(note: I like the LA mural better, but this one is a visual match with a bunch of other Oakland murals by those artists)
07.03.2026 02:35
👍 3
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
(note: I like the LA mural better, but this one is a visual match with a bunch of other Oakland murals by those artists)
My bike commute passes the new Alysa Liu mural. The last three evenings there have been several folks queued to take photos in front of it.
I am delighted.
I also got a giggle out of a handful of them as I yelled "photobomb!" as I passed through.
No fucking kidding. I am further into a food desert than you are, and that is with a BART station and a community college right next door! How does that even work?
Slightly spotted yellow banana next to a slightly spotted pad of yellow post-its on a quilted mat.
Banana for snack. (Post-it for scale)
Start small! Things like mug rugs, table toppers, small runners are not as intimidating a goal as a whole quilt.
bsky.app/profile/gari...
I don’t know, the Discourse has not yet hit the level of ”wtf
prompted this?” that would merit a more rigorous search.
Cat pictures and other escapist ephemera has a higher priority.
I suspect the JFK grandson who announced a run for congress last Nov said something special. But that is just a half-assed query and a guess.
Speaking of scenic, the Cataract Falls hike was gorgeous if you are looking for a leg day activity with the kids.
Guinea pigs airing grievances.
Happy 30th birthday to all Pokemons who like dancing to Enya
Sprog the Elder: I want to be a hostage negotiator.
Me: that sounds like a terrible idea. I am not sure it is even a real job.
StE: Siri says Jesse Jackson was a hostage negotiator.
Me: ... He was a pastor, civil rights activist, & politician! <Googles>...who happened to get some hostages free
The '89 quake really killed downtown & revitalizing took *forever*. Even in 2009 it was hard to fill new units in the area.
eastbayexpress.com/the-uptown-a...
(I wouldn't call it gentrifying when there are now more mixed/low income housing there than there was since 980 went in in 1947)
The exterior shot building is the Fox Theater which was turned into a historic landmark in 1978 to save it from demolition because it was in *extremely* bad shape. Refurbishment didn't start till the mid 90s (and it wasn't reopened till 2009).
The uranium glass will also be slightly green under normal light. Glass treated with manganese will glow under at a specific uv wave length but is otherwise clear.
(This tidbit brought to you "aaaargh! Why do all the doorknobs glow?!" when a child was playing with dog-accident finding flashlight )
Genetic lottery win!
Had a similar conversation with Sprog the Elder (11) who is deeply vain about his long, oft complimented*, hair.
He is in absolute denial.
*seriously, even unbathed after 3 days in the PICU and every single nurse still commented on his great hair.
Assh*le is like visual onomatopoeia!
I am being pedantic on the internet which is always a terrible idea: but the gap between your early childhood and the cold war is tiny. 9/11 is the big quiet thing that is subtly in the background of current kids' fav authors (though that is fading into ongoing national traumas).
What books over 50 years old were grade school curricula for you though? It makes me very sad that my childhood favorites mostly don't resonate, but having those as required reading? I'm not sure it is a benefit.
(Okay, Children of Odin was 5th grade reading for me in a small artsy private school)
Those were all books written more contemporarily to our childhood & cold war affected culture.
The only full length books over 50 years old *taught* in my elementary school (early 80s) was Huck Finn. (We got lots of older short stories)
For highschool the quoted post is wrong. Before that? Sure?
This is not a rebuttal of those being good books (as I still have my childhood copies of the Prydain books and that same book of myths) but both of those absolutely failed to engage my kids. They were also meh on Suess.
Riordan was addictive for my then 8 year old. Ditto Dav Pilkey, Mo Willems.
I would so watch that.
Coastal Northern Californian. Always heard it called Toad in the Hole, but that isn't saying much as it isn't common here.
So much (small) household chaos going on that I completely dropped the ball on making king cake today
Sprog the Elder: You mean dropped the egg?
Me: Wait, what?
StE (confusing it with Easter Bread): You bake eggs in it right?
Gent: No, you bake *babies* in King Cake.
StYounger: WAIT, WHAT?!?
if these are treasured heirlooms and not for regular use, you may want to talk to people who do textile preservation about how to make the chest okay for long term storage.
(Something about wood oils doing permanent damage to some kinds of fibre?)
Quilted pillow cover for a friend of the kids whose first initial is D and whose favorite colors are pink and purple. Jaybird Quilt's alphabet soup letter design.
Quilted pillow cover for a friend of the kids whose first initial is C and whose favorite colors are blue and purple. This is the one that broke my sewing muse. I re jiggered it several times (seam ripper suckage) and I still didn't like it. Finally picked the project back up after I decided to just do a whole new one and would do a two sided pillow. Jaybird Quilt's alphabet soup letter design.
Quilted pillow cover for a friend of the kids whose first initial is V and whose favorite colors are blue and purple. This is the second attempt, is the other side of the pillow, and the whole thing has so much wabi sabi going on.. but I don't hate it and it is done. Jaybird Quilt's alphabet soup letter design, scaled up from the pattern.
Small table topper for a coworker. Forgot to take a picture before gifting, so here it is drapedon the shelf being held in place with a museum cement fragment. Hexagonal green, orange, and pink patchwork star in a teal field. Other bits of museum ephemera can be seen on nearby shelves. Jaybird Quilt's Rock Candy pattern.
I don't do new years resolutions ('cause Dec is already busy enough without trying squeeze in all the stuff one procrastinated on for the last 11 months) but smaller goals in 4ish month chunks are doable.
Succeeded at my very small goal of finishing three overdue quilted gifts. Yay me!
That is pretty much breakfast oatmeal except no flour and sub butter for the peanut butter!
Hardback books do have a lower mortality rate.
I have some paperback books that have survived over 40 years, multiple moves, and parenthood... but they aren't in great shape.
Screencap of 2/13/26 forecast for Oakland. CA showing a temp of 60 degrees and mostly cloudy with a nighttime low of 48.
Screencap of 2/13/26 forecast for Buffalo, NY showing a temp of 27 degrees (feels like 15?!?) and partly cloudy with a nighttime low of 18.
It might just end up being more of a seasonal migration.
