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Helen Rees

@catsandteabooks

Interested in medieval mystics, disgust, Dante, and horror films. Wannabe medievalist. Mainly cat pics. she/they 📍York

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Latest posts by Helen Rees @catsandteabooks

Thank you! It's a lot of fun to work on and my first big mosaic crochet piece 🥰

08.03.2026 15:12 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
A close up of a crocheted patterned jumper. The pattern is a repeat of horizontal squares, lines, diamonds, lines, and the yarn is varying shades of pink, red, orange, purple and green. The pattern is the Tesserae Jumper by CrochetByJessie.

A close up of a crocheted patterned jumper. The pattern is a repeat of horizontal squares, lines, diamonds, lines, and the yarn is varying shades of pink, red, orange, purple and green. The pattern is the Tesserae Jumper by CrochetByJessie.

negatives of having an evil cold: feeling like trash
positives of having an evil cold: time to listen to an audiobook and work on this jumper

07.03.2026 14:37 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

Democratizing the arts looks like universal income, low-barrier grants for both emerging and working artists, well-funded municipal arts & recreation programs, vibrant third spaces, and a well-funded public school system with progressive curriculum.

Not a free pass for corporate-owned slop engines.

07.02.2026 00:58 👍 4396 🔁 1900 💬 22 📌 20

ate a tiramisu so good tonight I filled a page in my diary with purple prose about it.

06.02.2026 20:41 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Photo by G. Solecki/A. Piętak of a small figurine of a bear carved out of amber between 9600 and 4100 BC. The amber is a deep translucent orange. The display lighting makes it glow in places. The bear's head is carved to show ears, mouth, nostrils and eyes. A hole runs through the bear’s torso, suggesting it was threaded onto a cord. Dimensions: Length 10.2 cm, Height 4.2 

It was discovered in Słupsk during peat mining in 1887. 

According to the museum catalogue ‘’Shortly after its discovery, the figure underwent conservation work to restore its original appearance as it was covered with a layer of dull patina from the exposure to the minerals contained in the peat. Already at that time, at the end of the 19th century, it was assumed the restoration had gone too far. The figure was stripped entirely of patina, the anatomical features of the animal were emphasised, the eyes and nostrils were sharply drawn, and the amber was carefully polished”.

In 2013, a competition was organised by the Education Department of the National Museum in Szczecin, for children to choose a name for the bear. The winning name was ‘Słupcio’,

Photo by G. Solecki/A. Piętak of a small figurine of a bear carved out of amber between 9600 and 4100 BC. The amber is a deep translucent orange. The display lighting makes it glow in places. The bear's head is carved to show ears, mouth, nostrils and eyes. A hole runs through the bear’s torso, suggesting it was threaded onto a cord. Dimensions: Length 10.2 cm, Height 4.2 It was discovered in Słupsk during peat mining in 1887. According to the museum catalogue ‘’Shortly after its discovery, the figure underwent conservation work to restore its original appearance as it was covered with a layer of dull patina from the exposure to the minerals contained in the peat. Already at that time, at the end of the 19th century, it was assumed the restoration had gone too far. The figure was stripped entirely of patina, the anatomical features of the animal were emphasised, the eyes and nostrils were sharply drawn, and the amber was carefully polished”. In 2013, a competition was organised by the Education Department of the National Museum in Szczecin, for children to choose a name for the bear. The winning name was ‘Słupcio’,

A little bear figurine carved out of amber some 6,000 years ago 🐻❤️

A hole runs through the bear’s torso suggesting it was threaded on a cord, perhaps worn or carried as a protective charm.

Found in a peat bog near Słupsk, Poland, in 1887.

📷 National Museum in Szczecin

#FindsFriday
#Archaeology

06.02.2026 08:04 👍 1464 🔁 329 💬 27 📌 65
Close up of iridescent green and purple pigeon feathers.

Close up of iridescent green and purple pigeon feathers.

Close up of iridescent green and purple pigeon feathers.

Close up of iridescent green and purple pigeon feathers.

Close-up of Stumpy colours:

05.02.2026 19:43 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 1

after 2 days of struggling to find veggie and vegan food in granada and living on tomatoes and mozzerella, found an incredible vegan restaurant tonight! nature is healing! (I'm still in love with this city though, it is so beautiful even in pouring rain!!!)

04.02.2026 20:48 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The front page of the Daily Graphic newspaper published Saturday 25 August, 1917, featuring portraits of 'Women in the Order of the British Empire', including Lady Byron, the honourable Mrs Alfred Lyttelton, Her Majesty the Queen.

The front page of the Daily Graphic newspaper published Saturday 25 August, 1917, featuring portraits of 'Women in the Order of the British Empire', including Lady Byron, the honourable Mrs Alfred Lyttelton, Her Majesty the Queen.

Apply for our PhD placement scheme to get involved in extraordinary research at the Library. There are eight available placements exploring a variety of themes including war poetry, 21st-century digital tools, illustrated newspapers and decarbonisation.

Find out more: link.bl.uk/PhDPlacements

04.02.2026 10:55 👍 99 🔁 76 💬 0 📌 7
Granada Cathedral, a building with romanesque arches, illuminated golden in the sunlight.

Granada Cathedral, a building with romanesque arches, illuminated golden in the sunlight.

The royal chapel of Granada Cathedral at dusk. The phone is angled upwards slightly.

The royal chapel of Granada Cathedral at dusk. The phone is angled upwards slightly.

A copious amount of Turkish delight.

