I just saw a smaller one on my front step last night!
14.09.2025 04:15 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0@randileeander.bsky.social
π Author of A GREAT SIBERIAN SILENCE, #amquerying adult high fantasy THE WHITEMAIDEN π¨ Artist, oil painter πΏ Gardener (zone 6b) and tree-hugger π eng/deu/ΡΡΡ π https://randianderson.com
I just saw a smaller one on my front step last night!
14.09.2025 04:15 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0View of the forest on the edge of Colyer Lake near Boalsburg, PA, USA.
View through an opening in the trees to Colyer Lake and more trees in early fall colors.
View of a man walking on a trail through a pine forest with some deciduous trees in early fall colors.
Ferns on the forest floor
I've been super sad and scared and angry lately, so I made a trip to confession and then went on an early fall hike with my bub. Nature is healing. #getoutside
14.09.2025 02:25 β π 3 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0I was JUST telling my coworker today that they were going to do this.
12.09.2025 00:05 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0News article text: On July 30 this year, President Trump signed an executive order that would suspend the de minimis rule for all U.S. imports, with all products coming into the U.S. being tacked with duties and tariffs according to their country of origin. The Trump administration has defended the move as a way to crack down on criminal activity, such as counterfeit products and fentanyl, from entering the country, as well as helping to lower the trade deficit. "For too long, this loophole handed criminal networks a free pass to flood America with fentanyl, fake goods, and illegal shipments. Those days are over. We are securing the border, restoring fairness to trade, and protecting American families," U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said in a statement late last month.
THIS is why they got rid of de minimis? Their justification is even stupider than I expected.
09.09.2025 01:10 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Otherwise very atmospheric and foreboding so far!
07.09.2025 16:50 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Reading Algernon Blackwood's "The Wendigo," and the first thing I'm noticing -- besides a lot of racist statements and wording, as you'd expect -- is how much he talks about Odours.
07.09.2025 16:35 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Really trying to hang in there. I know what Trump is doing is unsustainable and will not last forever, but I worry intensely about the many comparatively blameless people whose lives he'll destroy first. robertreich.substack.com/p/sunday-tho...
05.09.2025 22:22 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0I must really be wiped out because that's not oil on canvas, lmao. It's oil on panel.
29.08.2025 04:05 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Square oil painting of a fully bloomed pink Rose of Sharon flower with a pollen-covered bee collecting nectar.
Much stress lately, so this week I've turned back to painting for some restorative creative time. This is a Rose of Sharon study (with bee!), oil on canvas, 12x12 inches. Almost done! #oilpainting #botanicalart
29.08.2025 04:04 β π 4 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0I submitted my novel (or rather the cover letter, synopsis, and sample chapters) to a publisher this morning. Feels weird. I used to do this all the time, but now I'm out of practice! #writesky
19.08.2025 03:03 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Unframed oil painting of three edelweiss flowers against a black background.
"Edelweiss," oil on panel, 12x9 inches. Inspired by watching THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE as well as the 60th anniversary of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. #oilpainting #botanicalart
17.08.2025 17:33 β π 5 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0βWhat is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.β β Fyodor Dostoevsky
17.08.2025 03:39 β π 19 π 6 π¬ 2 π 0No way I could have concentrated through that. Too much rage. Bravo!
12.08.2025 22:23 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0I saw a Dracula mug at B&N that read, "I have crossed oceans of time to find you." Did they not know that quote is not in the novel, or did they just not care?
11.08.2025 02:39 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Tonight, instead of trying to be "productive," I sat out on the porch and watched the moon rise while listening to the crickets.
09.08.2025 01:09 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Fun (?) fact: while painting, I wondered why the sky was so hazy and there was so much atmospheric perspective when it wasn't humid. Turns out it was smoke from the Canada wildfires. π΅βπ«
08.08.2025 03:11 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Two watercolor plein air sketches in a small sketchbook. One is of an orange "Firebird" coneflower, and one is a landscape of hills around a lake with a winery in the foreground.
Plein air in the Finger Lakes. π©΅ This watercolor sketch was done over a glass of dry rosΓ© at Living Roots overlooking Keuka Lake. #pleinair #watercolorpainting
02.08.2025 20:32 β π 13 π 1 π¬ 1 π 0A cardinal flower blooming in a small garden outside a house.
Red nasturtium growing among carrots.
End-of-July garden beauties. ππ± The cardinal flowers have so many visitors, including two hummingbirds (Ruby and Reuben) and plenty of bumblebees. #garden4wildlife
31.07.2025 21:57 β π 4 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Landscape painting with hydrangeas in the foreground and a ridge in the distant background.
A plein air oil painting set up on a tripod in front of some hydrangeas, a field, and some ridges in the background.
Did a little plein air at a fundraiser event today! This is a view from the RE Farm Cafe at Windswept Farm in State College, PA. Oil on 10x8 gessobord. #oilpainting #getoutside #pleinair
26.07.2025 20:12 β π 11 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0A large brown toad (possibly a Fowler's toad) in a corner of a garden.
Close-up of a large brown toad in a garden.
I heard a rustle in my front garden and thought it was a dirty chipmunk at first. π Ah, backyard wildlife.
#toads #wildlifegarden #garden4wildlife
Screenshot of the Audible Audio cover for the fantasy novel THE THOUSAND NAMES by Django Wexler.
THE THOUSAND NAMES by Django Wexler was languishing on my TBR list for way too long. I love me some flintlock fantasy, and so far this one is not disappointing!
(Mode: listening to the audiobook and reading the ebook at the same time. Fwiw, the print/ebook cover is better.)
#booksky π
Screenshot of text from a fantasy novel, reading: "Minutes down the road, he closed his eyes for just a moment to drink in the peace again. When he opened them, it was night. He startled and dropped his guitarβor thought he did. The guitar was no longer there, nor was the horse beneath him. A long ribbon of road stretched out in front of him toward a sickly pale moon, swollen and round in the empty blue-black sky, with only a sliver of shadow along its side. As Felix watched, the sliver widened, sliding over the face of the moon like a curtain being drawn. From the darkness streamed a cloud, and as the cloud neared and grew larger; it quivered and twitched like a swarm of bats."
For July 20's "moon" prompt, we have the start of an unpleasant vision.
#WIPsnips #writesky #writingcommunity #epicfantasy
A small square oil painting of a spruce tree rising above other trees and catching sunlight. It sits in a pochade box in front of a garden.
A pochade box holding a small oil painting sits on a tripod in front of a garden.
This was the first day in a while that the weather was actually reasonable (looking at you, humidity), so I went out in the garden for some #pleinair practice after work. π
#oilpainting #getoutside
I don't understand how people don't fly into a rage or burst into tears every time they go grocery shopping. Things just keep going up.
15.07.2025 23:34 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Past me saved present me a lot of trouble by having ALREADY WRITTEN A SYNOPSIS, which I now just need to edit. πͺ #writesky
15.07.2025 02:43 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Congratulations! It's no small feat to remain consistent in a resolution like that.
13.07.2025 17:43 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0For more context: she understands the language he's speaking, but he doesn't know that. She continues to use her native language while his partner interprets for him.
13.07.2025 17:29 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Apologies for the profanity, if anyone's bothered by it. Does Bluesky care about that? I'm used to random word censorship on other platforms.
13.07.2025 17:25 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0