cranky ol’ Auncle Allie

I'm not a knitter or crafter myself, but I know so many. If there were a drive of some kind I am sure many of them would want to contribute.

I love how curious and LOUD they are. They migrate, so they've been gone for a few months. I always look forward to seeing them in the spring.

A color pencil + marker drawing of a gray catbird perched on a slender branch amid clusters of blue dogwood berries and green leaves, tail erect and beak wide open. "MEOW" is written in large orange letters across the background.

More #birdart ... I'm not able to go birding much right now, and I guess I'm pining a bit. 😅 Here's a very vocal gray catbird I met in the fall. I miss these ridiculous little critters.

A color pencil and marker drawing of a black-capped chickadee hanging from a slender twig, peering at the top with its beak a little open. It emits a speech balloon containing a pink heart.

Colored a slightly older sketch on my lunch break, for further black-capped chickadee appreciation. #birdart 🖤

I very much wish to purchase this one as a button-down. 🙏🏻😍

Mixed media drawing (color pencil and artist marker) of a male hooded merganser mid-courtship display, body raised a little out of the water and tilted back, bill open, crest full. Above his head in pink letters it reads " ... LADIES."

In the spirit of Weird Duck Time, finding a little joy and silliness even in the face of the horrors, and even that silly Hallmark romance holiday, I drew a hooded merganser doing his best to impress. #birdart

Okay, now I feel the need for a black-capped chickadee appreciation post, so here are four photos I've taken of them. Not always my highest-quality work, because these gutsy, adorable little #birds are FAST and sneaky! 🪶🖤

Also we share them with Maine and they are common across a lot of the country, so I guess in an ideal world we might have something a little closer to endemic? But ... they're also my favorite, to the extent that I can even HAVE a favorite bird, so.

Oh yes. Black-capped chickadees (1) are abundant in my current Eastern Massachusetts neighborhood (2), and even moreso in Western Mass where I grew up (2b).

Humans: we like dumplings, bbq, and telling people about neat animals we saw in the woods one time.

A comic in black/white/blue. Lucy rolls her bike through an alley, by a crew building a fence. Narration: My neighbors hired a crew to rebuild their fence. Crew member: "Do you need us to move our stuff out of the way?" Lucy: "Oh! No, you're all good, thanks!" Lucy: "Have a good one!" Crew member: "You, too!"

Narration: I was teaching when my phone started lighting up with alerts from the rapid response network and neighbor chat. Lucy's back is to us as she shows a group of enthusiastic children something on a notebook. Behind her, her phone in her bag is buzzing. Narration: By the time the lesson was over, they were already gone. Lucy is reading messages on her phone. Messages: Alert: black SUV Sighting: be on alert for... Confirmed abductionL alley between ----- and ----. SUV plates... We tried to get them inside, but it was too... ...Contacting an I.R. lawyer. Heading to Broadview later today.

Lucy is riding her bike home. Narration: On the ride home, I kept thinking "If I'd been there, could I have warned them? Would my ICIRR* training have helped?" *Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Get trained and know your rights at ICIRR.org. Narration: I'd taken the training after Halloween, when the violent ICE raids had locked down our schools and driven our neighbors indoors. (Image of a halloween bucket in the shape of a jack-o-lantern) Narration: Halloween is fun here-- The community filling the streets and opening our doors to one another. But this year's was tense, frightened and subdued. Haunted.

Lucy is standing in the alley, staring at the newly built fence. Narration: When I got home, it was all done. The other two guys who had gotten inside in time stayed and finished the build. The new fence is superimposed with the brief exchange from earlier in the comic ("Have a good one" You, too") Narration: I see it every day and think about how those guys built this in the spot where strangers in masks took their friend. Narration: How many other places in our communities are similarly haunted? (Drawings of sidewalks, buildings, streets and windows)

"Haunted"
#IceOut #IceOutComics

Mr. Hyde & Mina Murry from LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN sculpture

Mr. Hyde & Mina Murry from LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN sculpture detail

LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN sculpture detail of Captain Nemo

LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN sculpture detail of Campion Bond

I once did a LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN piece for charity. Moore and O’Neill both gave it their blessing (as far as I know it’s the only 3D version of these characters OKed by both). Tons of jokes in the base: behind Bond are Streptococcus & anthrax used to kill Martians.

Ugh, I used the wrong version of the link. I'm so fried right now, sorry. 😓 www.gofundme.com/f/gen-sad-ki...

A "black" (brownish/greyish) tabby cat in a black t-shirt sprawled out on his side between layers of blanket (a cloud-and-star printed duvet on one side, a green plaid fleece throw on the other), eyes closed, looking content.

