Oxford - Blog Posts

Watercolour piece based on the Gloucester Green Market. I’m almost done posting school work 👏 #watercolor #art #artistsoninstagram #illustration #oxford #gloucestergreen #market #fantasy (at Gloucester Green) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzl_F3lA2B7/?igshid=mpui43asny2

Hallo. #art #digitalart #illustration #ashmolean #ashmoleanmuseum #oxford #fantasy #urbanmagic #magiccreatures (at Ashmolean Museum) https://www.instagram.com/p/BzZCAjGgDqK/?igshid=1um23gnpmogn9

#art #digitalart #illustration #ashmolean #ashmoleanmuseum #oxford #fantasy #urbanmagic (at Ashmolean Museum)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzSqFpCAIqG/?igshid=184d3tyensmgo

Queen’s College Library, Oxford University, Oxford, UK

Farmhouse Landscape Oxfordshire Image of a backyard river rock pond in a mid-sized farmhouse.

Oxfordshire Farmhouse Landscape

Oxfordshire Landscape Pond Inspiration for a mid-sized farmhouse backyard river rock pond.

𝐹𝓊𝓁𝓁 𝒩𝒶𝓂𝑒:

Sophie Helen (Rhys-Jones) Windsor

─────── ღೋ 👑 ღೋ ───────

𝐹𝓊𝓁𝓁 𝒯𝒾𝓉𝓁𝑒:

Her Royal Highness Sophie Helen (Rhys-Jones) Windsor, The Countess of Wessex

─────── ღೋ 👑 ღೋ ───────

𝐵𝓸𝓇𝓃:

Wednesday, January 20th, 1965 in Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, England

─────── ღೋ 👑 ღೋ ───────

𝒫𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈:

Father: Christopher Bournes Rhys-Jones

Mother: Mary Rhys-Jones

─────── ღೋ 👑 ღೋ ───────

𝒮𝒾𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈:

Brother: David Rhys-Jones

Brother-In-Law: High Royal Highness Prince Charles The Prince of Wales

Sister-In-Law: Diana, Princess of Wales

Sister-In-Law: Her Royal Highness Camilla The Duchess of Cornwall

Sister-In-Law: Her Royal Highness Anne The Princess Royal

Brother-In-Law: High Royal Highness Prince Andrew The Duke of York

─────── ღೋ 👑 ღೋ ───────

𝒮𝓅𝓸𝓊𝓈𝑒:

His Royal Highness Prince Edward The Earl of Wessex (M. 1999)

─────── ღೋ 👑 ღೋ ───────

𝒞𝒽𝒾𝓁𝒹𝓇𝑒𝓃: 

1st Pregnancy was an Ectopic Pregnancy

Daughter: Lady Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary Mountbatten-Windsor (B. 2003)

Son: James Alexander Philip Theo Mountbatten-Windsor, Viscount Severn (B. 2007)

─────── ღೋ 👑 ღೋ ───────

𝐸𝒹𝓊𝒸𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓸𝓃:

Dulwich Preparatory School

Kent College

West Kent College

─────── ღೋ 👑 ღೋ ───────

𝐼𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓈

Business

Finance

Management Development

Public Relations

Environment:

Agriculture 

Animal Rehabilitation

Cats

Conifer Trees

Cows

Dogs/Service Dogs

Donkeys

Farming

Gardening

Horticulture

Horses/Ponies

Sheep

Health:

Air Ambulance

Autism

Blindess/Visually Impaired

Cardiac Care

Children’s Hospital Services

Developmental Delays

Disfigurement/Scars

Emergency Medical Services

Epidermolysis Bullosa

Epilepsy

First Aid Service & Training

Gynecology

Hospices

Language Problems/Support Workers/Therapists

Learning Disabilities

Medical Welfare Services

Meningitis

Nurses

Obstetricians

Organ Transplants

Physical Disabilities

Quality of Life

Speech Problems/Support Workers/Therapists

People:

