T. Michael Redmond

@tmr65

Irish-born 🇮🇪. Vocation: vision scientist; avocation: traveling natural history/landscapes/art and architecture photographer. Most images I post are mine; others not, properly attributed. All opinions personal.

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Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir tmr65.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· 16d

An expired Eastern Cicada Killer Wasp. These are enormous– wingspan pushing 2 inches– but harmless to humans while murder to cicadas!

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· 17d

Something my wife bought at a sale at her glass studio for $5! Every single type of micro head you could imagine to tear anything electronic/photo down!

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· Jul 1

20 seconds of firefly sparking tonight with a fireworks soundtrack!

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· Jun 28

Notice to Vampires: Avoid this house in Maryland due to hazardous quantities of newly harvested garlic.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· Jun 20

Switzerland gets the message.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· Jun 19

An all black video capturing the song of a calling Eurasian Scops Owl. Listen in the middle for single mournful sounding hoots. Another attendee at a meeting in Mallorca who knew I was a birder mentioned that he was hearing this near his hotel. So I went to the vicinity and got this.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· Jun 17

A Renault 4; Valldemosta, Balearic Islands, Spain. This car is an icon of my childhood. They assembled them in my hometown of Wexford, Ireland. You can still see them in places like Argentina or Morocco, still running. LIt must be 40 or 50 years old!

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· Jun 15

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: Hazy, zoomed in image of The Rising Sun, a 138 metre superyacht in Palma (where I am for a conference) Harbour. Owned by David Geffen, formerly owned by Larry Ellison.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· Jun 9

One of my tasks in Ireland was to get decent marmalade and honey. This should keep us going for a year or so. Murder on luggage weight, though!

Six jars of preserves on the left wit 2 jars of honey on the right, on a grey kitchen counter.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· Jun 7

Our ride back to DC, a “Pencil Rocket”, has arrived!

A 757 jet aircraft in United livery approaches its gate at an airport. Seen behind the wing of another plane. A ground staff person in yellow hi-vis jacket stands to the left of the wing.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· Jun 5

The High Cross of the Scriptures (ca 900 AD) at the preeminent Irish monastic site of Clonmacnoise founded 548 AD, from whence the “Isle of Saints and Scholars” sent missionaries to Dark Ages Europe to keep the flame of Christianity alive.

A high cross set in an ancient grassy graveyard. A cloudy sky with blue sky patches and trees in the right background. This is a carved ring Celtic cross with figures carved on all sides of the square pillar. The cross is set on a massive stone base.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· Jun 4

Made a sentimental journey back to a place where I spent a month when I was 13! Kids of that age are sent to do full immersion Irish in a gaeltacht area such as An Mhuiríoch on Dingle peninsula in SW Ireland. Went to several old haunts in the area. Many changes but mostly the same wonderful place.

A road sign saying “An Mhuiríoch” in black letters on a white background, supported on grey metal poles, and surrounded by a Fuchsia hedge. Situated in Corca Dhuibne on the far western Dingle Peninsula.

An old fishing boat pier at Baile na nGall (aka Ballydavid) with several small boats parked on the concrete. Coastline is in the background with sea in the middle ground

A cream-painted two-storey house in An Mhuiríoch stands at about the end of a short tarmac driveway. Two cars are parked to the right. A brown wooden gate is in front. I stayed in this house 50+years ago. Then there was no gate, the house was white-washed and the driveway was a rough-stone yard.

A grey stone building set in a gravel space with hills in the background, called Gallarus Oratory. The building is a corballed drywall structure shaped like an upturned boat. There is a small doorway on the right of the building. It is of indeterminate age but at least 1000 years old.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· May 31

For you paleontology fans, here is a ~400 MYO Devonian tetrapod trackway (one of 3 known worldwide) at Valentia Island in SW Ireland. It was made by one of the earliest amphibians on wet sand or mud.

A pavement of grey slate stone with fossilized footprints of an early tetrapod amphibian running from bottom to top.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· May 31

We finally made it out to Skellig Michael and its 6C Christian monastery, off the coast of SW Ireland. A place we’ve always wanted to go, but weather, opportunity, etc., have always conspired… Surreal, spectacular; superlatives apply!! It hosted Luke Skywalker’s refuge in some Star Wars films.

A craggy, rocky island in a dark blue ocean. A lighthouse is on a steep cliff above the ocean on the left centre of the island. Various paths and ancient stone buildings are on the right side of the island.

A view of an island in the ocean seen through the stone windows of a old church on an adjacent island. The sky is overcast and cloudy.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· May 30

For #caturday: Cats of Wexford, a moggy at the harbour.

