beside Phobos.

That's Earth.

Dark Energy may be changing and with it the fate of the Universe A mysterious force called Dark Energy might be changing, in a way that challenges our current understanding of the nature of time and space.

'Consequently there will continue to be passionate, sometimes contentious, debate over whether the cosmos is gently whispering to us about its true nature, or whether astronomers are chasing celestial ghosts.'

A salutary, unusually poetic reminder of the contingency of scientific knowledge.

There's treats in the box! Merry Christmas bleaters

Day 23 and we've reached penultimate window of this year’s Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar!

Today’s word is:

🌊 strand — 'the land bordering a sea, a shore or beach'

Common to Germanic, strand being the default ‘beach’ word in Dutch, German, Danish and Norwegian.

Country diary: The clock is ticking for these colourful castaways | Claire Stares Hayling Island, Hampshire: Piles of goose barnacles are stranded on the beach after a long journey hitched on a barrel. They’re fascinating creatures, but they won’t survive long

Barrel-travellers washed up on a Hampshire beach in today's @theguardian.com country diary by Claire Stares.

#countrydiary #naturewriting

Margot Robbie in red latex, Kate Bush impersonators and a pint of Emily ale: my crash course in Brontëmania As Wuthering Heights gets a raunchy Hollywood remake, our writer takes a pilgrimage through Haworth, the village where its author lived – and finds her spirit still electrifying the cobbled streets and windswept moors

Margot Robbie in red latex, Kate Bush impersonators and a pint of Emily ale: my crash course in Brontëmania

Museum Our Lord in the Attic - Museum Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder Hidden in the heart of the city centre of Amsterdam is a small wonder: Our Lord in the Attic Museum. Visitors will be going on a journey in a unique well-preserved canal house from the 17th century.

opsolder.nl/en/museum-ou...

How lovely. Thank you.

Aerial view of the hill at Cerne Abbas with the white chalk giant outline. Text reads, We can supersize nature. The graphic of an orange butterfly sits over the text.

We’ve launched a Crowdfunder to help us reach our target. This runs to 4th January 2026 and those who donate to the Crowdfunder will be entered into a prize draw with a chance to get hands-on at the giant re-chalking event in 2026: buff.ly/rXcf4Ao

So sad to hear about Tom Stoppard. Such a supreme writer of dialogue. From the zingers in ‘Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade’. To the cricket bat scene – when Henry demonstrates bad writing vs good writing – in ‘The Real Thing’. Loved his work so much.

We shed as we pick up. [farewell to the master]

This play. This passage. Simply the best ever – or at lesst most succinct – defence and justification for the very idea of Civilisation ever written.

This is why we’re here. Because of what this means. And because someone can put it into words like this.

open.substack.com/pub/benjamin...

obvs

'Berkeley Square' (c.1935) by Stanisława de Karłowska
(Tate)
-----
🎵 'A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square' by Vera Lynn
youtu.be/xTeiYN_Vq6E?...

This ⬇️

The BBC – Part one – Inform, educate, entertain Podcast Episode · Origin Story · 04/12/2024 · 1h 12m

Just saying
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Bridget Riley: ‘I want my paintings to make people feel alive’ [FREE TO READ] The 94-year-old doyenne of British abstract art on influences from Seurat to Mondrian, her wartime childhood in Cornwall — and ‘the healing power of looking’

Wishing only continued excellent health to inspirational 94 year old artist Bridget Riley on.ft.com/43ZrQTM

Country diary: Red-hot spindle sets the hedgerow ablaze | Nic Wilson Braughing, Hertfordshire: This fiery plant is one of the most startling sights of autumn – and it has a place in history in this county

In today's @theguardian.com country diary, I'm hunting for the county's first ever recorded wild plant along the same the road where it was spotted by the father of British botany, William Turner, in 1548.

#naturewriting #countrydiary