James Mitchell
@plainfeather.bsky.social
Retired book publisher and author, medievalist, photographer, Soto Zen student, early musician, San Francisco resident since 1967, unrepentant hippie. Like Bluesky, life is plenitudinous.
Probably just as well that this ancient species of whale has gone extinct. [Livres du Tresor, ca. 1315-1325, f. 49v.]
#medievalsky
#medievalsky
December 15, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Probably just as well that this ancient species of whale has gone extinct. [Livres du Tresor, ca. 1315-1325, f. 49v.]
#medievalsky
#medievalsky
Classic New Yorker cartoon.
#SundayFunnies
#SundayFunnies
December 14, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Classic New Yorker cartoon.
#SundayFunnies
#SundayFunnies
December 11, 2025 at 4:49 PM
December 10, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Hendrick Avercamp, 1615, Winter landscape on a canal. Note hockey player bottom center, behind the flat boat.
#oilpainting
#oilpainting
December 8, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Hendrick Avercamp, 1615, Winter landscape on a canal. Note hockey player bottom center, behind the flat boat.
#oilpainting
#oilpainting
So here's my idea for a new start-up: we manufacture exact reproductions of Egyptian canopic jars from environment-friendly ceramic material, for use as burial urns to hold cremation ashes. If you can't live like a pharaoh, why not die like one. Could 3-D printers provide production models?
December 7, 2025 at 3:24 PM
So here's my idea for a new start-up: we manufacture exact reproductions of Egyptian canopic jars from environment-friendly ceramic material, for use as burial urns to hold cremation ashes. If you can't live like a pharaoh, why not die like one. Could 3-D printers provide production models?
Xmas shopping began with ordering a tinned fruit cake, as shown in this 1947 Sears Roebuck catalog. The Rum and Brandy version for $2.98 was so stuffed with alcohol, sugary fruits, nuts and butter (with hot vanilla cream sauce added on top) that you couldn't get down more than a couple mouthfuls.
December 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Xmas shopping began with ordering a tinned fruit cake, as shown in this 1947 Sears Roebuck catalog. The Rum and Brandy version for $2.98 was so stuffed with alcohol, sugary fruits, nuts and butter (with hot vanilla cream sauce added on top) that you couldn't get down more than a couple mouthfuls.
NYC in wartime, looks like Broadway around 46th or 47th. If the clock is right, the crowds are probably gathering for a two o'clock movie matinee. I remember the Horn & Hardart Automats, and the big heavy overcoats people wore in those days.
#NewYorkCity
#NewYorkCity
December 4, 2025 at 4:22 PM
NYC in wartime, looks like Broadway around 46th or 47th. If the clock is right, the crowds are probably gathering for a two o'clock movie matinee. I remember the Horn & Hardart Automats, and the big heavy overcoats people wore in those days.
#NewYorkCity
#NewYorkCity
Photo: Nima Sarikhani, The Guardian.
December 2, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Photo: Nima Sarikhani, The Guardian.
December 1, 2025 at 3:49 PM
This creature is called an aak grasshopper and aside maybe from reproductive urgency, I seriously wonder just what message it is trying to send forth into the world.
#entomology
#entomology
November 30, 2025 at 4:56 PM
This creature is called an aak grasshopper and aside maybe from reproductive urgency, I seriously wonder just what message it is trying to send forth into the world.
#entomology
#entomology
An early depiction of the Trojan Horse.
Mykonos vase, Archaeological Museum of Mykonos, Inv. 2240.
#archaeology
Mykonos vase, Archaeological Museum of Mykonos, Inv. 2240.
#archaeology
November 28, 2025 at 4:05 PM
An early depiction of the Trojan Horse.
Mykonos vase, Archaeological Museum of Mykonos, Inv. 2240.
#archaeology
Mykonos vase, Archaeological Museum of Mykonos, Inv. 2240.
#archaeology
Octopus hiding from a fisherman. Detail from a drinking cup ca. 500 BC. Thx: @archaeologyart.
#archaeology
#archaeology
November 26, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Octopus hiding from a fisherman. Detail from a drinking cup ca. 500 BC. Thx: @archaeologyart.
#archaeology
#archaeology
Gustav Klimt, tarot card, 1907.
#oilpainting
#oilpainting
November 24, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Gustav Klimt, tarot card, 1907.
#oilpainting
#oilpainting
I like to think Armani would have loved this Larson cartoon.
#SundayFunnies
#SundayFunnies
November 23, 2025 at 2:07 PM
I like to think Armani would have loved this Larson cartoon.
#SundayFunnies
#SundayFunnies
Getting ready for winter.
"This year we'll do everything different. This winter we'll chip in together and buy a bright-as-day lamp. Then we'll produce lots of seratonin and share it equally."
(Comic artist: Lukas Jüliger, Le monde diplomatique.)
"This year we'll do everything different. This winter we'll chip in together and buy a bright-as-day lamp. Then we'll produce lots of seratonin and share it equally."
(Comic artist: Lukas Jüliger, Le monde diplomatique.)
November 20, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Getting ready for winter.
"This year we'll do everything different. This winter we'll chip in together and buy a bright-as-day lamp. Then we'll produce lots of seratonin and share it equally."
(Comic artist: Lukas Jüliger, Le monde diplomatique.)
"This year we'll do everything different. This winter we'll chip in together and buy a bright-as-day lamp. Then we'll produce lots of seratonin and share it equally."
(Comic artist: Lukas Jüliger, Le monde diplomatique.)
Reposted by James Mitchell