A cat with tabby and ginger mixed upper body and head with white belly and feet looks at the camera, sitting on a concrete seawall overlooking the sea.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· May 29

Stained glass by Harry Clarke from 1914, in University College Cork, depicting St. Gobnait, a 6C Irish saint who is patron saint of bees, beekeepers, and ironworkers. Numerous bees and honeycombs are worked into the design. IMHO, Harry Clarke is one of the greatest Irish artists in any medium.

A resplendent stained glass window depicting a woman with red hair, a veil, and a halo, dressed in a purple-blue dress surrounded by many symbols including bees, honeycombs, and other nuns.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· May 29

@bwjones.bsky.social Cork’s English Market. How I love me a market! Hands down, the best market in the whole of Ireland. Even by appointment to their British majesties!

Brass plaques on a painted brick wall. The upper commemorating a visit by the British Queen and by the then Prince of Wales (now King).

A display case of fish, including smoked fish and green samphire.

A display case containing various pork products and a pig’s head.

A display case containing pork chops with the sign “Pork Chops- on the bone- skin on?- please Ask”

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· May 29

Methinks that Ireland is rather “over-barbered”. After restaurants and pubs, some kind of barbershop or hair salon is the next most common business in Irish main streets. Really abundant. Don’t ever remember that! You can get a cut for €18.

A navy blue and white shop front beside red brick houses on a paved street.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· May 29

Sunset scene at the Woodenworks (docks) in Wexford, Ireland.

A dusk scene at a tidal inlet with the tide out. Mudflats are exposed in the middle ground with water suffused with golden sunset light. On the left side are buildings and fishing boats tied up at a dock. A breakwater extends on the right. There is riprap in the near ground.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· May 26

In my “Happy Place” today! A great trip out to Great Saltee Island off the South Wexford coast, a noted seabird colony where I spent many summers in my youth. This is ~20 miles as the gull flies from where I used to live. Always a treat to visit here.

A small Island on the horizon of a blue sea with a blue sky above. A sailboat passes in front.

A stone gate encrusted with yellow lichens stands in front of a sea view with a blue sky above. Grasses are on bottom left, while bracken ferns are in the lower right.

A cliff overlooking a blue sea with blue skies above. On the cliff and surrounding slopes are hundreds of large white birds sitting on the ground. In front is a grassy slope with rocks, some with yellow lichens.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· May 25

Generations of Dubliners have grown up calling the Natural History Museum the “Dead Zoo”. Currently in exile at the Collins Barracks while its space is being renovated. Home to various fossils and stuffed animals, it has the world’s largest collection of Blaschka glass models of marine animals.

A woman standing beside two skeletons of large elk-like animals standing on wooden platforms in a dark room

Blown glass models of marine invertebrates on display stands in a glass case.

A sign describing Glass Models of Marine Life: “The coloured glass models of marine animals which are exhibited in the various cases in the Natural History Museum were prepared in the nineteenth century, before the year 1886, by Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka. Leopold Blaschka was born on the 27th May, 1822 in Aicha, Bohemia and died on the 3rd July, 1895 in Hosterwitz, near Dresden. His son Rudolph was born on the 17th June, 1857 and died on the 1st May, 1939. The Blaschka family originally came from Venice where craftsmanship in decorative glass is traditional. The degree of accuracy of zoological detail evident in these intricate and delicate models has never been achieved subsequently by later collections in the museum.”

Two blown glass models of radiolarians in a glass display case

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· May 24

“I write it out in a verse— MacDonagh and MacBride And Connolly and Pearse Now and in time to be, Wherever green is worn, Are changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born.” WB Yeats. Two locations important to the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin: Arbour Hill and the GPO, O’Connell St.

Gravesite of the executed 1916 Easter Rising leaders.

A large building with 6 columns in central Dublin: the GPO (General Post Office).

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· May 24

The Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Sq., Dublin. This beautiful space was dedicated in 1966, on the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rebellion to remember all those who died over the centuries in the struggle for Irish freedom and independence. It was down the street from where we stayed.

A garden with a large cruciform pool of greenish water. There are steps at the end of the garden rising to a plaza enclosed by a tall semicirclular grey stone wall. In the centre of the plaza is a massive modern sculpture. Trees are in the background

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· May 23

Interesting sketch by William Blake, at National Gallery of Ireland, for an edition of Dante’s Inferno depicting the fate of corrupt politicians. In bottom right, being boiled in pitch.

A sketch in greys and orange depicting arches over a pool of boiling pitch. Various human images are in the bottom left and right corners.

T. Michael Redmond@tmr65· May 23

In Ireland, the Child of Prague (CoP) is put to work ensuring fine weather conditions for a wedding by being placed the night before under a garden bush or shrub. This is the original CoP from which all the magical/spiritual in its church in Prague.