The anti-trans legislation (and anti-trans rhetoric in general) needs to stop. I for one will always be supportive. Hang in there, everyone. 🏳️‍⚧️

Happy holidays only to the grant funders who haven’t set deadlines for all the reports and applications to be submitted at the end of the year. 🙃😅

The front of this year’s holiday card from our family… ❤️🎄🐕‍🦺

I am not fond of Portland’s atmospheric rivers, since they make dog walking hard and cause our regular rivers to flood. The Christmas Ships still sailed up and down the Willamette last week despite the last round of atmospheric river rain causing a sewage overflow. Christmas-y Poop River Parade! 💩🎄🛥️

As a grant writer for environmental causes, I’ve seen first-hand how funding for the environment often takes a backseat to medical research and human services. This article helps demonstrate why this is a problem; the environment is a HUGE influence on public health and quality of life.

Think winter walks are miserable? They’re actually saving my sanity. Fresh air, filtered light, and unexpected fungi are keeping me going. Watch the video and tell me what keeps you grounded this time of year.

We made a visit to Teufel Holly Farm today so we can deck the halls with evergreens. ❤️🎄

Remember that “accessibility options upon request” nonsense I mentioned a few days ago for a city of Portland government function? Well, I can attend virtually now, but by golly, you’d better be a verified, unhealthy, Real Disabled Person if you dare to use Zoom, rather than just a lazy slob! 😒

Even if you believe that education is only about utility for future employment and not about building a flexible, capable brain, a broad base of understanding, and learning to connect with others, performing to a standard despite being uninterested or annoyed is a relevant skill for every job.

We were working at the Wild Arts Festival this weekend and were so pleased by how accessible, beautiful, and welcoming the event was. From a quiet room for decompression to wide aisles and ample seating, it was probably the most pleasant event of its kind Sprocket and I have ever attended. Grateful.

This place halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow was recently for sale and I was seriously tempted. If I suddenly disappear, it’s possible I moved into an home in Scotland with a library and a conservatory that is a Mood. This one sold… surely others exist? 😍

If you tout your commitment to equity and inclusion and then say “accessible options can be explored upon request” - that is neither accessible nor welcoming to disabled folks. Virtual/hybrid meeting options, abundant seating, and water access should all be easy, advertised, and already available.

This male Downy Woodpecker looking fierce as it pecks away on a palm tree. #bird #birdphotography #photography #birdsofbluesky #woodpecker #downywoodpecker #nature #wildlife #canonphotography #birdphoto #blueskybirds #birdoftheday #dailybirdpic

If the author had bothered to cite any actual statistics on disability, perhaps she would know that more than 1 in 4 adults have a disability in the US (28.7%, CDC). And having more than 20% of undergrads with a disability is pretty much right on for what is expected (PNPI). pnpi.org/wp-content/u...

Reposted with alt text. ❤️

I’m putting up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving and all of the Grinches who can’t stand my joy can go jump off of Mount Crumpit. 😂 Usually I wait, but extra coziness is required this year, and I’m gifting myself extra time to make it all happen with less stress and more delight. ❤️🎄❄️

For those with delicate sensibilities, the movie has a lot of gore (I had to giggle when Mark exclaimed at one point, “Eew… why, Guillermo, why?!” 😆)… but I find this reference very cool! 💀

Feeling crafty; I wasn’t feeling well over the weekend and wanted to just sit and make something with my hands. I almost have this advent calendar completed; I just need to add tiny pulls to each drawer/door. I’m pleased with how it is turning out! I bought the art on Etsy and the form secondhand.❄️

Painted tonight, but it’s nowhere near done, so instead here’s a piece I did in 2024 called Frosty Twilight (16”x20” mixed media). I went through a whole birches phase and this was part of that series. Anyhoooo….who’s ready for Monday?! I’m not! Lol #art #painting #mixedmedia #sundayscaries

Pretty orange things in Portland today: a very vivid sunset and a November-blooming rose in my garden. 🧡 (Somehow, I also have bearded iris budding right now, too? I’ll post a picture if it blooms. 😂)

My two favorite fungi from a rainy forest walk: fluted bird’s nest fungus and honey mushrooms. November in Oregon is wonderful!

Me too. AND if a movie goes there, perhaps show how often disability is created by other people being selfish. Needless trauma or want, thoughtless design, bad assumptions, capitalism…

When the resources exist to have both (spoiler alert: tax the ultra rich and corporations more, and we do!), “what if…. both?” is exactly what we should ponder about everything. But especially pizza and books. 💕🍕📚

This is relevant to my interests on multiple fronts. People who create data viz should also be striving to make the point of a chart clear enough to be easily translated into a few sentences.

