For a little light in the world, we hosted our annual neighborhood gingerbread house making party. The community center provides a partyroom, we bake the chocolate gingerbread dough and whip up the icing, and all the families bring candy to share for decorating. It’s worth it, every year.

My tried and true… theonion.com/it-only-tues...

“Never think you've seen the last of anything.” Eudora Welty, Writer, Pulitzer Prize winner

Bullfrog of the day! Sunday, 30 Nov 2025

We walked into a Waterstones booksellers, where I wanted to pop in to look for a book. The young man asked for the name, the title, or any other information that might help identify the book. All I could offer was that I thought there was a cat on the UK cover. Which - wasn’t super helpful.

The Fire Base Mayor riffs on John Snow (discovery of Cholera transmission) to John Snow (GoT and winter coming) … The Eldest: “I don’t play game of thrones because I don’t have that game on the Switch.” Me: “Game of thrones isn’t an actual game. Not like that.” Her parents are now deceased.

We are in London. Now is the start of the neverendjng reminders that “we did not travel all this way just to play video games in a hotel room.”

A great book by an author - Premee Mohamed - whose books I’ve really enjoyed discovering over the past year. And it’s read by a new favorite audio book reader, @shiromispeaks.com. ( Buy it and enjoy. (Be careful when you venture into the Forest).

The upside to chores is that the Offspring are pretty reliable about feeding The Lab. The downside is that neither parent noticed (or was informed) about the total lack of dog food in the bin, and no one checked as part of the pre-trip checks until… just now. 😬

Here is a hastily constructed animated gif from different NASA satellites showing the progression of the Hayli Gubbi eruption. Note the tall ash plume spreading NE (right) and a lower, light tan ash flow(?) moving NNW. #eruption #volcano

Gone for the week, home for a weekend of teaching and encouraging the Young Ones in archery. It’s a fun course of instruction. You explain, demonstrate, and guide, but you can’t shoot for them. That’s when the encouragement and enabling must be done. She persisted and she qualified.

🔭 3I/ATLAS: A View from Planet Earth Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25112...

So, I think tonight’s the night to really dig in to this book. Apropos of nothing, and all that. (Especially as it is two weeks overdue to my exceptionally indulgent public library).

It’s World #AMR Awareness Week. Did you know misusing antibiotics leads to drug resistance and side effects? Learn about #AntimicrobialResistance (AMR) 👉bit.ly/AMRweek2025#AMR

The Youngest announced he was Going To His Bedroom. A parental check occurred and he was discovered to be Reading A Book for Bedtime. The book in question - P.W. Singer’s “Wired for War” - and honestly, good for him. I haven’t even started it yet.

Then they sat in the shade of a large tree and ate their chocolate ice cream cones together.

The Youngest was extra scharf tonight, declaring this was “The Worst Day Ever. Ever! I mean it!” But as I gave him a kiss on the temple as he turned away, I whispered “I had fun on our hike together this morning,” and he-begrudgingly- mumbled back “I- I guess, I had fun with you too, mom.”

Here’s a slug we found on a leaf today during our hike.

Tonight’s the night I’m going to get my life together, I whisper to myself as I doomscroll and make lists and ponder the pint of ice cream I bought on the way home.

If you insist to me that “this is your my profession, I am a professional,” I might actually not take you seriously.

🔭 Road to the Galactic Centre Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Abramyan star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/apod/a...

More raccoons? Turns out it would be bad news. We're predicting where key reservoirs of the raccoon rabies virus (🦝 and 🦨) may be in Québec by 2100, and if we don't act on climate change, the answer may be: everywhere. 🧪

This is what I do want to do. Timing timing timing. Gah

Interested in a PhD at the intersection of biophysics and microbiology? Apply for this MRC-funded opportunity at Newcastle University to do cutting-edge microscopy in Mycobacterium tuberculosis! 🔬🦠 Closing 4 Dec! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

A movie you’ve seen more than seven times (in a gif).

This feels harsh but necessary

Need to implement this rule in my house post-haste!

