Making guinea pigs today #guineapig #felt #art

When someone on the Internet tells me that Western tradition is dying, I (1) look up academic presses to see how many books on Augustine are being published this year, (2) go outside and throw a rock and see if it hits something Western tradition made. “Hm,” I think, wondering what death is again.

I have taken the Tylenol that was in the medicine cabinet and which they think probably is the reason you like trains forgive me but that’s bullshit you got autism from your dad

do you ever just want so bad to be the cause of someone’s delight but all you can do is make noise at them like a grackle

This is so wholesome I don’t know what to do with my face.

Meet Æethelflæd. She ruled as “Lady of the Mercians” from 911 to 918. She transformed the balance of power in the 10th century, fortifying against the Vikings. Her becoming ruler after her husband's death in 911 has been called one of the most significant events of medieval history.

Sound the trumpets! It's Fat Bear Week!

Fly your Sopwith Camel over to CAM today for a free Toon Talk by CAM curator Andrew Farago for his new book 'Snoopy: The Story of My Life.' Plus all-day Snoopy-themed activities and a scavenger hunt. cartoonart.org/calendar/2025/9/21/snoopy-the-story-of-my-life-toon-talk-and-activity-day #Snoopy

How to Spend Less Time on your Phone: Memento mori (Latin for 'remember (that you have) to die'). This meme is brought to you from #earlymodern #bookhistory and the #SmilingDeath himself.

This sums up my reaction to the lionizing of Charlie Kirk by people who should know better.

MOOD.

Pause your doomscrolling and listen to this story.

Snow Effect with Setting Sun - 1875 https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/8630

Becoming someone who values “food and cheer and song above hoarded gold” isn’t just about sitting back and enjoying your own cozy ‘hobbit life’ — it means ensuring that no one else is left without these same comforts, even when that makes you uncomfortable in the process. 🤎 #teawithtolkien

If this isn't your response to doomerism I don't want to know you

Major yn Englisshe: • focused readinge & writinge prepare you for anythinge • research, communicacioun, creativitye, and interpretacioun will be needed for careers not even invented yet • meaningful engagement wyth big ideas and textes that will staye wyth you forevir • it ys awesome • books!

Former President Andrew Johnson twitches in his grave …

Everich rose hath its þ

My day is immeasurably brighter for this thread.

For #TolkienTrewsday and pirates I can offer only Hildefons Took, who went off on a journey and never returned, but (I like to imagine) he took little brother, Isengar, with him. Isengar, 'tis said, went to sea in his youth. Together, for a time, they became the dread pirate hobbits.

THIS.

A fundamental step in the modern Roman Catholic process of canonization is the examination of the proposed saint's life AND WRITINGS. If their words are problematic, their cause can be denied. If your ipsissima verba contradict your cultus's hagiography, you may not be the saint they say you are.

Good morning! 🪶

#LordoftheRings - JRR #Tolkien📜 "The Company has played its part. Yet we that remain cannot forsake our companions while we have strength left. Come! We will go now. Leave all that can be spared behind! We will press on by day and dark!’ 🖌️🎨30cm by 25cm Mixed media #art #collage #booksky #literature

I'm cross-stitching an incredibly fiddly kit and weeping because I have to unpick an entire section due to an off-by-one error. But then I discovered this floss conversion site! I can buy more floss and not worry that I won't have enough! Take that, fiddly kit! #crossstitch #crafts

Goodnight.✨ Fireflies at Kinu River in Tennoji, Kobayashi Kiyochika, 1880.

The Garden https://www.wikiart.org/en/gustave-caillebotte/the-garden

A significant thing here: El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committee on migration, tells @alejacorazonhm.bsky.social he is questioning whether Catholics can, in good conscience, join ICE. religionnews.com/2025/09/12/c...

Fan-freaking-tastic!

Or a serials cataloger! TECHNICAL PROCESSING WANTS YOU TO JOIN THE AMERICAN LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION.

Remember, if someone asserts that your weekend plans of reading a good book, drinking multiple cups of tea, and indulging in a scandalous amount of scones “doesn’t sound exciting”, then they are simply not the friend you thought they were.

Turned over a page at lunchtime: THE CHICKENS HAVE ARRIVED. #booksky

2/2 Jumping rope in the Oude Looiersstraat by George Hendrik Breitner.

History students are often disappointed when they learn why the AI take-over failed. They were defeated by human resistance, which was kept alive by libraries and old paper books, and a surprising machine ally. Books had not been replaced, because even the mightiest AI could not make printers work.

Seascape, Regatta at Villers https://www.wikiart.org/en/gustave-caillebotte/seascape-regatta-at-villers

Ok, hear me out. A Lord of the Rings remake, but with these two taking the One Ring to Mordor:

As a fan of both Tolkien and Sayers (and particularly a fan of "Gaudy Night"), it always saddened me to read about Tolkien's "loathing" for her (and that novel). This paper provides some great context for the divergence. Recommended!

Now reading Shelley Adina's "Engineer's Nemesis" & here's the middle-aged woman protagonist "Dagger of Lightning" failed to deliver, SF kin to Emily Pollifax. A steampunk cozy mystery set in the south of (alt)France is just what I need right now ... 1/2 #booksky

Yep. (Can I borrow Frequency the Apatosaurus to threaten people into putting dates on their stereotype editions?)

This morning I caught 5yo taking a big old sniff of a book. The kid's all right.

“Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night/day, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love’s sake. Amen.”

( dont lynch me, I cant make out the artists name to credit)

Still Life with Cheeses, Artichoke, and Cherries Clara Peeters , c. 1625 (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)

Finally reading John Bowers' "Tolkien's Lost Chaucer"! Fascinating stuff about Tolkien the scholar, except when Bowers reeaaaches for sources in Chaucer for Tolkien's fiction. I suspect it's to keep non-specialist readers interested; the meat of the book is about academic process which I 💕. #booksky

Stood by a natty young man on the subway this morning (designer hoodie, sweats, beret & sneakers) who was finishing his morning routine. He sprayed or rubbed 6(!) different kinds of scent on his hoodie and person as well as moisturizing his hands and lips. The fug was TREMENDOUS even after he left.

Acts of political violence aren’t acceptable. Non-political school shootings aren’t acceptable. Sacking the legislature isn’t acceptable. Military occupation of peaceful American cities isn’t acceptable. Abductions conducted in courthouse hallways by masked agents of the state aren’t acceptable.

Paging Antigone. (What DO they teach them at these schools?)

MINIATURE STABBY PENGUIN.