This just in from my 14 y.o. boy, who is working on his Personal Planning badge for Boy Scouts... I'm thinking of investing in chicken and beef stocks. If I do well, I'm hoping to become a bouillonaire.

Very strange feeling to wake up one morning to discover that my little boy is suddenly taller than me. Joy at the evidence of growing & thriving; sorrow at the realization that he will be grown and flown in the blink of an eye. Time to double down on treasuring the moments.

Age verification? My first word processor was a typewriter that could store 180 characters in *memory* so corrections could be made before the ink hit the page!

Great little article that explains how we handicap our learning when using AI to answer question for us.

I've seen many bird-baths in my time, but this is the first time I ever spotted a bird-bidet!

25 years ago, my sister asked: "Where are your flowers? A bride needs flowers!" I had none, so I ran out to the backyard & grabbed a handful of pretty yellow flowers to carry to City Hall. I later learned they were tenacious weeds, impossible to erradicate. Like love. Great symbol for a marriage!

Best thing about living in California, with a beautiful, thriving forest floor? Orange season just arrives each February with its glorious, juicy, tasty bounty!

Sure sign that we have successfully cultivated a thriving forest floor in our restoration area: swarms of spring bugs like we haven't seen in decades. NB: no longer safe to sit outdoors at dawn or dusk for fear of being eaten alive. But the birds are loving it! #EcosystemRestoration

The Robins returned to our hillside today, just in time for Imbolc. I revel in their return each year, even thought it always means we must gird ourselves for the impending, ownership battle for the blueberries.

Grandma Moses meets Ben Ledi. ...by my favorite photographer, @neilpitchford.bsky.social You nailed this, my friend!

Tell me five classes you took in college: History of the English Language; Ethics; Intro to Glass Science; Fundamental Architectural Technologies; Learning Theory

This heart-warming story of human-animal relationship building just made my day. Thanks, @wombatscholar.bsky.social for sharing it!

@ Imbolc, we celebrate returning light & plan our goals for a new season of growth. If you haven't read "World Druidry," exploring the beliefs & practices of Druids across the world, now is the time! Get a discounted, author-direct copy at: larisa-a-white.com/worlddruidry... /|\ #druidsky #pagansky

Very disturbed this morning, to try out one of the new, featured musical pieces @calm.com — Hygge Suite, Op.1 — only to find my ears filled with plagiarized/derivative AI slop. Not at all up to Calm's normal standards when selecting musicians. Pulled me right out of my meditation. Please do better!

Q: Why are we here? I was told: "An author is supposed to have a social media presence." Bsky alone was tolerable. But that's not a good reason. So: Why are we really here? What do we gain from, or offer, Bsky? Are we all just posturing & making noise? How can we make Bsky a meaningful place? Go.

Sharing a bit of Bluesky beauty discovered on my morning ramble, yesterday. Not a native to our area, but working hard to contribute joy to the neighborhood.

Silktassels are billowing pollen, and the first flowers have appeared on the Ribes. Flower Season is here, hooray!

California's annual battle between sunshine and cloudbursts has begun. Welcome, Rainbow Season!!! /|\

Ooof! Forgot how much focus is required to learn a new craft! Just took 30 min to stitch this guide line for my first counted cross-stitch pattern. Can barely see the threads, or reach around the frame. Must learn to work 2-handed & by feel. But the goal will be worth the struggle, I deem: /|\

Preparing to teach English w/ new focus: Why do humans write? Who writes? What do we write? Whose writing matters? To whom does it matter? What makes it matter? How does reading affect our ability to think and learn? How does it shape the future? Give examples from literature studied. Can't wait!

Hello Bluesky Druid Grove! We have just reached 200 members in our little community. Keep sharing your journeys. And blessings of Land, Sea, and Sky for the New Year. 🥳🎉🥂 /|\

An excellent analysis of Kobo's approach to the use of AI on our eBooks; a worthwhile watch for indie authors! www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdZP... Better than Amazon/Kindle, to be sure, but still concerning... 🖋️📖💰

Bob the Minion, my long-time writing companion, is excited to have made the cut to be pictured in my upcoming book on human learning — when you practice explaining things to others (especially to a very simple-minded & enthusiastic rubber duck), it really can help you learn! #amwriting #education

More corporate thieves. Great. Just found out about this today, and pulled all my books from Kindle. My eBooks are still available via Apple Books and Kobo (for now), and direct via my website. Seriously weighing the pros and cons of eBook distribution at all in the age of AI. 🖋️📖💰

Just enjoyed our family's heartwarming holiday movie tradition, celebrating the shift from darkness toward light, and our love of Nature by watching, "Fly Away Home." (A girl & her father teach orphaned goslings to fly south for the winter, using a pair of ultralight planes.)

