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randalljamesp.bsky.social
James Randall
@randalljamesp.bsky.social
900 followers 1.4K following 420 posts
wild stories & things mostly — writing adult & children’s creative non-fiction and fiction, incl. illustrated folktales & non-fiction (26/27) - Hachette, HarperCollins. Also edit and devise. PhD, Goldsmiths (literature).
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Reposted by James Randall
curiousordinary.bsky.social
I just published a new article about turtles in Japanese folklore and culture including folktales, yokai, ghosts, and art. I really hope you enjoy it! 🐢
open.substack.com/pub/curiouso...
#JapaneseFolklore #JapaneseArt
Turtles in Japanese Folklore and Culture
Folktales, yokai, symbolism and art
open.substack.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Reposted by James Randall
nothingsmonstrd.bsky.social
Odysseus and Nausicaa — Alice and Martin Provensen, 1956
Illustration of a scene from The Odyssey. Odysseus, a naked and desperate Castaway, kneels by the bank of a little stream he is naked but modestly hiding behind a bush. on the other side of the stream the princess Nausicaa stands listening cautiously to his plea while her ladies in waiting run for it
November 30, 2025 at 3:53 AM
Reposted by James Randall
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
#InternationalJaguarDay :
#Jaguar Metate
Las Mercedes, Costa Rica, c.1000-1400
Volcanic stone (andesite)
On display at Brooklyn Museum (34.5088)
#CentralAmericanArt #IndigenousArt
Photo of the jaguar metate in display case (side profile) with label “Central Caribbean artist Jaguar Metate, 1000-1400 Las Mercedes, Costa Rica Volcanic stone (andesite) Alfred W. Jenkins Fund, 34.5088 This metate, or grinding stone, was most likely a ceremonial object. The diamond-shaped relief carvings on the head and tail, and the circular designs on the legs probably represent the animal's spotted fur. Jaguars are frequently represented in Costa Rican objects. As fierce predators, they were revered and feared for their agility and strength. These qualities fit the animal's supernatural aspect as a deity of the underworld, darkness, and death.”
November 30, 2025 at 4:32 AM
Reposted by James Randall
elnopower.bsky.social
Red-bearded Bee-eater.

The red-bearded bee-eater (Nyctyornis amictus) is a large species of bee-eater found in southern Myanmar, the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra and nearby smaller islands. This species is found in openings in patches of dense forest.

📸: Somchai K.
November 29, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by James Randall
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
For #InternationalJaguarDay :
Reclining #Jaguar, c.1400-1521
#Aztec artist, Mexico
Volcanic stone
From Brooklyn Museum’s “Climate in Crisis: Environmental Change in the Indigenous Americas” exhibition (2023)
#MesoamericanArt #IndigenousArt
photo of the jaguar stone sculpture and its label on display at museum “Aztec artist Reclining Jaguar, 1400-1521 Mexico Volcanic stone Carli H. de Silver Fund, 38.45 The Aztec Empire, centered in the Valley of Mexico, existed from 1325 until the Spanish conquest of 1521. This reclining jaguar is an excellent example of Aztec naturalistic sculpture. Every part of the animal is carefully rendered, including the underside, where the paw pads are carved in low relief. To the Aztec, the jaguar symbolized power, courage, and a warlike attitude. Some of the highest-ranking warriors were called jaguar warriors, and rulers associated themselves with Tezcatlipoca, a deity who sometimes assumed the guise of this powerful predator.”
November 30, 2025 at 4:14 AM
Reposted by James Randall
kinesthetiac.bsky.social
The Boat (Virgin with Corona) (Odilon Redon, 1898)
November 30, 2025 at 7:01 AM
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skittlesmom.bsky.social
Oak leaf floating in the shallows on a drizzly day.
November 30, 2025 at 2:14 PM
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bearysweet.bsky.social
A bubble coral shrimp (Hamopontonia physogrya).

This species is very small, typically less than 1 cm long. It is often found in bubble corals. The shrimp helps clean the corals of parasites and debris, while being provided with shelter in return.

