Alessa Ellefson
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alessaellefson.bsky.social
Alessa Ellefson
@alessaellefson.bsky.social
180 followers 170 following 120 posts
Scribbler & doodler of books for kids and older children.🖋️🎨
Likes animals, nature, music that gives chills, the smell of violet ink on parchment...while Pax, her French bulldog, sleeps contentedly next to her.

https://alessaellefson.com/
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alessaellefson.bsky.social
A new tale of Pax's misadventures is here: Attack of the Fluffbutts!🎉

Pax must look for his friend inside a haunted house, where he also meets other creatures...

I had a blast writing and illustrating this new kids' book (for 2 years old & above), so I hope you like it too😄

#kidlit #mightypax
Cover for Mighty Pax’s Misadventures book 3: Attack of the Fluffbutts. It shows Pax climbing up a hill toward a fenced-off haunted house (and what is that at one of the windows? A ghost?!). In the foreground, the trunk of a tree that’s losing its leaves, and inside a hole in the trunk, an owl is observing you, dear reader!!). Pax, the French bulldog (and hero of Mighty Pax's Misadventures illustrated children's books) says goodbye to his friend Romeo who's going to visit the haunted house on his own. Romeo's wearing a pear of bat wings for the occasion. There's a big pumpkin before Pax's house. The illustration is surrounded by Halloween decorations, including three cute little ghosts who seem a little worried... Pax looks over his shoulder, while before him rises the imposing, and run-down haunted house. A massive full moon rises behind the house. There's a border of cute Halloween decorations all around the illustration (and one of the elements depicted is none other than Arabella, the fashionista (jumping) spider, who's also in the story!) Pax and Romeo, surrounded by all of their newfound friends, which they made during the tale of Attack of the Fluffbutts, are wishing you a Happy Halloween! (so are the ghosts, who are clearly having fun around them)
October 20, 2025 at 5:50 PM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
Yesterday, we were hit with the tail of a tempest, which meant lots of rain. This is one of Pax's many raincoats. Unfortunately, he hates it as much as all the other ones 😅
#mightypax #frenchie #dapperdogs #barkingintherain #dogsky
Pax, the French bulldog, is sitting on a carpet, wearing a raincoat with a hoodie that covers his long ears. He doesn't look impressed. Still, better this than be soaked to the bone, since he doesn't like getting wet. Right? 😅
October 5, 2025 at 5:56 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
Taking a short break from illustrating Pax in his latest adventure to share a pic of the real Pax...also working hard! 😄
#frenchie #dogsky #itsadogsworld
Pax, the French bulldog and hero of his own series of children's books Might Pax's Misadventures, is lying on the couch, head resting on one of his many blankets. His bat-like ears point up, toward the last rays of the sun streaming gently through the window above. His eyes are slitted open, and he's looking at the photographer, wondering why she isn't finishing up his book quicker!
September 17, 2025 at 4:27 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
The skies above Brussels this evening.
Above the trees whose leaves frame the right side of the picture, the sky is half clear, its cool evening blues giving way to a fiery, cottony cover of clouds. On the other side, a long trail of darkening clouds, like the train of a forlorn bride running after the last touches of the setting sun.
August 29, 2025 at 7:10 PM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
There's nothing quite like diving head first into a book!
August 17, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Reposted by Alessa Ellefson
ethanmaldridge.bsky.social
I think nearly the entire Horror genre boils down to the idea that it is worthwhile to fight until your very last breath. Even, and maybe especially, when there is no hope.
July 19, 2025 at 12:48 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
I'm working on a new children's book! Pax doesn't know it yet, but this is the setting for his newest adventures, hence his nonchalant air 😉
#MightyPax #kidlit #writerwanderings
Pax the French bulldog (and hero of the children's book series Mighty Pax's Misadventures) is in his stroller, squinting in the sun while I take this picture. Behind him stands a gorgeous beast of a derelict house with tons of tall (and broken) windows, patio that goes around a half tower. It's historically classified, so even though it's housing tons of wildlife, including rats, it can't be torn down. Which is part of the reason I love it :)
July 14, 2025 at 1:39 PM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
When you take a stroll through a patch of nature inside the city, and someone's clearly marked a bees' nest so you don't disturb them 🥰🐝
#Brussels #beeterritory #donotdisturb #writerwanderings
A pile of straw, dead leaves, and small branches. Totally unassuming, until you find the pile has been staked out all around, and a sign placed which reads: "NID D'ABEILLES" (French for bees' nest). Young trees grow all around, protecting this temporary home from the harsh summer sun.
