Teaching colonial history (as a Canadian in the United States) & bracing for a full year of 1776ishness. (Colonial Williamsburg, 1986.)

/looks up from writing a report on the environmental history of Prescott House & Starrs Point www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... #envhist #cdnhist

Hubbardston Nonsuch, Westfield Seek-no-further, Drap d’Or: apple varieties grown in Nova Scotia 150 years ago. Astonishing. (But the russets are the best.) Proceedings of the American Pomological Society, 1875; USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection.

... or July. Halifax, 21 July 2025.

Yes, it's winter, but the turn in light is beautiful. Tom Thomson, "Open Water, Joe Creek" (1917) tinyurl.com/373bjbf8 @agotoronto.bsky.social

"Never mind, my dears, I have no doubt we shall get along very well without her." (ca. 1900) #cdnhist @museemccordstewart.bsky.social tinyurl.com/bdzbwwbh

Snowstorm '26: We're going to need a bigger barrel. James Duncan, "Carting snow at Montreal" (1847-50) @library-archives.canada.ca

Heading into the weekend's storm with this kind of enthusiasm. M.F. Dyneley, "Sledge and Habitants in a snowstorm" (1848) tinyurl.com/3yc7fhh9 @library-archives.canada.ca

The Balloon Pilot, Ib Antoni, 1970 tinyurl.com/45natwur

Diplomacy by adults, àpropos of nothing. @library-archives.canada.ca tinyurl.com/55z2a8fn tinyurl.com/2jt67huz

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to make a really good grilled cheese sandwich … Pennsylvania Farm Show butter sculpture, 2026 tinyurl.com/2zy2ah3e

"...there is nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and literature.* Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness." George Washington, first State of the Union address, 8 January 1790. tinyurl.com/3wznctej *History, too, GW.

Elbows up, Kalaallit Nunaat. (National Gallery of Greenland, natgal.gl#galleri)

Ten years ago today we flew to Hawaii. I'm always conflicted now about travel - but it was so lush, so beautiful, so ... not the northeast in January.

It can be freeze-your-face-cold, but winter nights are beautiful. @gallery.ca 🇨🇦

There was more than one moose present at the birth of Jesus? 🇨🇦 tinyurl.com/btteztsx tinyurl.com/4mxd5jew

Madonna of the Magnificat, Sandro Botticelli (c. 1483), or, "Working from home."

What I'd like to be reading ... What I am actually reading. #envhist @whitehorsepress.bsky.social

Proctoring the final exam for my Mapping History class & thinking probably none of us knew what we were getting into. Which is ... what it's always kind of like to study history? tinyurl.com/2sbwadkr @mhs1791.bsky.social #envhist

Learning about the Jólakötturinn has been the highlight of the season for me so far. If my son complains about getting socks at Christmas, I can say it's to protect him from being eaten by a giant cat. tinyurl.com/4266hvuz

6 December 1917: “There were a few helpless shouts. Then all movement and life about the ship were encompassed in a sound beyond hearing as the Mont Blanc opened up.” ~H. MacLennan, Barometer Rising (1941) tinyurl.com/mwdjm66f #envhist #cdnhist State Library of Massachusetts tinyurl.com/57w3xt8h

When you ask students to generate ideas for the final exam, and they share their unedited notes. (Yes, I DO like maps.) #envhist #cdnhist

'Tis the season for mailing Christmas cards! (And supporting the postal service.) Amelia Frederica Dyneley, "The Quebec Royal Mail, Canada East" (1848) @library-archives.canada.ca tinyurl.com/45b5drc6

When ... I all alone beweep my outcast state [in December, in Pennsylvania] ... Haply I think on thee [the Annapolis Valley, in July] ... (With apologies to M. Shakespeare, but I'm sure he would have liked the Valley in summer, too.)

Coming home from the farmers' market the day before (American) Thanksgiving ... unconvinced that the twelve-year-old will eat anything besides turkey and pie. Christoph Suhr, 19thC @britishmuseum.bsky.social tinyurl.com/48adszfk

This is a common motif in late-19th century cartoons about 🇨🇦/🇺🇸 relations: Uncle Sam as a morally repugnant sleazebag. À propos of nothing. #cdnhist McCord Museum, tinyurl.com/yc2zpdka

When you're an environmental historian, and your twelve-year-old is training on a shiny new soccer turf in Chester, of course you want to see what used to be there, right? #envhist ca. 1917 c/o PSU tinyurl.com/yks4jxj9 @philadelphiaunion.bsky.social

When the keeper's clearing has to go to the next level.🇨🇦 ⚽❤️ tinyurl.com/2rva5yj3 (CBC)

"On the crown of a hill, for all to see, God planted a scarlet maple tree." ~ Bliss Carman

What a glorious time of year.

Look, as a history professor, I'm just chuffed to see someone bringing the archival receipts. tinyurl.com/56ktcp8n [CBC] tinyurl.com/eb2bfn7z @museemccordstewart.bsky.social

Philip Reinagle, The Blue Jay (late 18thC) tinyurl.com/yw3kfyux 🇨🇦

200 years ago, though we may have escalated from 'mischievous.' The Acadian Recorder, 1 January 1825.

Cough cough cough

Another deliciously autumnal postcard from PA: the rasp of a chill breeze through a ghostly field of cornstalks.

First frost, central Pennsylvania, 2025. It’s beautiful.

My dad took this photo in the fall of 1969 (I'm pretty sure) off the dock of Camp Hurontario, in the Georgian Bay. I've been hearing the water lapping all morning.

In 1964 Congress declared October 9 Leif Erikson Day. He never came here. Good job, America.

Happy Sea Ice Birthday Day to all who celebrate. @whoi.edu tinyurl.com/msjajhtn Peter Rindisbacher, "Discovery of the first Ice in the neighbourhood of Greenland, June 26, 1821" @library-archives.bsky.social tinyurl.com/b5d8dkrt #envhist #cdnhist

As a Canadian, and a mother of a goalkeeper, I endorse this. Maple the Moose, Canada's FIFA mascot. tinyurl.com/ubay2naa

Scrolling through autumnal Canadian art is officially the best part of my day. Tom Thomson, "The Lake, Bright Day" (1916) @gallery.ca tinyurl.com/yedf4szh #envhist #cdnhist

History is an act of imagination, etc., so how to convey the literally-breath-taking experience of Quebec in winter without stuffing the class in a freezer. #envhist #cdnhist Caroline Bucknall-Estocourt, "Winter scene on the St. Lawrence at Quebec," 1844, LAC tinyurl.com/9f7ejdsm

Apparently, the best thing you can do to boost your immune system is to reduce long-term or chronic stress. <looks around> Well, that’s hilarious.

Because you could be grading, or you could be looking at something like this. « Plan de la rade, baye et port de Chibouctou ou d'Halifax» 18thC #envhist #cdnhist @labnf.bsky.social rb.gy/qbsqv8

Today I'm teaching about the 17th-century Chesapeake, & the 1619 Project. This is for my son, who couldn't do a project on family history last year because he can't fully know where his ancestors on his father's side came from. I learn a lot from him. (He did a project on Sierra Leone instead.)

We can do it - at least for now. Thanks, science.

Yes, everything is <waves hands>, but I get to teach about these this week. So there's that. #envhist #cdnhist

Water Resources is a unique class at Bucknell because engineers learn a little history, too. Today we talked about unintended consequences, & why dropping beavers by parachute isn't a great idea. tinyurl.com/5nj9c9mj Suffice to say none of the students were expecting this. #envhist

When your eleven-year-old says, "Tackle football, or real football?" - you know you're raising him right.