#flowers of fires

[pheita]

F and T for the oc word soup?

Hey dreamywritingdragon, T for Theresa, who married to the uncle of my MC Aleena and appears a few times since she is a doctor. F for Freya who is some sort of older sister to Aleena, since both got trained by the shieldmaiden Swea. It is a sister in arms kind of thing, even if Freya is old enough to be her mother, and sometimes she likes to point it out just to annoy Aleena.

[t0bey]

been in my fire emblem three houses feelings lately

[reasonsforhope]

In the Willamette Valley of Oregon, the long study of a butterfly once thought extinct has led to a chain reaction of conservation in a long-cultivated region.

The conservation work, along with helping other species, has been so successful that the Fender’s blue butterfly is slated to be downlisted from Endangered to Threatened on the Endangered Species List—only the second time an insect has made such a recovery.

[Note: "the second time" is as of the article publication in November 2022.]

To live out its nectar-drinking existence in the upland prairie ecosystem in northwest Oregon, Fender’s blue relies on the help of other species, including humans, but also ants, and a particular species of lupine.

After Fender’s blue was rediscovered in the 1980s, 50 years after being declared extinct, scientists realized that the net had to be cast wide to ensure its continued survival; work which is now restoring these upland ecosystems to their pre-colonial state, welcoming indigenous knowledge back onto the land, and spreading the Kincaid lupine around the Willamette Valley.

First collected in 1929 [more like "first formally documented by Western scientists"], Fender’s blue disappeared for decades. By the time it was rediscovered only 3,400 or so were estimated to exist, while much of the Willamette Valley that was its home had been turned over to farming on the lowland prairie, and grazing on the slopes and buttes.

Pictured: Female and male Fender’s blue butterflies.

Now its numbers have quadrupled, largely due to a recovery plan enacted by the Fish and Wildlife Service that targeted the revival at scale of Kincaid’s lupine, a perennial flower of equal rarity. Grown en-masse by inmates of correctional facility programs that teach green-thumb skills for when they rejoin society, these finicky flowers have also exploded in numbers.

[Note: Okay, I looked it up, and this is NOT a new kind of shitty greenwashing prison labor. This is in partnership with the Sustainability in Prisons Project, which honestly sounds like pretty good/genuine organization/program to me. These programs specifically offer incarcerated people college credits and professional training/certifications, and many of the courses are written and/or taught by incarcerated individuals, in addition to the substantial mental health benefits (see x, x, x) associated with contact with nature.]

The lupines needed the kind of upland prairie that’s now hard to find in the valley where they once flourished because of the native Kalapuya people’s regular cultural burning of the meadows.

While it sounds counterintuitive to burn a meadow to increase numbers of flowers and butterflies, grasses and forbs [a.k.a. herbs] become too dense in the absence of such disturbances, while their fine soil building eventually creates ideal terrain for woody shrubs, trees, and thus the end of the grassland altogether.

Fender’s blue caterpillars produce a little bit of nectar, which nearby ants eat. This has led over evolutionary time to a co-dependent relationship, where the ants actively protect the caterpillars. High grasses and woody shrubs however prevent the ants from finding the caterpillars, who are then preyed on by other insects.

Now the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde are being welcomed back onto these prairie landscapes to apply their [traditional burning practices], after the FWS discovered that actively managing the grasslands by removing invasive species and keeping the grass short allowed the lupines to flourish.

By restoring the lupines with sweat and fire, the butterflies have returned. There are now more than 10,000 found on the buttes of the Willamette Valley."

-via Good News Network, November 28, 2022

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Flower Empowered.

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[tidetower]

The Prince of the Hightower and the Heir to High Tide

Artist: erchitos

[hyun3hk3y]

“Portrait of Lady Edelgard Von Hresvelg”. Oil on wood panel. 28” x 24” 

Finally, my portrait of Edelgard from Fire Emblem: Three Houses is finished.  This has been my major project over the last year or so, although its roots go back to about 2020.  I had this massive preamble in mind about how much FE3H has influenced myself and @misslovelyillustration ’s lives since she made me start playing it five years ago, but for now I’ll just say that I haven’t been this captivated by a video game since either Jet Set Radio Future or Metroid Prime.  In fact, I figured I was well past the age to ever be enamored by a video game ever again.  Three Houses just seemed to be the right thing at the right time.

I’d like to thank my sister Liz for being the model for Edelgard and @misslovelyillustration for twisting my arm into playing the damn game…as well as for her continued love and support.

Finally, I would also like to thank my friend/Mentor Merrily for lending her tailoring skills in putting the costume together.  Without her, I doubt I could have brought this painting together, at least not to the level I had envisioned for it.

[momochanners]

This goth couple wants your spot at the beach, wyd? 🤔

[tell-them-the-north-remembers]

When you think about it Euron Greyjoy is actually the villain of all time, GRRM's magnum opus. He opens his eyes to the world and decides sibling abuse is gonna be his thing for a while. He fucks his brother's wife, gets exiled for it, fucks off to god knows where. Then allegedly finds a dragon egg, tries to get a wizard to hatch it, gets mad, randomly throws it into the sea. Commits war crimes, captures warlocks, makes them cannibalize each other for shits and giggles. Steals a dragon horn. DEMOCRATICALLY GETS ELECTED KING. Raids a man's castle, ties up the man, sees his daughter who goes "hey my step mom and step siblings suck strip them naked and make them serve dinner to ur men like that" and he goes "ok." and then is like "hey that was fun im gonna like kinda marry you and make you my salt wife". But she will be his SALT wife (she actually wont he will literally CUT her tongue bcs he evil) bcs he literally thinks oh yes i will marry daenerys and then tame a dragon using my dragonhorn and conquer westeros on dragonback aegon-style. He gets fucked up on shade of the evening daily, sees hallucinations and visions and plans on summoning eldritch horrors. He is an edgy pirate with a ship called "silence" bcs he fucking tore out the tongues of his entire crew and the ship is painted red so it conceals the BLOOD. Martin went "i have enough morally grey antagonists" and then created euron fucking greyjoy.

[artzee534]

[robynnnn311]

how i imagine jon’s little friendship group at the wall is like with satin

[irlplasticlamb]

satin, they called him, even in the wool and mail and boiled leather of the night’s watch; the name he'd gotten in the brothel where he'd been born and raised. he was pretty as a girl with his dark eyes, soft skin, and raven's ringlets. (commissioned by the lovely @hoopyfrood)

prints + merch + commission info

[pi-slices]

Fire Flower.

[starboysbrainrot]

jetko week 2024

day 2 : teashop

[deerspherestudios]

hmm, Mychael likes earth-toned clothes, and green and brown are cool, but does he have a favorite color?

With confidence I can say I haven't answered his favorite color yet; something in me says: yellow 💛🌻☀️!

[killyridols]

wildfire no.4, by theodora allen, 2016, oil on linen, 56 x 42 inches

[daily-crowley]

Crowley Of The Day: how are the back of their heads attractive also?