July 13, 2025 at 8:41 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
Pax has 3 modes of drooling, depending on circumstances:
The bubble: when he's so excited he starts breathing through the mouth.
The faucet: when he reeeeaaaaally wants a treat.
The shoelace: mostly when he's out on a walk and has caught a real nice scent...
#mightypax #dogsofbsky #illustrations
Mighty Pax, the French bulldog (and hero of the Mighty Pax's Misadventures children's stories), staring intently ahead, oblivious to the bubble of drool that's formed on the bottom of his flappy lip. Behind him are images of dog treats in the shapes of bones, with the word 'cookie' written on them. Title: The bubble. Mighty Pax, the French bulldog (and hero of the Mighty Pax's Misadventures children's stories), staring intently ahead, drooling profusely like a leaky faucet (there's a small puddle at his paws). Behind him are images of dog treats in the shapes of bones, with the word 'cookie' written on them. Title: The faucet. Mighty Pax, the French bulldog (and hero of the Mighty Pax's Misadventures children's stories), staring intently ahead, a thick cord of drool hanging down from his round jaw (looks like he's swallowed a shoe!). Behind him are images of dog treats in the shapes of bones, with the word 'cookie' written on them. Title: The shoelace.
July 12, 2025 at 8:14 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
Went on a recce for my next Pax book which I hope to publish prior to Halloween (🍀), and it's just so perfect that this beast of a tree is nearby the "shooting location"😊
#bookplanning #writing #MightyPax
One upon a time, in a park close to what will be the setting for my haunted house... ...within an enclosed space, the gate broken down, in patch of overgrown weeds and grass... ... stands an ancient tree. Many of its limbs have been sawed off. The others no longer bear leaves. Yet it remains standing, proud, a refuge for any creature who needs sanctuary in the bustling city.
July 12, 2025 at 6:24 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
Interesting episode on the Choiceology w/ Katy Milkman podcast about finding our life's meaning through the telling of our own Hero's Journey:
podcastaddict.com/choiceology-... #storytelling #inspiration
Choiceology with Katy Milkman - A Hero's Journey: With Guests Ethan Gilsdorf, David Fajgenbaum & Kurt Gray
Listen to Choiceology with Katy Milkman - A Hero's Journey: With Guests Ethan Gilsdorf, David Fajgenbaum & Kurt Gray by Charles Schwab on Podcast Addict. Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins, Katniss Everdee...
podcastaddict.com
July 7, 2025 at 1:10 PM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
It finally started raining, so some bumblebees on my street found refuge inside the flower of a hollyhock 💛
Pale flowers open like a chiffon skirt, the pistil protruding out like an antenna, rough undulating leaves covered with dust. The hollyhocks gave grown tall this year against the houses' brick walls! And inside one of these flowers are two fluffy bumblebees cuddling.
July 5, 2025 at 6:45 PM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
These archival records are made with parchment, so animal skin (mostly goats, sheep, and calves). It's no wonder grimoires are considered a must-have in the witch's toolkit! Note the cover still has fur 😶
#books #history #BrusselsArchives
A beautiful register from the city of Brussels that dates back to the Middle Ages. Flowery illuminations in the margins of the page on the left, as well as the illustration of two men wrestling inside what I believe to be a giant A (I admit I can't read this 😅). Because the pages are made of skin, they will keep on changing with time. Hence the need for claps to keep the wooden covers shut right around these pages so they won't umdulate. This book is closed to display the rough fur of its cover (so it seems like this used to be a goat 😢) The metallic protuberances in top of each of the four corners are there because back then books were laid flat on shelves, stacked on top of each other. These then protected the books from those above them, as well as allowed air to pass through (reduces risk of mold). As you can imagine, these books were expensive, so were often kept on chains to prevent theft (you can see on the bottom of this book a little book where the chain used to be).
July 3, 2025 at 6:07 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
A roster for the Amigo (a jail where Verlaine spent some time), and a police profile of Karl Marx (Charles, here), considered a potentially dangerous man (the sheet includes the notable trait that he speaks English well). Karl Marx moved to Brussels in 1845.
#history #Brussels
The registry, on the left, shows a long list of prisoners, including their ages (lots of 18 year olds), place of birth and home address. To the right is the police memo on Karl "Charles" Marx, professor of philosophy.
July 2, 2025 at 5:23 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
Brussels city registry showing a certain Charles Baudelaire, writer and poet (homme de lettres), born in Paris in 1821, came to live rue de la Montagne.