#marinelife #macrophotography
November 30, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Reposted by James Randall
namehereok.bsky.social
“I like when I evergreen, current and berry…”
-Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

#quotes #poetry #poems #poem #whatimreading #booksky #trommer
November 29, 2025 at 6:52 PM
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annpersand.bsky.social
Jiří Kolář (1914-2002), Butterflies (collage)
November 29, 2025 at 7:29 PM
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kpw1453.bsky.social
One of the half-human, half-deer headdresses found at the important Mesolithic site at Star Carr in North Yorkshire. Dating to around 9000 BC, this example is part of the collections at the British Museum. 📸 My own. #Mesolithic #StarrCarr #Archaeology
November 29, 2025 at 7:51 AM
randalljamesp.bsky.social
window constellation
November 30, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Reposted by James Randall
houseofbast777.bsky.social
'Winged Horse' (This Maria Drew Animals)
1936, gouache on paper
Maria Prymachenko, Ukrainian self-taught artist, 1909-1997
November 29, 2025 at 5:27 PM
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jamestbimmel.bsky.social
'In der Innenstadt' #FotoVorschlag
Hochhäuser in Frankfurt
Blick zwischen umstehenden, beleuchteten Hochhäusern nach oben in den dunklen Nachthimmel
November 29, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Reposted by James Randall
may-pisces.bsky.social
Ginkgo tree
November 21, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by James Randall
grays.art
Green heron
(Butorides virescens)

yesterday on the Imperial river
Bonita Springs, Florida

#ColorADay #GreenSat #BlueSkyArtShow #warmth #green #eastcoastkin #native #birds #birding #birdoftheday #photography #birdphotography
Small, stocky wading bird, about the size of a crow, that has a distinctive reddish-brown neck and chest, a blackish-green back, and bright yellow legs and feet.
November 29, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Reposted by James Randall
gr8flbluejay.bsky.social
Romare Bearden, American (1911-1988), Circe, 1977, collage on paper mounted to fiberboard, 15 x 9 3/8 in, Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
November 29, 2025 at 5:00 PM
randalljamesp.bsky.social
behold: today’s figure appearing in oak, Newton st Loe
November 29, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by James Randall
womensartbluesky.bsky.social
'Blue Light' by contemporary, Brighton-based, UK painter Emma Brownjohn #WomensArt
Painting of a townscape at dusk or dawn with a large square with many people walking and with a row of buildings in the background with lights in the windows, the scene is all bathed in blue light
November 29, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Reposted by James Randall
jiminyspigot.bsky.social
jiminy's animal reviews: This dandy little fella is a blue-back reed frog (𝘏𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘹𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴), a bush frog found in eastern Madagascar. Blue and yellow is the most common coloration, but they can change it to anything from a soft white, yellow, or a dark brown. 🧵
A small frog sitting crouched with its legs tucked in on a plant frond. It is a soft pastel blue on top, pale yellow underneath, and has two large brown eyes with a thick black line going from the tip of its nose to its eyes. "Heterixalus madagascariensis" by Pavel Kirillov is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=openverse.
November 29, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Reposted by James Randall
bird-nerdco.bsky.social
#FossilFriday
Fossilized Ammonite (Bacculites compressus) from the former Western Interior Seaway, which helped form the Pierre Shale formation.
Ammonite
November 29, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Reposted by James Randall
themythofmemory.bsky.social
Hands weaving magnetic-core memory, IBM, Poughkeepsie, New York, 1956. Photograph by Ansel Adams.
November 26, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Reposted by James Randall
worldwildlife.bsky.social
When it gets really cold bluebirds roost together in a pile using collective body heat to help them survive. They arrange themselves so they don’t smother & alternate positions within the pile. Photo by Wildlife Rehabilitators of North Carolina (WRNC). Thank you Van Harris for sharing this. 🐦 #birds
November 29, 2025 at 2:37 AM
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theresjustnopo1.bsky.social
Praise Song Praise the light of late November, the thin sunlight that goes deep in the bones. Praise the crows chattering in the oak trees; though they are clothed in night, they do not despair. Praise what little there's left: the small boats of milkweed pods, husks, hulls, shells, the architecture of trees. Praise the meadow of dried weeds: yarrow, goldenrod, chicory, the remains of summer. Praise the blue sky that hasn't cracked yet. Praise the sun slipping down behind the beechnuts, praise the quilt of leaves that covers the grass: Scarlet Oak, Sweet Gum, Sugar Maple. Though darkness gathers, praise our crazy fallen world; it's all we have, and it's never enough. A poem by Barbara Crooker
November 28, 2025 at 6:19 PM
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oopsland.bsky.social
Nuit
Nuit
November 18, 2025 at 7:52 PM