Lamb and Flag

... or, as is often said here, "Beezle and Banner".

This is the name of a well loved pub, close to St John's College, Oxford. Indeed, the lamb and the flag are the symbols of St John the Baptist, and the "Lamb and Flag" is the emblem of the college itself as well as of the pub. The college owns the pub and uses the profits "to reach the places that other awards cannot reach!"

The Lamb and Flag here are within the collge itself, in fact in the chapel. They embellish the bottom of the case of the newly built organ seen here. It was hearing someone practicing (rather loudly) on the instrument that diverted us from our intended path. The Lamb and Flag of this Blip are to be seen at the bottom of the organ, just above the entrance door to the chapel.

Here you may find more information about the organ, built in 2008 by Bernard Aubertin.

We had set out on a meandering journey from home with the intention of seeing how the spring flowers were progressing in some of the favoured spots near us. I fully expected that today's Blip would be a photograph taken in one or other of these places, but I was so fascinated by the little ornament in the chapel that its photograph took precedence over the flowers.

Instead, I have put together a selection of the flower photographs that I took during the course of the afternoon. We found a rather fine black cat in the garden of St John's. It was willing to be stroked, and wasn't at all nervous, but was a bit obstinate about being photographed, as you will see. A bit later, we found it again, sitting near another (grey) cat, that followed at a distance wherever the black one went; the black cat kept a very wary eye on where the grey one was. However, there was no hissing, spitting, or outward aggression, and we wondered if the encounter was amorous rather than pugilistic. Anyway, I finslly got a picture of the cat at rest, and you will find it at the end of the sequence.