I love that I think I’ll get caught up on anything at all when I’m home sick. Sleep is the only thing I might come close to catching up on, and that’s because it’s the only thing my body lets me do. What I’m saying is I’m behind on a couple of things.

Scenes from the Schwarzwald

for Kelly and Ben

“One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.” -MARIE CURIE, Physicist, Chemist, Recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Listen, I need to figure out how easy it is to get to @themerl.bsky.social by public transit from London…

The Youngest requested family game time with me, then picked Uno NO MERCY. He demolished me in the first game, then stated he was going easy on me - then played three +10 cards followed by a +6 card - which triggered the “mercy” rule (any player with 25+ cards in their hand). A fun game. A good kid.

International #LeadPoisoning Prevention Week starts today. Leaded fuel was banned around the world in 2021. But lead can still be found in paint used in: 🏡 homes 🚸 schools 🛝 playgrounds 🪀 toys Let’s ban lead in paint. 🔗 bit.ly/4qblGcM

🗓️🏷️ Let's learn about food labels & reduce food waste! 🛑 ‘Use by’: consume by this date to avoid illness ✅ ‘Best before’: flavour may fade, but if stored properly it’s still safe to enjoy. Make informed choices with #Safe2EatEU: www.efsa.europa.eu/en/safe2eat/...

#OnObedience now in paperback for all you reading and book club needs!

Violence, scientific DRAMA, and misunderstanding! Who first asked if woodpeckers get headaches, or if rams are immune to brain damage? New Paper! I trace the history of human thought on brain injury in head-hitting animals, and it's a wild ride. 🧪 🏺 A thread - 1/🧵 doi.org/10.1002/ar.7...

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The Offspring are excessively distressed to learn that the dishes are a self-renewing chore which have to be done daily, and sometimes even more than once daily. "But we did the dishes yesterday!!" Yep, each of you did one round of dishes yesterday. And now we have breakfast dishes to do...

Listening to the news reporter talking about the likelihood of military members not being paid on the 15th: Youngest: they won’t their money? Eldest: Well that would be inconvenient. Youngest: wait, mom, does that mean you won’t get paid? Me: Yes, but also Ms. M & Mr. P already didn’t get paid.

Here’s The Lab doing his chores for the morning: breaking down the cardboard box.

The Ebola outbreak in Kasai Province, DRC, is showing positive signs of decline, with no new cases reported for 10 consecutive days https://beaconbio.org/en/report/?reportid=76765982-7a97-490e-96c2-6de082e5c93f&eventid=bc2748bc-fa2f-4aad-894b-919de2e1052f&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social

On behalf of The Lab (who just lunged at some imagined crumb under the table - it was the twist tie from a loaf of bread), I re-share this excellent flow chart from The Clinician’s Brief: “Should I Eat This? A flow chart for Labradors, by Labradors”

Sharing because this video, the choreographer, costumes, every little reference and detail are just amazing.

"The brave are simply those with the clearest vision of what is before them—glory and danger alike—and, notwithstanding, go out to meet it." (Thucydides, which I didn't know until I just looked for the correct wording of the quote) Also, maybe more emphasis on the danger, and less so on the glory.

I'm lucky just to spot owls. Glad this one came into good hands.

It was a cool, sometimes sunny, sometimes raining wildly, and finally windy day. So soup was made. Persian-style Tomato and Lentil Soup with deutsch goat fetz cheese and not enough fresh bread or parsely.

Arrived at work to be reminded of the evergreen adage: “flushable wipes block pipes”. And cause pipes to overflow with sewage. And then it stinks something awful. And require plumbers to dismantle all the toilets in the bathrooms. Gross. Don’t flush “disposable” wipes!!

Discworld QOTD, from A Hat Full of Sky “You couldn’t say: It’s not my fault. You couldn’t say: It’s not my responsibility. You could say: I will deal with this. You didn’t have to want to. But you had to do it.”

Someone - and I’m not naming any names here - ate chicken that was left out on the table. Someone - still not naming names - is incredibly, horrendously gassy, very uncomfortable, laying on the floor, and not at all his normal obnoxious Labrador self. So yeah, I’m a little worried.