E.J. Pryor
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ejpryor.bsky.social
E.J. Pryor
@ejpryor.bsky.social
430 followers 260 following 740 posts
Judaica librarian. Translator of literature for adults and children from Russian and Yiddish. Dilatory writer and dilettante baker. Portland. יונה
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ejpryor.bsky.social
E.J. Pryor @ejpryor.bsky.social · Dec 8
You: Hanukkah is early this year

Me, insufferable: Hanukkah starts on the same date every year
LOTR Gandalf meme (Ian McKellan in grey beard and grey hat gazing piercingly at, presumably, an impudent hobbit) that normally says “a wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to” except here the words “a wizard” have been covered up with the word “Hanukkah”
Reposted by E.J. Pryor
rokhl.bsky.social
How can you tell if a house cat (or a bodega cat!) has a gilgul - a human soul trapped between worlds - inside it? In my upcoming class we'll read a Yiddish memoir excerpt that provides some questions to determine if your cat is actually a dybbuk

exploreashkenaziculture.blogspot.com/2026/01/new-...
January 26, 2026 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by E.J. Pryor
ejpryor.bsky.social
Met someone on my evening walk
Night scene: totally not-creepy doll that is almost certainly not going to launch itself at my face with a mouth full of lamprey teeth, in a pink dress at the base of a tree. Eerie lighting is throwing long shadows of the tree and doll onto the grass.
January 25, 2026 at 3:55 AM
ejpryor.bsky.social
Met someone on my evening walk
Night scene: totally not-creepy doll that is almost certainly not going to launch itself at my face with a mouth full of lamprey teeth, in a pink dress at the base of a tree. Eerie lighting is throwing long shadows of the tree and doll onto the grass.
January 25, 2026 at 3:55 AM
Reposted by E.J. Pryor
ejpryor.bsky.social
Got a pelmenitsa for my birthday (hbd to me 🎉) and I’m a little baffled by the description on the packaging calling it a “Russian ravioli maker” because surely anyone who would want to use one would know what pelmeni are?
January 23, 2026 at 1:21 AM
ejpryor.bsky.social
Got a pelmenitsa for my birthday (hbd to me 🎉) and I’m a little baffled by the description on the packaging calling it a “Russian ravioli maker” because surely anyone who would want to use one would know what pelmeni are?
January 23, 2026 at 1:21 AM
ejpryor.bsky.social
Experiencing new things is a great way to keep life interesting, but having to dive for cover from gunfire on my evening walk was a new experience that I think I could have done without.
January 20, 2026 at 4:02 PM
ejpryor.bsky.social
I saw this on the free table at shul and couldn’t resist bringing it home. It’s bright and ridiculous, and just look at the sly smirk on that face. You know that’s a gefilte fish who’s up to something.
January 14, 2026 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by E.J. Pryor
ejpryor.bsky.social
Sitting does not depend on fitting.
A fluffy black cat squeeze ridiculously into a small cardboard box on the table. Most of his legs and his tail are sticking out at odd angles
January 14, 2026 at 3:41 AM
ejpryor.bsky.social
Sitting does not depend on fitting.
A fluffy black cat squeeze ridiculously into a small cardboard box on the table. Most of his legs and his tail are sticking out at odd angles
January 14, 2026 at 3:41 AM
Reposted by E.J. Pryor
ejpryor.bsky.social
Oops. Due to the relentless march of time—which, to be fair, I couldn’t possibly have been expected to know about—I missed yesterday.

Choose 20 paintings, etc.

Day 8. ‘Oranges and Lace Curtains at the Ezra Pound House in Hailey (The Pequod meets the Albatross)’, Susanna Bluhm, 2019.
Three bright oranges with green leaves rest on a tabletop in front of a window, painted in loose, expressive brushstrokes. Pale blue and lavender patterned curtains frame the window, through which the suggestion of a snowy field and trees can be seen.
January 12, 2026 at 7:27 PM
ejpryor.bsky.social
Oops. Due to the relentless march of time—which, to be fair, I couldn’t possibly have been expected to know about—I missed yesterday.

Choose 20 paintings, etc.

Day 8. ‘Oranges and Lace Curtains at the Ezra Pound House in Hailey (The Pequod meets the Albatross)’, Susanna Bluhm, 2019.
Three bright oranges with green leaves rest on a tabletop in front of a window, painted in loose, expressive brushstrokes. Pale blue and lavender patterned curtains frame the window, through which the suggestion of a snowy field and trees can be seen.
January 12, 2026 at 7:27 PM
ejpryor.bsky.social
No new pictures—where are you mentally?