Armed Forces

Children

Girls/Young Women

Prisoners of War/Veterans

The Elderly

The Homeless

Young People

Social Issues:

Charity & Community Service

Homelessness

Religion

Support for Children & Young People

Sports:

Armed Forces Sports

Basketball

Bobsleigh

Cycling

Hockey

Sailing

Skeleton

Soccer (Football)

Wheelchair Basketball

The Arts:

Art

Ballet

Culinary

Dance

Fashion

Metal & Porcelain Work

Music Festivals

Paintings

Symphony Orchestra

─────── ღೋ 👑 ღೋ ───────

𝒫𝒶𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓃𝒶𝑔𝑒𝓈

Global Ambassador:

100 Women in Finance

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation

The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness

Other Positions:

Ambassador: The Women of Future Programme

Chair: The Duke of Edinburg’s Award for The Women in Business Committee 

Chairman: Women’s Network Forum

Founder: The Earl & Countess of Wessex Charitable Trust

Grand President: St. John Ambulance

Honorary Fellow: The Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists.

Honorary President: Linking Environment & Farming (LEAF)

Honorary Trustee: The Royal Agricultural Society of England

Member: The Women’s Institute

Royal Vice President: The Royal Windsor Horse Show

Sponsor: HMS Daring

Vice Patron: The Royal Bath & West of England Society

Patron:

Awareness Foundation

Blind Veterans UK

British Wheelchair Basketball

Caring for Life

Childline

David Lewis Center

England Hockey

Foundation of Light

New Haven Learning Center

Leeds Children’s Hospital

Lions Club International in Multiple District 105 for the British Isles & Ireland

Love Musgrove

Meningitis Now

Moor House School

Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps Association

Remus Memorial Horse Sanctuary

Shooting Star Children’s Hospices

St. Mary’s School & College

Stoll

The Association of Sail Training Organizations

The Association of Show & Agricultural Organizations

The Brendoncare Foundation

The British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association

The British Cycling Federation

The Central School of Ballet

The Chartered Management Institute

The Craft Guild of Chefs

The Defense Medical Welfare Service

The Disability Initiative

The Dystophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Research Association

The Friends of Bedgebury National Pinetum

The Friends of Southwark Cathedral

The Friends of the Royal London Hospital

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

The Halle Concerts Society

The Java Far East Prisoners of War Club 1942

The London Children’s Flower Society

The London College of Fashion

The National Autistic Society

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

The Rochester Cathedral Trust

The Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists

The Royal Mencap Society

The Scar Free Foundation

The Ubunye Foundation

The Wallace Collection Foundation

The Wells Cathedral Chorister Trust

Toronto General & Western Hospital

Transform Housing & Support

Two Moors Festival

UK Armed Forces Winter Sports Association

Vision Foundation

Wessex Heartbeat

President:

Brainwave

Girlguiding

The Royal Smithfield Club

The Shire Horse Society

Royal Patron:

Morden College

The Nursing Memorial Appeal

Thames Valley Air Ambulance

Treloar Trust

Work Positions:

Employee: Maclaurin Communications & Media

Employee: The Quentin Bell Organization

Employee: Ski Representative in Switzerland 

Press & Promotions Department: Capital Radio

Trainee: Secretary at West Kent College

Charity & Work Fun Facts:

In 1996, The Duchess opened her own public relations agency called RJH Public Relations.

Oxfordshire River Rock

city of dreaming spires

I was reading about Francis Crick and James Watson’s discovery of DNA in 1953…and admiring Santiago’s beautiful drawings of neurons…and Alan Hodgkin et Andrew Huxley’s mathematical discovery of calculating how action potentials propagates along a neuron…I couldn’t help but think how romantic it all is. To me it’s so interesting learning about the process of discovery. It’s incredible because all these people were just like us—students. It’s romantic because it’s human—a human experience—an insatiable thirst for knowledge, curiosity that knows no end. A perseverance to succeed. The ultimate quest to generate a novel idea before anyone else does. How can anyone say that science is not poetic? Science is poetry written in a different language, an esoteric one at that. But poetry nonetheless.

