Playing D&D with the Wednesday night crew. The battle at the old mill against the Spider Gang. Terrain is @dwarvenforge.bsky.social but customer paints. Nice to have some time to laugh and relax with friends in this world that falling apart. Keeping some community alive.

A Washington hiker’s guide to the 2025 federal shutdown As national parks, national forests and wildlife refuge operations shutdown and federal employees are furloughed, here's how hikers can still recreate responsibly across the state.

The National Parks are closed. Protect them by not visiting these treasures when they are at their most vulnerable.

Grey Cat Lost from Dune 93 created at Hugo House in Aug. Suicide is difficult topic. Society has a tough time talking about it. We barely talk about death. She loved Seattle and seemed fitting to include in Dune. Which is a very Seattle entity. She could be part of this city and its longer memory.

last night's output from Ballard Sketch Team. experimenting with some visual ideas. 14x11 pen and marker piece. #sketchbook #seattleartists

Title: Snake Sister. Baby in a wooden cradle. Caption: "Abygale Sparks was born a breath from death. Pale and quiet ... The Family stopped feeding her." A snake holding a bottle with its body feeding the infant. Caption: "On the third day a snake came into her crib. It licked milk from Abygale's chin while the reptile fed her." A young woman in a skirt and sleeveless striped top. Caption: "Not only did the child live. She grew in a young woman." Man in suit with bowtie knocking on a cabin's door. Caption: "In springtime a young preacher came up the holler." The young man in closeup smiling. Caption: "He came looking to win the young lady's hand. Mr. Sparks gave his blessing to be rid of her." The preacher looking shocked as the young woman sits at a table feeding the snake by hand. The preacher says, "Are you breaking bread with a serpent!?" Caption: "They were weary of her strange ways. Preacher saw them for himself." A knife being driven in the snake's body. Caption: "He struck the snake down." Abygale lying on the floor next to the snake. The snake is in a pool of blood. Caption: "Abygale died with the snake's last sigh." The young preacher looking haggard. Caption: "The preacher cursed by his god for his lack of faith."

Snake Sister. A folktale. Created at Hugo House for July issue of Dune issue 92. You have 3-4 hours to write/create a comic or illustration and turn it in to be included in the next zine. #zines #altcomics #seattleartist #comix

Been down a bit and offline due to death in the family and other calamities. But going through my emails today came across the shout out for supporting on the Insert Name Zine festival on Kickstarter. Made the day a little brighter.

#LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

people tired of conservative hypocrisy and CEO’s has nothing to do with the guy being white.
Maybe the CEO was in a consensual open relationship and the Jumbotron outed him and now he is caught up in moral backlash. But having an affair with your HR Director is very unprofessional and comedy gold.

Title: Factory Ghosts. An old overgrown factory. Caption: "On a backroad outside of Ironton, Ohio stood the old plant ..." An old bronze plaque of classical Greek figures with the words Safety Follows Wisdom. Caption: "An overgrown road and rusted railroad tracks leading to its cracked and empty ruins. A bronze plaque at the long-gone gates. A scene of shadowy figures dancing around a bonfire in the factory. Caption: "Locals said, satanists did rituals there to scare away the teens." Figures exploring the interior of the factory. Their flashlight illuminating old metal stairs going up. Caption: "We were undeterred by stories of ghosts or devils." Old metal stairs descend into the flooded basement. Caption: Until we found the old stairs to the subfloors." A figure shining a flashlight across murky water and support columns holding up the ceiling. Caption: "The light never found the water's end. No safety or wisdom here."

Factory Ghosts. Thinking about my rustbelt childhood. Created at Hugo House for June issue of Dune issue 91. You have 3-4 hours to write/create a comic or illustration and turn it in to be included in the next zine. #zines #altcomics #seattleartist #comix

I have only heard bears in the distance while hiking in the PNW. And even the sound took a minute to place. A woman jogging in my Seattle neighborhood encountered a bear yesterday in the park. I can’t imagine her mental process of determining “is this a bear?” Last thing you expect in the city.

Rewatched Jaws. Younger reviewers: why are these drunk angry white men killing this shark? They overfished its waters and it will go away if people just closed the beaches. the protagonists: scientist from old money, a cop, and toxic drunk. I can see why they say “I was hoping for a happy ending”

Faraway, by The Lonely Coast 8 track album

The Lonely Coast (a music duo my wife is in) just released a double CD. Global folk deep cuts and originals in a #psychfolk style. Highly recommended! #nowlistening thelonelycoast.bandcamp.com/album/faraway

Animals are always a challenge. I find myself challenged by how familiar I am with them. A friend who drew pic of my cat that passed away. But they were a dog person and cat had dog like legs. Lived next to a zoo once and got membership to draw animals before crowds. Still have a lot to learn.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

We keep pushing back the meet-the-minimum deadline because we're hopeful... we just need ONE MORE adult registrant for Printmaking Camp next week in order to run it. Is that make-or-break it person you?? 🥺 www.simpletix.com/e/intro-to-p...

Microsoft broke decades of nonprofit gifting MS office for small nonprofits with barely any notice. They are obviously bailing water to save money for investments to force AI in their market share. it adds so little to the products they are integrating it at expense of good features and stability.

recent experience also showing that push to justify and make back their AI investments is done with zero vision or planning. Features that worked for years suddenly break due AI integration that we had controls on. Meanwhile their own tech reps didn’t know the feature now required AI to work now.

I feel tech is imploding into morally dubious and corrupt practices across the board. And in the brazen ways. My trust in my vendors is at an all time low.

We don’t have fire ants in our neck of the woods. But I have a vivid memory of being bitten by them on vacation in Florida as a kid.

Bigfoot next to a tree with human bones in its trunk. Snow on the ground. In the background is a dense forest and more trees with skulls in their trunks.

hanging out at Ballard Sketch Team last night at Hattie's Hat. quiet evening listening to all the friendly chatter among the attendees.

Not that this gives a pass to platforms that profit and allow these actors to spread their hate and vile.

“The study found that 10% of users produce roughly 97% of political tweets, while just 0.1% of users share 80% of fake news.”

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

An old man meets a young boy and teenage woman at the Dismal Spit train depot. A rundown place with the steam locomotive in the background.

Rejected page from Swallowed by the Sea - off model characters. #comix #seattlearts

Recovery from an illness prevents me from attending this great event today. But if you are free and looking for something to do or already in Georgetown. You can’t go wrong with this burst of creativity while supporting locals artists.

This and the Broken Earth series got me back into reading after a long lull. Delightful discoveries that renewed my love of reading.

Truth

Isabel Greenberg never disappoints. Such a great style and narrative.

Support local community events!

Couple new pages this week for a shorter Aquanaut comic. New Found At Sea zine being out together this week. Featuring this story and other single page pieces.

I was thinking about this in regard to being a constant public drawing and reading person. There have always been people who judged you as showing off for these activities. But seems it is the new outrage. Meanwhile there is no judgement for sitting in public on a phone or headphones alone.

One thing I love about this cat is that he always wants to be part of whatever you are doing. Whether putting together furniture, drawing, or whatever. He is right there.