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Ivy Winter

@ivywinters.bsky.social

290 followers 350 following 200 posts

How very wonderful it is to live alongside a cat.

Classics & English | Asian-British. I like to read, among other things many and divers. Special love for Classical reception in the form of shitposting. Contemplating starting a new life in Berlin.

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Ivy Winter

@ivywinters.bsky.social

Oh my goodness! Is that 饺子 on my very own Palace Museum postcard pack??

Front of a slim pack of postcards from the Palace Museum, featuring a design of a massive (but not forbidding) white cat framed by the arched opening of a red building. The cat has a gold charm looped round their neck with red string. If this cat is in fact 饺子, the card upgrades from 'sweet' to 'downright adorable'.

October 19, 2025 at 8:55 AM

Ivy Winter

@ivywinters.bsky.social

it's giving

Frame from the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 7: Steel Ball Run, notable for its frequent and flagrant (mis)use of the golden ratio.

A jockey (hunched low and sporting a star-spangled headscarf that matches his pants) is riding through a wooded area. A speaker, out of frame, is marvelling, 'IT'S THERE...IT'S DONE...INSIDE THE RECTANGLE...'; a golden ratio rectangle and spiral pattern is superimposed upon them. The horse is, apparently, inside the golden rectangle.

August 2, 2025 at 2:47 AM

Ivy Winter

@ivywinters.bsky.social

Looks like colleges are still (this from 2021) falling in the gap between 'technically legal' and 'actually liveable', we hate to see it

'Unfortunately, some disabled students have faced issues with colleges’ attitudes towards disability. A second-year wheelchair user at Jesus explained how last year’s room ballot left her uncertain about whether she would be able to live with other second years. After a conversion project last summer that aimed to make the Stevens Close Annexe accessible, she still found that the annexe had significant issues. The gate was not made automatic until her seventh week of living in the building, preventing her from leaving freely. Upon being asked about her college’s building conversion, she said: “it felt very much like they hadn’t logically thought about how a person in a wheelchair would actually go about living there.” This lack of adequate accommodation occurs due to the ambiguity of the Equality Act. Despite its professions of equality, it leaves room for “reasonable adjustment,” allowing organisations to interpret “access” differently. These discrepancies in accommodation highlight how, for disabled students, college choice deeply influences their freedom in terms of where and how they live and socialise.'

July 21, 2025 at 12:03 AM

Ivy Winter

@ivywinters.bsky.social

reading this post triggering this soundtrack in my head

Headline from The Irish Times in 2013: 'Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead storms charts in wake of Thatcher death / Punters buying Wizard of Oz track in droves after divisive former British leader’s passing'

July 19, 2025 at 12:31 AM

Ivy Winter

@ivywinters.bsky.social

I painted my favourite angle of Luigi Magione, of (alleged) CEO killing fame...it's #art

Acrylic painting of the shot of Luigi Mangione entering his extradition hearing on 10/12/2024, gripped by the scruff of the neck, lightly snarling

December 13, 2024 at 1:56 AM

Ivy Winter

@ivywinters.bsky.social

This is...the exact opposite of a roast. But also, absolutely I'll take it, because I do love to be flattered

A devastating and frankly cruel character analysis:

'The Purr-fect Blend of Classics and Cat Love
Ivy Winter: where classical allusions meet cat devotion in a digital wonderland.

A delightful mix of erudition, sarcasm, and enough cat love to rival even the most enthusiastic cat influencer.'

December 4, 2024 at 3:07 AM

Ivy Winter

@ivywinters.bsky.social

Looking this up made me realise I'd been sleeping on Zhuangzi:

'予求无所可用久矣' — well ain't that tree me

The immensely relatable line, '予求无所可用久矣', is highlighted in an excerpt from Zhuangzi/庄子，'人间世'：

匠石归，栎社见梦曰：“女将恶乎比予哉？若将比予于文木邪？夫柤、梨、橘、柚、果、蓏之属，实熟则剥，剥则辱；大枝折，小枝泄。此以其能苦其生者也，故不终其天年而中道夭，自掊击于世俗者也。物莫不若是。且予求无所可用久矣，几死，乃今得之，为予大用。使予也而有用，且得有此大也邪？且也若与予也皆物也，奈何哉其相物也？而几死之散人，又恶知散木！”匠石觉而诊其梦。弟子曰：“趣取无用，则为社何邪？”曰：“密！若无言！彼亦直寄焉，以为不知己者诟厉也。不为社者，且几有剪乎！且也彼其所保与众异，而以义喻之，不亦远乎！”

November 28, 2024 at 9:14 PM

Ivy Winter

@ivywinters.bsky.social

I can't believe I spent all of yesterday evening bringing this inspired (very stupid) Shiba Inu pun to fruition, only for my mother to stare at it for a bit and pronounce it incomprehensible. My #art is wasted...

#Embroidery attempt no. 3; explication in alt text.

Palm-sized embroidery depiction of a jolly, rotund Shiba Inu giving a grinning thumbs-up. But! The plot thickens: he is sweating profusely all over, and two blue question marks floating by his head bely his confidence. Below, the last convolution to complete the joke — the caption '是吧? INU' (shì ba? inu); '是吧?' denotes an uncertain affirmation, in contrast to the Shiba Inu's confident posturing. The question mark in the caption consists of a curly Shiba Inu tail above a pawprint. This loving attention to detail is in inverse proportion to the inattention with which the artist repeatedly punctured her fingers with the needle.

November 27, 2024 at 6:21 PM

Ivy Winter

@ivywinters.bsky.social

My books are heaped on the floor so he can live like a king...

#cat

White cat tipped with black, pink nose uplifted, peering curiously out of an entire section of bookshelf that has been vacated just for him.

November 24, 2024 at 7:56 PM

Ivy Winter

@ivywinters.bsky.social

Second ever embroidery attempt! There's so much impressive embroidery art on Bluesky that I was moved to dig out the embroidery kit I spontaneously bought during Covid & tried to use exactly once. It's a bit wonky, but was made in a spirit of devout adoration ❤️‍🔥