#history #frenchwriters #Brussels
A massive registry in the Brussels archives. The book, bigger than my forearm, is displayed open to a page in its center. On the left-hand page, meant for people living on the rue de la Montagne, are the names of various people who moved there. Halfway down the page is the entry for Charles Baudelaire, who came from Honfleur (a town in France). There's no date for when he moved out of his residence here, though (note that the man died in Paris in 1867, not too soon after this entry, since the other dates before and after his name show the year 1866.
July 1, 2025 at 5:11 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
A writer who is afraid to overreach himself is as useless as a general who is afraid to be wrong. ~Raymond Chandler
#quote #writinginspiration
July 1, 2025 at 4:22 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
This is my vacation face 😑

Temperatures are going up quite a bit this week in Belgium, but I've got my cooling mat and water bowl, so everything's good! Hope you're all enjoying the start of the summer holidays!

#MightyPax #PaxOnHoliday #frenchbulldog
Pax, the French bulldog, is sitting on his chair before the table on the patio. He's in the shade, eyes partially closed, thinking unknowable thoughts, looking all cool and dapper.
June 30, 2025 at 6:37 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
Not enough brain to survive, by Belgian artist Thomas Lerooy. The statue sits inside the inner courtyard of the Archives of the city of Brussels.
#Brussels #bigheaded #art
A metal statue on a cement block. It's of a naked well-built male (six packs and all), listing to the side because his balding, bearded head, which is just as large as its whole body, is resting upside down next to him (clearly too heavy for his scrawny neck). The statue is in a small garden in the courtyard, surrounded by bright green bushes and flowering plants.
June 29, 2025 at 4:12 PM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
Once upon a time (1901), this was a wine palace!
#wondroushistory #brussels #beautifularchitecture
The front of a massive warehouse if two-toned stones. Gated arched front door. Tall windows that take up two floors, that end in arches, too. Seals painted in these arches read Malaga, Madere, Cognac, Mayence. The warehouse has a big window arch at the top, and inscribed in the stone is Brias & Cie.
June 29, 2025 at 7:31 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
I finally got this adorable beauty by @bisonrimant.fr in the mail today, and I love it! 🩵
Wooden sculpture of a tranquil, seated capybara with a happy duck sitting on its head. The wood is smooth, and the capybara's rounded back fits comfortably into the palm of my hand. Just as wonderful is the smell of the woodwork, which reminds me of the violin I once enjoyed playing! Another angle of the sitting capybara worth the duck on his head. The duck's smiling eyes match the capybara's rounded ears.
June 2, 2025 at 6:49 PM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
The power of shared stories 🩵
boldnewme.bsky.social Dr. Mar 💙 @boldnewme.bsky.social · May 29
This the power of stories:

A parent or a third-grade teacher, reading aloud.

A child, listening.

A moment that becomes a thread in someone’s life story.

To the teachers and parents who open a book and create magic in the margins of the day: it matters.

It lingers.

It lasts.👇
May 30, 2025 at 11:30 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
Here's another painting of the majestic bird, in Brussels this time!
#belgianmurals #dapperbirds
Huge mural taking up the whole front of a school. The focus here is on the left-hand side, where the school's actual windows have been incorporated into the painting of a small house the color of a pale orange. In its roof is a huuuuge pigeon (about half the size of the painted house). The bird is standing sideways, staring proudly at a painted cloud in an otherwise blue sky (matching the real sky above the school).
May 28, 2025 at 5:12 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
Could this be how mage staffs are born?
#writerwonderings
A long, wooden plant stem (thicker than my own thumb), with traceries of vines all around it (very art nouveau) stands proudly before a set of barely visible steps. And around its top are three snails, in order of size, with the bigger one at the top, each glistening under the heavy rain (which you can't see, but believe me, I to the potato-quality picture myself).
May 27, 2025 at 6:53 PM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
First ladybug I've seen this year. Over here, they are a sign of good luck 🐞
A ladybug, with pearls of spring rain clinging to its smooth carapace, clings to the hairy leaf of a young flower bud.
May 25, 2025 at 9:40 AM
alessaellefson.bsky.social
We are an accumulation of many people, even more so when unaware of it. Once aware, we can choose what to carry and what to relegate to history. ~Donna Goddard
May 12, 2025 at 5:44 AM