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.
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.)
November 19, 2025 at 5:04 PM
The Carcer Tullianum, a Roman prison to hold prisoners awaiting trial or execution, known as the Mamertine Prison. Alumni included the Catiline conspirators, Vercingetorix, Sejanus, and St. Peter. The prisoners enjoyed plenty of fresh air through the hole in the roof. Thx: Dr Jo Ball.
#Archaeology
#Archaeology
November 18, 2025 at 5:01 PM
The Carcer Tullianum, a Roman prison to hold prisoners awaiting trial or execution, known as the Mamertine Prison. Alumni included the Catiline conspirators, Vercingetorix, Sejanus, and St. Peter. The prisoners enjoyed plenty of fresh air through the hole in the roof. Thx: Dr Jo Ball.
#Archaeology
#Archaeology
The pointy Playtex Maidenform bra is a happy male adolescent memory of the 1950s, even yet awakening a tiny frisson of excitement. It is shown here in a photo from the world of British sport, stretching a tight sweater, always its best viewing platform, to the point of structural unsustainability.
November 17, 2025 at 4:07 PM
The pointy Playtex Maidenform bra is a happy male adolescent memory of the 1950s, even yet awakening a tiny frisson of excitement. It is shown here in a photo from the world of British sport, stretching a tight sweater, always its best viewing platform, to the point of structural unsustainability.
This pleasantly self-skeptical portrait by Egon Schiele from 1912 reminds me I've not seen any Japanese lantern plants (Physalis alkekengi) since moving to California 58 yrs ago. In New England people would put them on the fireplace mantel in a vase with dried flowers during the winter.
#oilpainting
#oilpainting
November 16, 2025 at 5:33 PM
This pleasantly self-skeptical portrait by Egon Schiele from 1912 reminds me I've not seen any Japanese lantern plants (Physalis alkekengi) since moving to California 58 yrs ago. In New England people would put them on the fireplace mantel in a vase with dried flowers during the winter.
#oilpainting
#oilpainting
Greek archaic period, ca. 600-570 BCE. Museo Archeologico Regionale, Palermo.
#archaeology #antiquity
#archaeology #antiquity
November 12, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Greek archaic period, ca. 600-570 BCE. Museo Archeologico Regionale, Palermo.
#archaeology #antiquity
#archaeology #antiquity
For me this is the apotheosis of American automobile manufacture, the 1949 DeSoto convertible, appearing at a time when almost all cars were black. Plymouth produced similarly colorful models through the 1950s, replacing
#wheels
#wheels
November 11, 2025 at 3:53 PM
For me this is the apotheosis of American automobile manufacture, the 1949 DeSoto convertible, appearing at a time when almost all cars were black. Plymouth produced similarly colorful models through the 1950s, replacing
#wheels
#wheels
Egon Schiele, Four Trees, 1918.
#Oilpainting
#Oilpainting
November 10, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Egon Schiele, Four Trees, 1918.
#Oilpainting
#Oilpainting
Remembrance Day in the U.K.
November 9, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Remembrance Day in the U.K.
I always thought if I won some insane amount of money at the lottery, I would wind up paying someone to get rid of it for me as soon as possible. But not before building myself a modest little space for books, along the lines of the Morgan Library perhaps.
#books
#books
November 6, 2025 at 4:00 PM
I always thought if I won some insane amount of money at the lottery, I would wind up paying someone to get rid of it for me as soon as possible. But not before building myself a modest little space for books, along the lines of the Morgan Library perhaps.
#books
#books
Remember, remember, the fifth of November...
This illustration taken from 'Mischeefes mysterie London' in the British Library shows Guy Fawkes being halted at the Houses of Parliament while attempting to carry out the Gunpowder Plot.
#GuyFawkesNight
This illustration taken from 'Mischeefes mysterie London' in the British Library shows Guy Fawkes being halted at the Houses of Parliament while attempting to carry out the Gunpowder Plot.
#GuyFawkesNight
November 5, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Remember, remember, the fifth of November...
This illustration taken from 'Mischeefes mysterie London' in the British Library shows Guy Fawkes being halted at the Houses of Parliament while attempting to carry out the Gunpowder Plot.
#GuyFawkesNight
This illustration taken from 'Mischeefes mysterie London' in the British Library shows Guy Fawkes being halted at the Houses of Parliament while attempting to carry out the Gunpowder Plot.
#GuyFawkesNight
There came to him an image of man’s whole life upon the earth. It seemed to him like a tiny spurt of flame that blazed out briefly in an illimitable and terrifying darkness, and that all man’s grandeur, tragic dignity, his heroic glory, came from the brevity and smallness of this flame.
#books
#books
November 5, 2025 at 5:06 AM
There came to him an image of man’s whole life upon the earth. It seemed to him like a tiny spurt of flame that blazed out briefly in an illimitable and terrifying darkness, and that all man’s grandeur, tragic dignity, his heroic glory, came from the brevity and smallness of this flame.
#books
#books
Día de Muertos costume in Tenancingo de Degollado. Photo: Cristopher Rogel, The Guardian.
#DiaDeMuertos
#DiaDeMuertos
November 4, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Día de Muertos costume in Tenancingo de Degollado. Photo: Cristopher Rogel, The Guardian.
#DiaDeMuertos
#DiaDeMuertos
It seems appropriate to post a couple cemetery pictures on All Souls' Day.
#DíaDeMuertos
#DíaDeMuertos
November 2, 2025 at 9:18 PM
It seems appropriate to post a couple cemetery pictures on All Souls' Day.
#DíaDeMuertos
#DíaDeMuertos