Day in the life of a Natural Science academic.

-I am absolutely in love with Santiago Ramon y Cajal and Camillo Golgi. I found it quite fascinating learning about their lives and the influence both had on Modern Neuroscience.

Santiago kind of has my heart because he is everything but the stereotypical idea of a scientist. He actually wanted to become an artist but that went against his father’s wishes and Santiago became quite…the rebel in school. But with time, he was intrigued by histology and proceeded to conducting a lot of research, one of them being neurons and Golgi’s Black Reaction. Santiago was able to illustrate neurons as shown in one of the pictures above. And he improved Golgi’s reaction that was a staining method using (silver nitrate and potassium chromate).

Some pictures from today. The weather was absolutely beautiful; the sun, warm and felt rejuvenated even after my neuro exam.

It is gelid outside. I am drowsy from reading and making annotations for hours on end. My eyes are burning ever so slightly. There is an owl hooting outside my window. I am now in bed…drifting into a dreamless sleep.

Tea gets cold so quickly, it should be illegal.

A Confession to the Astral Bodies

October 19th 3:25 am

I went downstairs to make a cuppa of Lady Grey. The moon illuminated my path down the stairs. The kitchen was lit with her silvery light. Candles were not needed at all. The white marble tiles were tinted with a silvery periwinkle hue. I made my way towards the windowpane after putting the kettle on. I leaned against the icy glass to look up at the heavens. The full moon looked majestic in all her regal vestments. She is hypnotizing tonight with the stars ever so bright. My eyes began to wander, and came to an abrupt halt upon spotting Orion's belt; the three distinguished flickering dots above me. Soon enough, I found some of my other friends: Sirius, Perseus, Lynx, and Gemini. Draco and Aries were out of reach tonight, probably navigating about the celestial sphere. But, we will meet again at the zenith of my universe when the conditions are right. I recall making my daily confessions to the constellations above. They would listen and provide me with the consolation and redemption I sought out for. The stars have seen me cry. The stars have seen me smile. And the stars have been my dearest companions. I woke up from my trance when I heard the kettle whistling. I took out a teabag from a viridian tin box and placed it in my beaker mug. As I poured the boiling hot water, the aroma of citrus and lavender filled the air around me. I then poured milk and stirred in a wee bit of sugar. I took a sip and the gelid numbness on my toes and fingertips subsided. The howling wind and the elegant rustling of leaves outside was the moon’s sirens call. I was once again in a trance and made my way towards the kitchen door of my humble seaside cottage leading into the veranda outside. The wind pierced through my skin and salty sea air filled my lungs. I felt truly and in every possible way, alive. My senses seemed to be enhanced by some mystic power. I looked up and let the moonlight penetrate my mind, body, and soul. All my woes dissipated at that serene moment. All that lingered on my mind was the moon’s sublime beauty and her scintillating stellar servants in the empyrean domain.

-A Chemistry Academic

H.A.

A couple confessions from your favorite romantic Chemistry academic….

Is there anything more Dark Academia than Nietzche and Schnabel commenting on Mozart’s music?

Also, is there such a thing as thrift shopping in your father’s closet? If not, I just made it a thing.

I was heading home from University on a rather grey day and whilst walking, a vintage looking barber shop caught my eye. The door was open and on the bottom right corner was a small picture of Ernest Hemingway…my favorite writer. Though it may be nothing really special to anyone else, I thought it was quite brilliant.