A copious amount of Turkish delight.

diverting from Neil Gaiman, Granada is absolutely beautiful! Had a 4am flight yesterday and have not explored much yet, but excited to see more today and eat a lot of Turkish Delight.

03.02.2026 07:14 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

At the same time the Epstein Files are reinforcing how protected sexual abusers really are, Neil Gaiman is using the nightmarish sexual violence allegations against him to market his next book. His DARVO defense is the first selling point. Rape culture is everywhere and unavoidable.

02.02.2026 23:42 👍 1853 🔁 461 💬 22 📌 19

Neil Gaiman should never be readmitted to polite society. A man with that much money and power, actively putting up a smokescreen of progressivism to conceal his predation, can never be trusted.

02.02.2026 21:58 👍 3953 🔁 824 💬 34 📌 16

read a bunch of the "journalist"Neil Gaiman loves and WOW the levels of victim blaming are off the charts! Apparently successful women can't be raped, autistic men can't be manipulative, and it wasn't a position of power because technically NG wasn't her employer??? fuck NG, fuck technopathology

03.02.2026 07:06 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

His arguments for Neil's innocence include, "This woman was portrayed as a victim. But did you know she's a successful ceramicist and friends with Michael Stipe? CHECKMATE."

02.02.2026 21:19 👍 1061 🔁 39 💬 28 📌 2

Neil Gaiman has returned to the Internet to signal boost a Substack 'investigation' by an independent journalist known as "technopathology" which apparently proves his innocence

the main thing it proves is technopathology needs an editor.

02.02.2026 21:17 👍 1991 🔁 219 💬 60 📌 35

search engine filter that removes all american bible colleges and weird evangelical sites when you are looking up something theological

02.02.2026 11:44 👍 141 🔁 18 💬 5 📌 2

I dreamt something about Don Draper and a plane and skeeting about it while asleep on a plane so am fulfilling the prophecy ❤️

02.02.2026 11:16 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

death by preventable disease is an inevitable and even desired outcome of concentration camps. in every era of concentration camps people have died of typhus, which is a disease of privation and enforced crowding. this illness is intentionally inflicted

02.02.2026 04:52 👍 3749 🔁 1418 💬 26 📌 17

Not at all a hot take but Dickens is such a great author, starting Bleak House and the description of fog!! Wish I could ever write this well!!!

01.02.2026 17:07 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

going to Spain for a week and I watch bridgerton with my friends and even though I've read the book I'm terrified of spoilers 😭

31.01.2026 21:22 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

5 jobs I've had(/have)

- Christmas elf at a department store
- tutor
- visitor assistant in a medieval castle
- visitor assistant for a museum
-tour guide at a cold war bunker

31.01.2026 17:03 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

gonna make my own version where I just read and shit on books like haunting adeline and den of vipers (i accidentally once downloaded that from kindle unlimited and read a third, worst few evenings of my life!!!!! who finds any of that sexy!!!!!!)

30.01.2026 13:04 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I've been binging if books could kill and now i can't stop seeing the books highlighted on it everywhere 😭

30.01.2026 13:02 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Post image Post image

oh to be that one monk at the monastery with 50 anatomically accurate native bird species on lock....

26.01.2026 16:02 👍 834 🔁 139 💬 4 📌 6
a medieval illustration of an anatomically accurate woodcock perched in the floral margins of a manuscript

a medieval illustration of an anatomically accurate woodcock perched in the floral margins of a manuscript

the "medieval people didn't know how to draw animals" crowd has been real quiet ever since john siferwas dropped the Perfect Woodcock

26.01.2026 15:53 👍 3639 🔁 927 💬 32 📌 22

Vaccines, clean water, formula, and maternity care have flipped our society around in ways we can barely comprehend.

Fuck this entire administration trying to undo that precious, life saving work.

25.01.2026 20:17 👍 284 🔁 30 💬 3 📌 1
Post image

The CFP for the Gender & Medieval Studies conference 2026 is now LIVE! The theme is Gender & Creativity. The conf will be held in Oxford, 8-10 Sept, abstracts due to me by 13 April. Full details on the GMS website (artwork by @hellomizk.bsky.social) medievalgender.co.uk/2026-oxford/

25.01.2026 10:22 👍 64 🔁 35 💬 1 📌 6
Helen (a white, blonde, blue eyed woman wearing glasses and a dark red jumper) holds Mina (a tortieshell cat with a distinctive stripe of brown down her nose)

Helen (a white, blonde, blue eyed woman wearing glasses and a dark red jumper) holds Mina (a tortieshell cat with a distinctive stripe of brown down her nose)

Mina (a tortieshell cat with a distinctive stripe of brown down her nose) climbs on the back of Isaac (a white man with brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses wearing a suit)

Mina (a tortieshell cat with a distinctive stripe of brown down her nose) climbs on the back of Isaac (a white man with brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses wearing a suit)

Family photos ❤️ @ielawton.bsky.social

23.01.2026 11:59 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Someday we’re going to stop being surprised that other animals also, like, live in the world. “Rats have empathy!” “Fish have culture!” No shit Sherlock, we’re not the only people here.

20.01.2026 03:45 👍 37 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 1
A page of a book with coffee spilled on it.

A page of a book with coffee spilled on it.

this has been a disastrous bit of cafe reading.

20.01.2026 12:40 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

sitting in a cafe reading Ian Kernshaw's biography of Hitler and someone just told me they were sad their grandfather didn't leave him his copy of mein kamf??????? and made sure i knew he'd read it??????? I am not reading this biography bc i am a fan of Hitler!!!!!! Go away!!!!

20.01.2026 12:31 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0