Three for the Memories 2021

[nanila]

[This is cross-posted from the Dreamwidth community threeforthememories, which is great and you should all join it. You have until next Monday 24 January if you want to post three photos to it that define your year last year, and no time constraints on enjoying everyone else's posts. I think it might actually be years since I've either promoted a community or cross-posted from one. Yikes.]

1. Telstar (RIP)
   
   This is - was - our beloved cat Telstar, just before he turned twelve in June of last year. We had no idea that we only had a few months left with him at this point, as his decline was very sudden. Losing him is an event that will forever be associated with 2021.



2. Seals at Blakeney Point
   
   A highlight of our summer holiday was our trip to Blakeney, on the coast of north Norfolk, when we went on a seal-watching trip. Seeing them all blissed out on the beach in banana pose was a joy.



3. Under the microscope
   
   This is an image from a confocal microscope of silver nitrate crystals attempting to grow in a high concentration of ascorbic acid (from fizzy vitamin C tablets, hence the captured bubbles). It was taken as part of an Arts Council England residency that artist cha_mel_eon has with me, which allows her to explore the beauty of materials, including those involving precious metals like silver. I took this image; it doesn’t have the regular crystal growth that she was after, which you get from much lower concentrations of both silver nitrate solution and ascorbic acid, so it isn’t in the images she’s published from the set. I really like it though.
   
   Being able to do collaborative art-science projects is one of the best bits of my job.

 

Comments

[cmcmck]

I still miss seeing your kitty!

[nanila]

Me too. Whenever it hits me again that he's gone, it feels like the floor's given out under me. :/

[cmcmck]

Hugs

[nanila]

Thank you. *hugs back*

[silveradept]

Those are three lovely pictures.

I'm sorry that there's no Telstar to generate more cute Telstar pictures.

[nanila]

Thank you.

Me too. I miss him.

[shirebound]

Oh my, look at all those seals! I wouldn't be able to tear myself away from that sight.

[nanila]

They were so much fun to watch. Lots of flopping and half-hearted fights, plus the occasional burst of energy leading to brief forays into the water.

[pbristow]

META: Telstar gazes into his scrying-pool, sees a vision of many, many seals flolloping about on a beach, and thus gains insight into the formation of silver nitrate crystals in ascorbic acid.

[SALUTES THE FALLEN WISE ONE, TELSTAR]

[nanila]

Ha, I wouldn't be surprised! All that then followed by, "but I'm not telling YOU, large hairless one. Where is my afternoon tea?"

[highlyeccentric]

Oh no! I completely missed the Telstar news. What a good boy.

[nanila]

He was a lovely cat. I miss him terribly.