Been feeling absolutely drained; sleep has been elusive and the ever-present dysautonomia is extra present today. I took the day off with Sprocket for a nap and a slow/gentle walk near Oaks Bottom in Portland, to breathe in the petrichor and touch some grass. He was especially happy about this. 🐕‍🦺🍁

Sprocket the #ServiceDog is apparently a Dancing With the Stars fan! 💃🕺💕🐕‍🦺 I wonder who he is rooting for… 😊

Sprocket the service dog just went to the Halloween candy bowl for trick-or-treaters and came back to offer me a peanut butter cup. 🎃🍫 Best service ever. 😂

We have progressed from data collection to data analysis.

If you know Portland at all, here is a good example of why AI-generated street maps are not recommended. 🫠 Among many other issues, it seems that Ladd’s Addition has been subtracted. 😂 (What’s your favorite: Bicckman, Richmoend, or Barbk?) Gotta love that AI slapped a Google logo on there, too…

Please consider signing. It’s not a safe location for residents, businesses, school kids, or the canners themselves. c.org/VWPz8g89T2

portland people here are some restaurants who are doing their best to help folks being starved by our government. please support www.koin.com/news/oregon/...

I mean… this ICE ad works if they are recruiting for Ringwraiths (dudes who hide their faces while trying to violently capture people on behalf of an evil authoritarian leader who wants to be king of all Middle Earth…) 😒 Pretty sure Ents would take umbrage with Trump environmental policies, too… 🌳

Yes. I get very cranky when anyone dares to tell me who my “real family” is. I don’t care what lines are on the family tree. It’s the love and the character of the relationship that matter. (I also say this as the primary caregiver and birth/adoptive/step mother of 4 kids with 7 biological parents.)

I have the Sunday night dread this evening so I put the kettle on and made myself some hot chamomile lemon tea in a pink mug with a bunny on it. 🐇 I still have a general impending doom feeling (common these days), but my hands are warm and my throat soothed. I’ll take little pleasures when I can. 💕

With torrential Portland rain this weekend, the guys, the service dog, and I were looking for ways to wander indoors. Fortunately, I am an oddity and Sprocket is a curiosity, so we fit right in at the Expo. 😂 He alerted me for medical stuff and I found a seat when I needed it; he was very good. 💓

When your service dog knows how to open the bathroom door… “You okay in here?” 😂

Show up for Portland’s Parks and wildlife by voting yes on the Portland Parks Levy! Without the Levy Portland Parks & Rec will lose nearly half its budget, forcing closures and eliminating programs. Let’s show how much we love our parks by voting yes! birdallianceoregon.org/take-action/...

Took an evening walk through our Portland neighborhood with my son and my dog. We can’t figure out how these festive neighbors made the giant cat on their porch roof move as if it is pouncing. Obviously we need the national guard to help us with these scary inflatables everywhere. 😅🐈‍⬛🎃

Reposting with alt text. 😊🦖💕

There’s so much worse going on right now but I’m here once again complaining that the census website has been unusable for nearly a month and I don’t know if you all know how much researchers in every single industry rely on it but it is a problem.

My late season garden is rather glorious right now! The dahlias just keep going… every bloom in that bouquet is abundant in my yard, and it is making me very happy. Tonight we will celebrate 4 family October birthdays; my sister is in town from the Netherlands and I got her fave pumpkin pie. 💕🌸🌼💐

Check out this crowd shot we got in Portland. What a hellhole, amirite?

I like to imagine old timer salmon whispering stories to young salmon, saying “someday we will get to go home again” over and over again for the past 100 years. And now they can! Go, salmon, go! 🥹🐟💕

The No Kings protest is tomorrow. And while I wish I could be there, it’s a no-go for me with my particular disability and it’s a no-go for my service dog. There are lots of folks like me who may feel disappointed and still want to contribute. Let’s list alternative ways to support. ❤️

Show me a time when government agents punished people just for not carrying papers, and I’ll show you profound human rights abuses.

Sometimes it’s just time to watch this… again. 😅 Tom won the whole show forever. youtu.be/jPCJIB1f7jk?...

I discovered that fairywrens exist today and am now disappointed that they don’t live in the USA. They are very cute!! I would say this gives me an excuse to go to Australia, except there is a lot of wildlife I don’t actually want to meet in Australia. 😂 fairywrenproject.org/meet-the-fai...