Blackwater Swamp oil. 3’x4’ #contemporaryart #traditionalart #artsky. #landscape #drawing #fineart #art #traditionalart #swamp #oilpainting www.rmhershberger.com

Soul-consuming horrors continue, day after day after day. So much. Too much.

Watercolour painting of some flowers to brighten up your day! #art #watercolours #painting

New painting! Oil and pastels on panel, 40 x 50cm. #oilpainting #oilpastels #wildflowers #poppies #scribbling

WTG Erik! This band has really clever lyrics for a variety of musical genres. So if you happen to be near Bloomington, Indiana, check it out!

So unfair that the cognitive tests are getting harder. I could still find the lion, the fish, and the hippopotamus, but they kept asking me which one was the giraffe. (Maybe the giraffe is in the wardrobe with the witch and Jean-Luc Picard's fifth light.)

Saying "Happy Hollandaise" as a part of my war on eggs benedict.

Summit 30”x30” oil on canvas

But where did he find a swan who was willing to pose in place for a whole year?

Today I heard about a great Hanukkah miracle that happened in reverse: An eight-day supply of Hanukkah doughnuts lasted for only one day. Here, there, and everywhere. #doughnuts

Wishing everyone light, love, good health, and the warmth of being connected to friends and family. Good Yule, Hopeful Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Jubilant Kwanzaa, SuperCaliFragiListic Season's Greetings, Live Long and Prosper, and These Aren't the Droids You're Looking For.

As our granddaughter lights Hanukkah candles, the mantle behind her contains quite a few Scandinavian gnomes, nisse, tomten, & tonttu (plus the longboat they were on when travelling here via the Panama Canal), but by now they all know the candle-lighting blessing. 1/3

This is one of my favorite games. Makes a great gift for thoughtful nerds.

Not only does this post contain interesting info, but the last part of it is quite funny and should not be missed. c0nc0rdance never fails to inform and entertain.

Stoats (Mustela erminea) undergo a molt twice a year, changing from brown to snow-white to blend in the snow. They don't store fat & must eat up to 25% of their weight per day (~50 g), mostly in rodents. Recent studies have found that they register an 11.7 on the cuteness scale (out of 10).

#PalacesAndGardens #FestiveLights A Chihuly glass sculpture is part of the Nature Light show for the holidays at San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden. #EastCoastKin #Chihuly #ColorADay #YellowThu #AlphabetChallenge #WeekXforXmas #BotanicalGarden

Benedikt Pleyer/Nomadic Nostoc filmed these tiny ostracods collected from the beach of a Japanese island. Vargula hilgendorfii live in marine sand & emit a mix of luciferase & luciferin that lights up to deter predators. The same chemicals produce firefly glow. 海蛍: umihotaru = "Sea fireflies"

hi, folks. here's a #BlueTue Morning Glory glowing like a light bulb from Filoli 🌱 #JBCFlowers #flowers #garden #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #DailyFlower #ColorADay

Bullfrog of the day! Saturday, 6 Dec 2025

Absolutely loving We Have No Idea! One of the most entertaining, funny, and accessible physics books I've come across. Just put a library hold on his newest book, and I can't wait for it to get here✨ #20TBRbookchallenge #Booksky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readersky 💙📚💡

#BirdOfTheDay #Movement

I sent this meme to a friend. After laughing she mentioned that her husband sneezes in cat houses. She then referred to the term "cathouse" but didn't say any more about sneezing. Here's my article about cats, trees, & houses: drive.google.com/file/d/1ADjk... #caturday #tree

Today I learned about the Kiki-Bouba test, which demonstrates a cross-cultural sound-shape connection. When given the names "kiki" & "bouba," the pointy shape is usually assigned to "kiki" and the rounder gets "bouba." I learn a lot whenever I ask my son about his tee-shirts. (@drwhen)

singing October

‪🪐📚 💙 Recently enjoyed listening to the fantasy audiobook "Drumindor," which is an extension of The Riyria Chronicles by Michael J. Sullivan. I'm reminded of how much I like ALL of his books. For books connected to the Riyria stories, maybe start with "The Crown Tower" or "Age of Myth."

www.goodreads.com/book/show/20... I recommend "Guilty by Defintion" by Susie Dent #booksky

WHY VOTE? (for President, Congress, & more) Because there’s a chance to make things better. And a CERTAINTY that NOT voting will make things worse. Empathy lights the path. Cooperation moves us forward. #Vote

IMHO: Yay for whatever encourages empathy and informed voting, like wearing yellow or frog-protesting. #nokings

a whisk-away day

Staying sane during these difficult times is challenging, so the Oregon Zoo's "Squash vs. Pumpkin" video is gourdscrolling therapy.

