۩ Hospital of the Soul ۩

Of the 100,000 gay men that were arrested at least 15,000 were sent to concentration camps wearing pink triangles. The pink triangles worked in the clay pits of Sachsenhausen, the quarries of Buchenwald, they shoveled snow with their bare hands in Auschwitz & they were used as living targets at the firing range; they had the dirtiest jobs in all camps.

This Holocaust Memorial Day we should remember them too. 🥀

When you have been saying "Fuck it, one more bite, one more drink,

it's Christmas/New Year" since November & then you weight yourself the first weekend of January...

Detail from Neptune and the Pirates (260 AD), mosaic from wealthy family’s villa at Thugga (Dougga) (Arabic: دقة‎) an ancient Roman city in northern Tunisia.

This work originates from the same peristyle as the Ulysses mosaic that I posted yesterday. It depicts the punishment of pirates on the Tyrrhenian Sea, merging themes linked to Dionysus and more common marine themes. The god is standing, ready to throw his spear. He is supported by a maenad, a satyr and aged Silenus, who is holding the ship’s rudder. A leopard is attacking one of the pirates, who are transformed into dolphins as soon as they recognize the divine nature of their adversary. To the left, genii have boarded another ship, while to the right, fishermen are attempting to catch an octopus with a net.

Both works can nowadays be seen at the National Bardo Museum:

NotreDame through the ages:

- During Medieval times by Jean Fouquet, 1452-1460.

- "Notre Dame de Paris" by Victor Hugo, published in 1831

- Painted by Henri Matisse in 1900, (courtesy of the Tate)

- Anti-Aircraft gun in front of the cathedral during the Liberation of France in 1945.

- The fire of Notre-Dame, 15 April 2019.

I am not religious but this is HEARTBREAKING. 800 years of Art and Architecture are up in flames. We are all watching a cultural tragedy unfold live on the news.

My latest discovery: a whimsical illustration from the medieval “Geese Book” " (Das Gansebuch in German), a lavishly illuminated liturgical book from the early 16th century.

A wolf, dressed as a cantor, is conducting a choir of geese while a fox is sneaking up to capture his evening meal.

The Geese Book was produced in Nuremberg, Germany between 1503 and 1510, and gives the complete liturgy compiled for the parish of St. Lorenz, which was used until the Reformation was introduced in the city in 1525.

This website contains a digital facsimile allowing, for the first time, unrestricted access of the book’s 1120 pages. Users can listen to chants characteristic of the liturgy of the 16th century, performed by the renowned Schola Hungarica of Budapest.

But alas there is no progress without pain.

Us humans can't grow if we are constantly shielded from misfortunes.

Adversities are part of life for an important reason: To teach us lessons & make us stronger.

like literally all the time....

The most gorgeous Medieval illuminated manuscript. A copy of Hildegard von Bingen's Liber Divinorum Operum The Cosmic Spheres and Human Being.

As a kid I always remember myself being surrounded by several huge dogs. Back in the eighties my dad was given a Doberman puppy as a thank you present by one of his patients, he fell in love with the loyalty of that particular breed & we bred female Dobermans ever since.

So you could say I've always been a "dog person".

Then 2 years ago Caligula, the Angry Pussy entered my life. Cats do not give you the unrequited love of dogs. Feline love is spartan, discreet & one needs to work damn hard for it. But in my darkest days, Caligula's permanently furious face never fails to make me smile. That fluffy creature is far more effective than ANY antidepressant I've tried (and I have tried them all). It is remarkable how much comfort animals can give us & how much we can learn from them.

So now you could say I am a Dog AND a Cat person...