(sign says “I don’t want to go to work, I want to live in the woods”)
A starkly lit photo of a long haired tortoiseshell cat sitting beneath a sign made of letters strung together that says «не хочу на работу, хочу жить в лесу»
January 12, 2026 at 7:06 PM
ejpryor.bsky.social
Sorry to report that Dima is a very tough negotiator and I was forced to concede to nearly all his demands.
ejpryor.bsky.social E.J. Pryor @ejpryor.bsky.social · 18d
A seat at the table
Black cat sitting in a chair, looking over dining table toward camera. Only his head is visible.
January 12, 2026 at 6:40 PM
ejpryor.bsky.social
Yes, even though I said ‘artificial’, I’m aware that all narrative is in a sense artificial—achieved through artifice—so what I really meant is that it feels cheap. Unearned. Lazy.
ejpryor.bsky.social E.J. Pryor @ejpryor.bsky.social · 17d
For reasons, I’ve been reading more fantasy lately than usual, and I’m getting irritated by books with frantic POV changes. It just feels like such an artificial way to build tension, constant cliffhangers caused by changing the POV character after every (usually brief) chapter.
January 12, 2026 at 6:29 PM
ejpryor.bsky.social
For reasons, I’ve been reading more fantasy lately than usual, and I’m getting irritated by books with frantic POV changes. It just feels like such an artificial way to build tension, constant cliffhangers caused by changing the POV character after every (usually brief) chapter.
January 12, 2026 at 6:14 PM
ejpryor.bsky.social
A seat at the table
Black cat sitting in a chair, looking over dining table toward camera. Only his head is visible.
January 12, 2026 at 2:37 AM
ejpryor.bsky.social
Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you - one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

Day 7. Spaced Out Orbit, Helen Frankenthaler, 1973
Abstract image: a pale cream background with a rough horizontal band of soft pink and yellow paint near the upper center and a green field along the top right corner.
January 11, 2026 at 3:45 AM
ejpryor.bsky.social
Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you - one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

Day 6. Cityscape #1, Richard Diebenkorn, 1963.
Abstracted landscape painting with an aerial view of intersecting roads and fields; dark gray pavement cuts through blocks of green, tan, and blue.
January 9, 2026 at 6:29 PM
ejpryor.bsky.social
Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you - one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

Day 5. Mummy portrait, unknown artist, Egypt, ca. 2nd century CE.
Portrait painted on a wooden panel of a young man with large dark eyes and a direct gaze, thin mustache, short black hair.
January 8, 2026 at 7:27 PM
ejpryor.bsky.social
Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you - one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

Day 4. Cape Cod Morning, Edward Hopper, 1950.
A woman in a red dress leans forward in the window of a white house, gazing out toward sunlit trees and tall grass under a blue sky streaked with clouds.
January 8, 2026 at 6:55 AM
ejpryor.bsky.social
Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you - one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

Day 3. ‘Marguerite Kelsey’, Meredith Frampton, 1928.
Realist portrait of a white woman with dark hair wearing a plain white dress and red shoes, reclining sideways on a small sofa, looking off to the side with a serene expression. There is a basket of large white flowers on a small table next to the sofa. All the colors are muted, so the red of the shoes stands out.
January 6, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by E.J. Pryor
ejpryor.bsky.social
Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you - one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

Day 2. Black Square, Kazimir Malevich, 1915.
Black Square, by Kazimir Malevich. A black square painted on linen. There are cracks in the black paint that make it look like there’s a ghostly image faintly visible in the black.
January 5, 2026 at 5:11 PM
ejpryor.bsky.social
Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you - one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

Day 2. Black Square, Kazimir Malevich, 1915.
Black Square, by Kazimir Malevich. A black square painted on linen. There are cracks in the black paint that make it look like there’s a ghostly image faintly visible in the black.
January 5, 2026 at 5:11 PM
ejpryor.bsky.social
[I’m going to do this because I want to see more art on my timeline. Not sure I’ll stick to my own rule, but I’m going to start by only sharing paintings that I’ve actually seen in person.]

Choose 20 paintings…

1. Old Woman Saying Grace, Known as ‘The Prayer without End’, Nicolaes Maes, c. 1656.
Painting of an old woman in a white cap praying with closed eyes and folded hands, sitting alone at a small table set with bread, cheese, fish, a jug and a bowl. In the bottom right corner, a gray tabby cat is reaching up to tug at the white tablecloth.
January 4, 2026 at 11:46 PM