Just got woken up by blaring sirens at 2am, warning me of an imminent flash flood "in my area". My house is at the top of a great big foothill in the Coast Range Mountains. That would have to be SOME BIBLICAL FLOOD! 🙄

Part of the fun of indie-authordom is doing the book design, playing w/ fonts & form factors, leading & kerning, paper and binding selections, to make sure the future book is not just a pleasure to read, but also a joy to hold. #amwriting #amediting #amdesigning #ampublishing In the home stretch!

Ooooh! Look what my family gave me as a Yule gift. Needlework stand and three yards of muslin. Like a beautiful new notebook with nothing written in it yet. So many possibilities. Whatever shall I embroider, first?

That was a delightful Yule Feast & sing-along. I feel like an anaconda that just swallowed a deer. Now to lie down under a tree to digest for six months...

Wishing one and all a blessed Yule weekend, and joy of the returning light! /|\ #pagansky #druidsky

It's that time again! (Yes, we wassail our trees early here in California, b/c by January, the trees are blooming again.)

A lovely, hopeful piece to read: "What Happened When My Yale Students Gave Up Their Phones for Four Weeks" www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...

Public Service Announcement: The Sun is spending less and less time up here in the Northern Hemisphere. To all concerned: Let's gather our voices on Sunday, June 21, 2026 at 1:24 am Pacific Time (USA), to sing back the Sun. If we all sing at the same moment, I'm sure we will succeed! ☀️ /|\

Wonderful news from the British Isles: Druid joins board of Interfaith Scotland druidnetwork.org/druid-joins-... Congratulations @neilpitchford.bsky.social /|\

In other parts of the world, winter snow brings the blessed peace and quiet of the season; here in CA, we just have quiet drifts of fog.

Today, we celebrate "Family Day," the day we picked up our son from the orphanage in Ethiopia. One fun family memory is an original joke my son told us, shortly after his fourth birthday: Q: What's the difference between monkeys and people? A: Monkeys have long tails; but people have tall tales!

DaD has been properly memorialized and laid to rest... The eulogy I wrote for his memorial can be read on his Tribute Wall at: www.walkerfuneralhomeofqueens.com/obituaries/E... Time to return to the land of the living. Thanks to all my kind followers for your support during this difficult time!

Ernest John Naples Devoted Father & Husband Architect • Master Craftsman • Audiophile Lover of Beauty (14 January 1942 - 24 November 2025) Your life with us has passed; but your light is eternal. Rest in peace, DaD.

A soul-soothing afternoon at Purissima Creek Redwoods, in Half Moon Bay, CA: the quiet, the woodland aromas, the soft, spongy forest floor -- just what the doctor ordered! (Photo courtesy of my 14 y.o. son, Steven.) /|\

My father, Ernest John Naples, has just begun his journey into blessed memory. He has offered me so much wisdom and guidance life, and I'd like to share some of that with you in this 🧵. If you would, please light a candle and say a prayer that his final journey is swift and peaceful. /|\ 🕯️

What's wrong with this picture? A giant, deep-dish pizza pan serving as our new bird bath because the critters flipped and broke the old (pale yellow) pottery bird bath. Birds do not seem to recognize this as a bird-bath, and the other critters are not drinking at it, either. Any ideas why?

The IngramSpark presses are getting flooded with holiday orders. If you'd like to gift/receive a print copy of "World Druidry" this holiday season, order by Nov. 22! Discounted, author-direct copies can now be purchased via larisa-a-white.com/worlddruidry... /|\ #druidsky #pagansky 🎁

Another seasonal gift from my young photographer, Steven White... Rain chains flowing. Gotta love November in the Coast Range Mountains of California!

Love it when useful research falls into my inbox, right when most needed. And also love the faculty culture of sharing rather than gatekeeping knowledge. (Thanks, @jasonmnagata.bsky.social)

🎶🎵We've only just begun...🎶🎵 🥳🥳🥳 What a night. And just warming up for 2026!

Love this infographic. Spot on!

My favorite part of November: pruning the neighbor's thorny pyracantha bushes & harvesting the berries for firethorn jelly!

Important resource, both for the ideas presented, and for the citations! The impact of AI on education.

Meditating on a triad of habits of critical importance in this crazy world of tech-bros & bots & AI: Act like a genuine human being. Reach out to other genuine human beings. Treat them with humanity. 🕯️ /|\ Triads

Yes! This is the way: have the competent people, who actually know what they're doing, set up parallel systems that render our mismanaged gov't irrelevant. Love this.