@donray@mastodon.online
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donray

@donray@mastodon.online

Spanish learner and teacher (97.3% retired). Gardener. Don of all trades. I live in SW Iowa, USA, with my wife and our cat. #Iowa #Guitar #Garden #Spanish #Español #Prairie #OriginalMusic #SongWriter #Spain #Valencia #España

Profile Pic. A gray-haired man with glasses wearing a red hooded sweatshirt.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

donray, to iowa
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Another gray treefrog. This one was on the wooden side porch stoop.

donray, to Bloomscrolling
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#Bloomscrolling #Flowers #pollinators #bees #iowa #insects

Oriental poppy with an honest to goodness honey bee at work.

In recent years, honey bees are few and far between around here. I’m sure that most of the pollinating on my fruit trees is done by smaller, native bees.

donray, to Dogs
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Sadly, came and went without me being able to photograph one of those active little birds.

I did try, but I only managed to get this shot of the neighbors' dog coming through the tall grass to see what I was doing.

donray, to Birds
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Happy ! The House Wrens have been busy in the sycamore tree where their nesting box is located. One wren seems to be checking sky conditions…

A side view of a rusty brown bird. The head is lighter in color, but the eye is very dark. The bird has a narrow, sharp beak. The bird shares a branchlet with tiny new sycamore leaves.

Catlynn, to random
@Catlynn@nerdculture.de avatar

I found a tiny wicker chest while cleaning. Squirrel sized. So of course I filled it with nuts and set it out. Little Bronson could not figure out how a lid works. I think he might be a little slow, sometimes I see him licking sticks and trying to eat tree pieces. In a surprise upset it was the baby ground squirrels who hopped up and demonstrated how to open a lid 🤗
Baby squirrel pix to come!

Here Bronson stands behind the chest very cutely pushing down on the lid
Now Bronson is like Spider-Man spread eagle on the fence trying to chew a hole in the corner, which kind of worked, he got some walnut crumbs this way

donray,
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@Catlynn

Maybe Bronson is a bit slow. On the other hand, it’s standard operating procedure for a squirrel to chew first and ask questions later.

jdmccafferty, to spanish
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Pendant with the Christ Child, c. 1650,

(Art Institute Chicago)

donray,
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@jdmccafferty

Comments (from a non-expert about art):

  1. Definitely in the “white Jesus” tradition;
  2. Don’t show this in a classroom in iowa (because of the visible naughty bits — the implied white supremacy is just fine).
donray, to iowa
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#FrogFriday #frog #frogs #iowa

Gray tree frog on the front porch steps a couple of days ago.

An eye-level close-up of the frog — eyes open, smiling slightly.

donray, to spain
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#ThrowbackThursday #Spain #España #currency #money

“Everything at 100 pesetas”
(Everything at a low price)

A throwback sign on a side street in Petrer, Alicante, Spain.

The peseta was Spain’s monetary unit from 1868 until 2002 when it was replaced by the euro. The original exchange rate was approximately: 166 pesetas = 1 euro.

donray,
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@StillIRise1963
Interesting idea. And if things keep going downhill, Francisco Franco earrings and pendants could become a high-demand item. 😬

donray, to iowa
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Just another afternoon in Iowa with severe weather watches and warnings…

aral, to Israel
@aral@mastodon.ar.al avatar

‘Like a war zone’: Emory University grapples with fallout from police response to protest

https://www.inkl.com/a/GWbLWRCokGo

donray,
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@aral

The administration invited an army, and they got a war zone.

The episode makes clear that a militarized police force is not capable of respecting civil and human rights.

donray,
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@aral

It was a professor from Guatemala who said: “I felt like I was in a war zone.”

And he has a basis for comparison.

From the article;
From Guatemala, Keme came to the US as a teenager, escaping “a civil war against my people … involving the Guatemalan army, who received training from Israelis”.

He said: “Police immediately began to force people to move. I felt like I was in a war zone, with all the police and their weapons, the rubber bullets.”

donray, to Bloomscrolling
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These small ornamental trees are in bloom now in southeastern Spain. They are new to me, but it’s some kind of Bauhinia (“Orchid Tree”) in the Legume family. Possibly Bauhinia variegata.

Small flowering trees in a row along a fence. One tree has flowers with a darker shade of pink.

donray, to guatemala
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Holy Saturday 2014 (April 19), Panajachel, Guatemala.

Lake Atitlán. A large gathering of local folks (mostly Indigenous Maya) on the gravelly delta of the San Francisco River. A day of fun at the lake. 1/🧵

donray,
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2/🧵
Almost all the shoreline of the huge, beautiful lake is owned by wealthy people (some Guatemalans and many foreigners).