Melancholic Medical Student by the Sea

Salty air, grey fog, chilly breeze, cricket chirps, full moon, partially cloudy sky, slippery rocks, cold sand, paper cut, oversized faded blue plaid shirt, chemistry books on the floor, cold abandoned coffee, black cat sleeping an emerald green flannel, heavy rain tapping on the window, cold ears, neatly folded navy scrubs, warm candlelight, unfinished lab report, iodine, verses from Hamlet running through my mind as I drift into daydreams…unable to concentrate, it is cold and I keep reading the same page about aortic aneurysms, dried out perrywinkles, half eaten toast, Franz Schubert’s Schwanengesang, D. 957: IV. Ständchen playing on the record player at a low volume, skull on desk, seagulls dropping blue mussels on the empty beach parking lot, unopened letters, heavy eyelids, barnacle shells, bleak oblivion, creaking floorboards, anatomical sketches collecting dust, distant breaking waves, unreciprocated love, tight chest, fidgeting, messy illegible notes, smell of old books, staring into nothingness….

“To die, to sleep- to sleep, perchance to dream/ Ay, there’s the rub, for in this sleep of death what dreams may come” (Hamlet, 3.1)

Writers gather around

“Writers aren’t exactly people...they are a bunch of people trying to be one person” -F. Scott Fitzgerald 

...I am writers. Thank you Scott, for giving an explanation for my dilemma.

ALBERT EINSTEIN AND ACADEMIA

The Liberty of Doctrine—Á Propos of the Gumbel Case

ACADEMIC CHAIRS ARE MANY, but wise and noble teachers are few; lecture-rooms are numerous and large, but the number of young people who genuinely thirst after truth and justice is small. Nature scatters her common wares with a lavish hand, but the choice sort she produces but seldom.

We all know that, so why complain? Was it not ever thus and will it not ever thus remain? Certainly, and one must take what Nature gives as one finds it. But there is also such a thing as a spirit of the times, an attitude of mind characteristic of a particular generation, which is passed on from individual to individual and gives a society its particular tone. Each of us has to do his little bit towards transforming this spirit of the times.

Compare the spirit which animated the youth in our universities a hundred years ago with that prevailing to-day. They had faith in the amelioration of human society, respect for every honest opinion, the tolerance for which our classics had lived and fought. In those days men strove for a larger political unity, which at that time was called Germany. It was the students and the teachers at the universities who kept these ideals alive.

To-day also there is an urge towards social progress, towards tolerance and freedom of thought, towards a larger political unity, which we to-day call Europe. But the students at our universities have ceased as completely as their teachers to enshrine the hopes and ideals of the nation. Anyone who looks at our times coolly and dispassionately must admit this.

We are assembled to-day to take stock of ourselves. The external reason for this meeting is the Gumbel case. This apostle of justice has written about unexpiated political crimes with devoted industry, high courage, and exemplary fairness, and has done the community a signal service by his books. And this is the man whom the students, and a good many of the staff, of his university are to-day doing their best to expel.

Political passion cannot be allowed to go to such lengths. I am convinced that every man who reads Herr Gumbel’s books with an open mind will get the same impression from them as I have. Men like him are needed if we are ever to build up a healthy political society. Let every man judge according to his own standards, by what he has himself read, not by what others tell him. If that happens, this Gumbel case, after an unedifying beginning, may still do good.

Picture credits: yours truly

Tchaikovsky is playing whilst the fire burns in the stone fireplace, red embers resemble the sun, rain tapping furiously on the window, thunder, the smell of wet earth and musk, messy handwriting, bromothymol blue ink stains on my fingers, empty glass bottles, a warm emerald green and deep blue tartan shawl,wrinkled white chemise, cold Irish breakfast tea, daydreaming into the night, warm socks, writing ceaselessly, finishing my chemistry lab report, simultaneously yearning for an archenemy to fall in love with, might light a cigarette and let the rain caress my face...

Yorick...bae

So...I found this lovely bookshop and now I’m obsessed!!!!!

Finally came in the post!

Decisions decisions...

This is the epitome of academia and it’s beautiful in my eyes.