This is, for me, what tarot is all about: Letting the symbols in (seemingly) randomly drawn cards evoke what we need to acknowledge.

Makes sense: Today is Day 1 of the Pretend We're Moving House clean-up; i.e., if I had to prepare a move, what would I jettison? For the first half of our marriage, we moved a lot, but now we've been more than two decades in the same place, so...

No new pictures, where are you mentally?

Physical media, y'all ✨️

@moviessilently.bsky.social, here's a deck of Spanish playing cards (so suits are Cups, Swords, Clubs & Coins), all featuring silent stars. Some choices are v appropriate: all Knights are cowboy stars, Ace of Swords is Doug Fairbanks, Queen of Clubs is Our Mary & 2 of Cups (Hearts) the Gish sisters.

Because in Spain we celebrate all Twelve Days of Christmas, Yuletide movies are still on the watch list. Tonight: The 1970 musical SCROOGE, with a 34-year-old Albert Finney surprisingly convincing in the title role.

Rockin' into 2025 like... youtu.be/TKYhqaIwhQ8?...

Last sunset of the year from Punta Cabicastro, Galicia. Wishing everyone all the best for 2026 ✨️

In Spain (in this case, the Galician city of Vigo) we celebrate ALL TWELVE Days of Christmas 🌟

I'm a chain-smoking Detective Inspector, prowling for clues on the carefully raked sand paths and manicured lawns of Swanswater.

Share a great villainess.

Despite the shortness of his legs, Jackie is never going to lose hope of ONE DAY being able to reach the jamón ibérico currently on the dining room table.

Boxing Day stroll with the fam in Retiro Park, Madrid. I ❤️ my city!

Wow. I posted Van Eyck's monumental "The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb", a masterpiece of 15th-c Catholic art, but got slapped with an "Adult Content" label & the image removed from my post. It's a very beautiful artwork & easily viewable on Wikipedia or any other site that features Flemish painting.

Wishing y'all a truly MERRY Christmas 🎄✨️

I'm really enjoying the latest installment from the @britishlibrary.bsky.social Crime Classics series of reprints, "Death in Ambush", a Yuletide murder mystery by Susan Gilruth. It had me hooked from page 1.

The Ghent Altarpiece, a.k.a. The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, is the size of a barn door, the weight of an elephant & one of the most incredible objects ever made by humans. No number of high-res reproductions could prepare me for the impact of seeing it in person. smarthistory.org/van-eyck-the...

This is the kind of very niche, very nerdy, very annotated thread that brings me joy ✨️

SCARLET STREET is a stealth Christmas movie for #Noircember, pass it on...

Happy Dick Van Dyke Centennial! (Cartoon by Ricardo Martínez)

In #Noirvember I organized an inadvertent Robinson mini-fest when I re-watched a trio of noir classics back to back: DOUBLE INDEMNITY (in which Robinson plays a good guy), KEY LARGO (where he plays a very bad guy), & SCARLETT STREET (is he a tragic guy here? it's complicated...). The man had *range*

You will be visited by three spirits...

I love hermit crabs. Always a delight to see them when I go to the beach.

Never thought that "Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier" would contain such a perfect Advent reading, but here it is...

There are some delightfully niche Advent calendars created by Bluesky users; this is one of my favorites.

Nothing says "Yuletide in Brussels" like a festive municipal space featuring Christmas trees decorated with beer cans 🎄🍻

Wandering around Brussels, we found a vegan café called LUCIFER LIVES, decorated entirely with horror film memorabilia 🧟‍♂️ Belgium: Keeping it surreal since 1924.

I spent this morning looking at Bruegel paintings at the Brussels Museum of Fine Art, & agree 💯

Ya gotta love the Belgians. Even when it's cold & rainy, if they've planned a party in the street (as today, for the Feast of St. Nicholas), a whole lot of folks are going to show up to party.

Brussels...

Pantone's choice of what is literally a shade of white as its Color of the Year 2026 seems a bit on the nose.

Forget DIE HARD. The *real* Christmas movie is BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE.

I worked with the Spanish Institute of Oceanography for 15 years as an English translator & copyeditor, so I've seen lots of fun names for sea creatures, but "pink hairy squat lobster" has got to be my fave 💖

Bitterns... don't sound very tasty. But apparently they were popular at Henry III's court.

More #Advent listening 💜

A new one for my Yuletide listening list 🎄

What a fascinating life!

Our youngest said at dinner, "Well, I'M thankful for Thanksgiving leftovers", so that was gratifying.

Last day of #Noirvember... (Sound on 🎙)

Now seated for WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY! 🕵‍♀️

#NoirvemberChallenge 29. Favorite RKO noir THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE. Director Siodmak & cinematographer Musuraca craft the ultimate single-setting stormy-night thriller occurring almost in real time. Dorothy McGuire stands out in a cast of RKO stalwarts (Brent! Kent Smith!) as the Final Girl #Noirvember

Threads like this one = the content I'm thankful for ✨️

This is the content I'm thankful for ✨️

I'm so thankful for JAWS that I'm leaving my family at home later tonight (simply because no one else wants to go) & heading out to a one-off cinema screening (because I haven't seen this movie in a theater since its first run, despite nearly annual 4th of July rewatches on DVD!)

As one of those kids who loved reading history books (still do), I was horrified by the fate of Calvin Coolidge, Jr. when I found out about it in 2nd grade. If even the US presidnt's son could die from an infected blister, none of us were safe! My mom assured me "that could never happen, now."

Re-watching STRANGERS ON A TRAIN... on a train. #Noirvember

NO SMOKING sign (from a used bookstore in Oviedo, Spain)

This café in Oviedo, Spain has *all* the milks: "hazelnut, vanilla, lactose-free, soy, oatmeal, almond, sheep, coconut...and cow"