This area at Panajachel is probably the biggest public area were local people can have access to the lake.

Boat rides and swimming.

On the shore, colorful umbrellas shade the many people selling food and drink. In the distance, a couple of dozen people are swimming/wading in the lake.

mekkaokereke, to random
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io avatar

Caitlin Clark, Hailey Van Lith, and Paige Bueckers, have all used their platforms to reject US sports press writers' tired attempts to use racist dog whistles against their teammates and rivals.

Hailey Van Lith:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0hhvppfuaOk

Paige Bueckers:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=queQa1uMq8I&t=40s

These are young women, still in school! But they're demonstrating a deeper understanding of media bias and racism, than journalism industry professionals.

Next, people will wonder why young people don't read newspapers.🤷🏿‍♂️

donray,
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@mekkaokereke

Agreeing from . The press tried to stir things up a year ago, but Caitlin Clark didn’t play along.

“I don’t think Angel [Reese] should be criticized at all,” Clark said in an ESPN interview on Tuesday. “I’m just one that competes, and she competed. I think everybody knew there was going to be a little trash talk in the entire tournament. It’s not just me and Angel…Men have always had trash talk … You should be able to play with that emotion.”

donray, to Bloomscrolling
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An acre of purple. This part of a soybean field has a flowery mantle of henbit (Lamium amplexicaule). Not a native plant, but it does provide some early spring nectar for pollinators.

Light purple lipped, tubular flowers on a stem with small. rounded lobed leaves. Leaves are green with some purple highlights.

donray, to Birds
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A fine-looking American Robin with late afternoon lighting. A few pink buds of the redbud above and below.

ZekuZelalem, to random
@ZekuZelalem@dair-community.social avatar

Pleased to announce that my Globe & Mail investigation has been nominated for the 2024 Refugee Reporting prize by the One World Media awards committee in London! 🥳 I'm told there were 540 entries from 117 countries across 15 award categories this year.

Thanks for your support here! Whether I win or not is immaterial. Being longlisted alongside 9 other fantastic entries from Al Jazeera, NY Times, Washington Post, BBC & ICIJ is cool as it is.
@onewm

https://oneworldmedia.org.uk/awards/longlist-2024/

One World Media Awards (logo) Longlist 2024

donray,
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@ZekuZelalem

The Saudi Arabian component is very timely considering that the UN has just chosen a Saudi man to chair the 2025 conference on women’s rights.

Amnesty International: “Saudi Arabia cannot prove its commitment to women’s rights merely by securing a leadership role in the commission. It must demonstrate its commitment through concrete actions domestically.”

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/28/middleeast/saudi-arabia-chair-un-gender-equality-forum-intl/index.html

donray, to spain
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Albufera. Just south of Valencia, Spain, is a significant wetland area call La Albufera (the coastal lagoon). The modern Albufera ecosystem has developed over many centuries hand in hand with the production of rice.

I'm hoping others in the Fediverse will add a photo or two of the marshy wonders of the Albufera. My photo shows rice cultivation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albufera_Natural_Park

donray,
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@the_heruman @fmolinero

Os invito a agregar aquí fotos de la Albufera de Valencia y así participar en la celebración de animales, pájaros, plantas y paisajes de pantanos y marismas ().

donray, to iowa
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Complicated sky — 10 minutes before sunset.

donray, to Argentina
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Today, March 24, marks a sad and painful day in both Argentina and El Salvador.

Argentina, 1976: A military coup began a 7-year period of violent political repression.

El Salvador, 1980: Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated while saying mass — just one day after he had publicly beseeched the military to stop committing violence against the people.

USA Govt, 1976 and 1980: Cheering for the bad guys. Again.

donray, to iowa
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Much needed rain this morning. But dark and cold (39°F / 4°C) at 9:30 a.m.

DeliaChristina, to random
@DeliaChristina@sfba.social avatar

About that veto vote by the Security Council:

The resolution was vetoed because the US-drafted language was weak ass baby shit. (That's the technical diplomatic term.)

There's a stronger, more explicit draft in process and the U.S. continues to demur, saying it will disrupt delicate negotiations. Bish, when your closest ally has become a genocidal murder bot, and your reelection hinges on turning the political tide in your favor, delicacy flies out the window.

I do not believe anything this admin is saying about negotiations as long as it keeps supplying aid and comfort to Israel. Not one word.

Good luck to Joe.

https://www.barrons.com/news/un-security-council-vote-on-new-gaza-ceasefire-text-postponed-to-monday-diplomats-e2f0fe6c

donray,
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@DeliaChristina

I’ve been wondering for a while now about the stance of the US ambassador to the UN — Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Has she reached the pinnacle of an impressive career only to become the point-person for the white-washing of a genocide (and possible land grab)?

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