Hey friends, I miss you. :/ As it turns out, my sweet boy is "medically complex" (the vet's words) and we are playing whack-a-mole with all kinds of unexpected symptoms and tests. I owe a proper update, but if you have some change and want to help, I do need it: www.gofundme.com/manage/gen-s...

I'm too fried right now to articulate the detailed comments I would like to give, but this is utterly gorgeous in a super creepy way and I am in awe of the breadth of your creative skills. As ever. ❤️

Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college

Subjects of Desire in Medieval Religious Writing
A comp lit course on fairy tales & retellings
Contemporary Japanese Womens' Writing
The Old Testament
Descents into Hell in Modern Poetry

I know we're doing this shutdown thing today, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't include mutual care.

Help an all-too-isolated disabled woman take care of her best friend, please. They've. been through so much together.

Donate to Help My Best Friend Xander Get the Medical Care He Needs, organized by Brianna Dubois When I adopted Xander as a kitten, he had been feral and was a… Brianna Dubois needs your support for Help My Best Friend Xander Get the Medical Care He Needs

I met Brianna through the feline diabetes community, and she has been one of the kindest sources of support as I continue to struggle with Gen's care. Xander is her best friend and constant companion, and she really needs help. PLEASE give if you can, and share. www.gofundme.com/f/help-my-be...

Two orange and white kittens lounge, one on top of the other, next to a human laying down on a futon. One of the kittens has a paw on the other's shoulder.

Two orange and white kittens lounge with their bodies pointed in opposite directions on a scratching pad, but their faces are both turned toward the camera, and they're both looking alertly and adorably at the camera.

I'm Coreo. I can't work full-time anymore, and I need help paying down my revolving debt. Can you share this to people who might want to see some kittens? (1 more pic in my latest update on the GFM page!) gofund.me/4903591f2

A wild turkey perched high in a tree amid bare branches, in profile. Its feathers are puffed up and it looks VERY round.

Wish I could have gotten decently crisp shots, but still. WILD TURKEY BORB. #birds 🪶

A tufted titmouse clinging to dead plant stalks against a cracked cement wall, body titled downwards at a diagonal. It's a small grey songbird with a white face, breast and belly, a black patch over its beak, a pointy crest, and warm streaks of peachy yellow peeking out from beneath its wings.

A red-tailed hawk perched in profile among bare tree branches, viewed at a truncated angle from below, its feathers very puffed out with cold. It's a stocky buteo hawk, mostly brown with a white belly and breast with some sparse brown barring.

A mourning dove perched on a twig amid some flying snow, body puffed up and head lifted and turned to the side to stare at the viewer. It's a pinkish dove with grey wings and white undertail coverts.

A pair of house finches munching on seeds from a green hanging feeder. They're small brownish finches with brown-streaked white breasts and bellies; the male has bright scarlet plumage on his head and beneath his wings.

Not the most amazing quality (it was very overcast, and my camera kept trying to focus on snowflakes), but - some of my neighbors, undaunted by the storm and freezing weather yesterday afternoon. #birds 🪶

... I thought the Onion was supposed to be satire.

(Sob)

Will Tell Stories For Food Naomi Kritzer's blog

In lieu of saying a lot of things I will regret to folks talking out of their asses right now, here’s @naomikritzer.bsky.social’s excellent post on how to help Minnesota right now : naomikritzer.com

I know it’s not healthy to be so angry all the time but also “stay angry, little Meg” runs through my brain like a lifeline these days

Part of this is that thanks to the specific Christianity that evolved in the US over the 20th Century -- which then permeated culture -- is that many Americans are unable to effectively differentiate between shame, guilt, and responsibility.

Post a picture YOU took, just a picture, NO description.

the question to ask about this is, okay, he wants to cancel the midterms. how does he get the VA state board of elections to cancel the midterms? how does he get the georgia board of elections to do it? how does he convince republican house members to quit their jobs and give up their paychecks?

Seriously, Senator Warren? That has NEVER been true for huge segments of the population. Capitalism will never provide equitable opportunities, and refusing to recognize that is one of the most out-of-touch things I've ever seen you do.

She was married. Her wife raised the child with her. Her father put it out that the boy "didn't have anyone," seemingly as a means of pre-emptively assuming custody over the child. To continue this narrative both insults the dead woman and adds to the surviving parent's grief.

YouTube video by Wave Viral Biker Found The Most Effective Way To WARN Pedestrians 😂 (@jaxtomasko IG)

A friend sent me a link to this video and said it made them think of me.

It's just ... such a special thing, when one of your people makes you feel this seen. 🥹

youtube.com/shorts/GrLcr...