I just started playing this puzzle game (One More Button) that I recommend. When you push your own control arrows around, you can rotate the buttons and change what is possible. Reminds me a bit of that most excellent game, Baba Is You. Playable on both mobile and computer #games #puzzlegames

My daughter-in-law asked me /why/ these porcupines crossed the road. Perhaps the answer to that question is a) 42 b) not 42 c) both 42 and not 42 d) neither 42 nor not 42 e) turtles all the way down f) all of the above g) none of the below

The event is called The Bread and Roses Bash, and it begins at 7pm at the I Fell Building (415 W 4th St). Tickets start at $10: bloomingtondsa.org/bash

#pieces of #glass and #stone #blueskyartshow #alphabetchallenge #shapes #weekgforglass #abstractaug #coloraday #greensat #art #photography #artyear #brick #eastcoastkin

'Golden Park Light' linoprint by contemporary printmaker Alexandra Buckle #ReframingWomenPrintmakers

The impulse for collective punishment is deeply human, but it's the very worst of our reactions to things, regardless of political alignment. It requires mental discipline to recognize when you're thinking of groups instead of individuals.

#blender3D #motions #ocean #fullmoon

“Thanks, man. Where was I? Oh yeah, so it was December, and I just wanted to get out of the cold. I knocked on some random guy's door. I’m tellin’ ya, dude was out of his friggin' mind! He kept asking me a bunch of super weird questions and whining about some chick named Lenore."

Steam rises in spirals that don’t obey the laws of physics. Coffee too hot to drink. The dogs wait. Patient. Too patient. As if they know something’s coming. Something big. Maybe a squirrel. Maybe enlightenment. Who’s to say? 07.02.2025 #CoffeeWithWalterAndWaylon #AiArt #HumpDayCoffee

Happy World Porcupine Day! For those wondering what a baby porcupine is called, it’s a porcupette. For those wondering what a group of porcupines is called, it’s a prickle. And for those wondering what porcupines sound like, turn up your volume for this smol guy called Kemosabe nomming on a banana…

Juneteenth is a day to reflect on the legacy of slavery BUT: 1. No-one was *freed* on June 19th. Slaves in Texas had been legally free for YEARS while toiling in bondage. 2. There were still slaves in Union states on the Day of Jubilee (liberation) in Texas. It was NOT the end of slavery.

“Caddo Sunrise #13” Caddo Lake/TX #AlphabetChallenge #WeekYforYellow #Scape

The beautiful Dealfish or Angel of the Sea, (Desmodema polystictum), off Palm Beach, Florida. A Ribbonfish larvae - they are deep water fish living in 200 to 1000m waters. However in their larvae stage they rise to shallow water to feed at night Photography by Michael Aw #sea #angels #Photography

My second favorite tree in our yard. #draw #mentalhealth #ArtYear #mentalhealthmatters #trees #art

Wave hi to the biscus

And re-upping this from Friday: The New Yorker did a profile of me, mostly about #Murderbot www.newyorker.com/culture/pers...

📚💙🪐 I really like the Murderbot series of books/audiobooks. Funny, thoughtful, suspenseful, clever action, and sort of contrary to what one might expect after seeing "murderbot" in the series title. The Murderbot TV series on AppleTV also seems good so far.

A cartoon from my next book. Physics for Cats will be out in the autumn from @dandq.bsky.social and @canongate.co.uk with other languages coming soon.

Jurmo, Finland, 2011 Beneath the ice sheet at sunset #blueskyartshow #underneath #photography #icicles #sunset #photographersofbluesky #fotografie #fineartphotography #photooftheday #art #eastcoastkin #nature #landscape #landscapephotography #naturephotography #scape #goldenhour #glow #ice #winter

Tonight, Sergei Rachmaninov’s 3rd Piano Concerto playsed twice at the Queen Elisabeth Competition.🎹🎶🖤#kew2025 #piano2025 #rachmaninov