It’s pretty humbling to realize how stupid my cat must think I am, since he apparently thinks he needs to show me which drawer has the treats in it every single time I walk toward that end of the apartment.

It was such a beautiful day in Portland today, but walking the waterfront just made me sad, as it often does, about the egregious self-inflicted wound that is I-5. How did anyone ever think that was a good idea? What an awful waste.

I braved the war-ravaged streets today. Made it home without incident but there was a close call with a goose.

I got three vaccines today, please clap

Maybe Hegseth just doesn’t know how to host a zoom meeting

So now I’m getting ads for hotels in Vancouver (WA), and lol, no, that’s not what I ordered. “MOM can we have Vancouver?!” “We have Vancouver at home.” The Vancouver at home:

Whatever it was I did that led to me getting emails advertising a book called Refuting Rabbinic Objections to Christianity, I would like to repent for it.

Was planning a mini-vacation to Vancouver (BC) and really wanted to take the train, but it takes over 8 hours (it’s only 250 miles!), only runs once a day, arrives at 10pm, and costs more than flying. I want to live in a train country.

For National Translation Month, check out this list of 7 new queer books from around the globe. At Book Riot:

I got an email from the alumni group at my old university telling me about all the ways they’re leading the AI revolution and that’s certainly one way to tell me you don’t want my money

I planned on just making a plain round loaf this year but then I got carried away. שנה טובה

I planned on just making a plain round loaf this year but then I got carried away. שנה טובה

Our shul has a tradition on Yom Kippur of having people write things they feel the need to atone for on scraps of paper, which are collected and read aloud by the rabbi. My favorite last year was whoever wrote “writing on Yom Kippur”

I just composed an entire post in the Bluesky search bar, in case you’re wondering how my brain is coping with everything today

Was informed yesterday of a grant that I need to apply for with a deadline of next Friday and this is fine, totally fine, it’s not like there’s anything important happening next week.

I have so much to do and so many deadlines coming up but life is hard and I am weak and the Snufkin game is on sale on Steam

I genuinely love that the library is in a shared community space but it occasionally leads to weirdness like coming into work and finding your office entirely barricaded by a bat mitzvah photo backdrop

trying to read

Still looking for hints about the identity of the woman on the left. Photo was printed in Aug 1979, if that helps. I ran a reverse image search and found nothing, but the google ai very confidently identified this as a photo of Margaret and Denis Thatcher

Still looking for hints about the identity of the woman on the left. Photo was printed in Aug 1979, if that helps. I ran a reverse image search and found nothing, but the google ai very confidently identified this as a photo of Margaret and Denis Thatcher

I can’t be too grumbly because we won, but I’m still a little grumbly about the totally uncalled-for Thoreau slander at pub quiz last night

Speaking of IBS, I recently found this photo tucked into a donation to the library: if I’m not mistaken, the person on the right is Isaac Bashevis Singer. I’m trying to identify the person on the left.

Speaking of IBS, I recently found this photo tucked into a donation to the library: if I’m not mistaken, the person on the right is Isaac Bashevis Singer. I’m trying to identify the person on the left.

Dima is a very sweet boy and his favorite game is fetch, but he has one habit that makes it hard to keep up: He insists on dropping his toy about three feet away from me, just out of reach, and then he yells at me for not immediately throwing it again

Interviewer: can you explain this gap in your resume Me, a translator: The gap is also present in the original

Dima is a very sweet boy and his favorite game is fetch, but he has one habit that makes it hard to keep up: He insists on dropping his toy about three feet away from me, just out of reach, and then he yells at me for not immediately throwing it again

I am many years old and have been either an amateur or professional English-user for many of those many years, and it just occurred to me, as I wished someone a belated happy birthday, that ‘belated’ must obviously come from the participle of a verb ‘to belate’, to make something late.

Today’s mood

ROSH HASHANAH IS COMING

Hey Portland people, did you know that there is a tiny lovely travel-themed bookshop inside of Cargo that carries a beautifully curated selection of books in translation from around the world? I don’t remember the last time I went to a shop where I wanted literally everything I saw.

Hey Portland people, did you know that there is a tiny lovely travel-themed bookshop inside of Cargo that carries a beautifully curated selection of books in translation from around the world? I don’t remember the last time I went to a shop where I wanted literally everything I saw.

This is such a great book about art and family and love and identity and revolution (among other things), and you (yes, you specifically) should read it.

I Had a Nice Pen and Then I Lost It, Which Makes Me Sad but Now Sometimes I Recall It Fondly and Say to Myself “What a Nice Pen That Was”—The EJ Story

Nothing makes you feel more alive after an adverse encounter than drawing biblical women destroying their enemies (and adding a cheeky caption) This is based off of “Jael and Sisera” by Artemisia Gentileschi

I know I could do it so much more easily on the computer, but I love making silly handmade signs for the library. Our patrons deserve the best in artisanal amateurishness.

I know I could do it so much more easily on the computer, but I love making silly handmade signs for the library. Our patrons deserve the best in artisanal amateurishness.

Just came across this Yiddish recipe for HOW TO MAKE VHIPD DZHELO and all I want is to hear the author say VHIPD DZHELO out loud

Fondazione Marcello Morandini in Varese is a dream for lovers of modernist concrete and paper art, with the 85-yr-old Morandini still hanging out among his own works on Sundays (feet to prove) and chatting up visitors

This story was way more fun before I clicked ‘see more’

RETVRN but only for book titles like these: the spine says “Truth Clear’d”; the title page says “Truth cleared of Calumnies, wherein a book, entitled, A Dialogue between a Quaker and a Stable Christian, (printed at Aberdeen, and, upon good ground, judged to be writ by William Mitchel, …1/

Bringing this back for Elul. And reader, I did not resist the urge.

NEW CLASS: For Yiddish speaking Jews, the month of Elul was when the relationship between the living and the dead was renewed, and the cemetery came alive with visitors. Join me (virtually) for "Elul is a Place"-- September 9, 11, and 17 at 7:00 pm EST. $100. Email me to register: cjcrokhl@gmail

Bringing this back for Elul. And reader, I did not resist the urge.

I bought myself another peach as a treat and cut it open to find half a dozen earwigs hanging out inside. Et tu, perfectly ripe stone fruit?

My inner eight-year-old is telling me I need this. Puffins were my favorite animal and I was so proud of my puffin collection

I’m not sure where our set of Soncino came from, but it’s clear they were given to someone as a gift, and every volume has an inscription like this. I particularly love “Try Judges, Chap. 5! Quite a gal, Deborah!”

I’m not sure where our set of Soncino came from, but it’s clear they were given to someone as a gift, and every volume has an inscription like this. I particularly love “Try Judges, Chap. 5! Quite a gal, Deborah!”

Good morning to everyone except whichever library mazzik is going out of its way to make sure we’re missing just one volume of otherwise complete sets

In happier news: this guy, who is not usually much of a lap cat, came over and climbed right up as soon as I got home. He’s now purring away and making little squeaky noises.

In happier news: this guy, who is not usually much of a lap cat, came over and climbed right up as soon as I got home. He’s now purring away and making little squeaky noises.