Gratia Léger
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gratialeger.bsky.social
Gratia Léger
@gratialeger.bsky.social
Reader. Writer. Dog lover. Historian. Tea lover. Walker. Knitter. Vegetable whisperer. Lifelong Pittsburgh Pirates fan.
From the morning walk. Ornamental grasses don’t generally wow me, but overnight soaking rain made this planting shine.

#beautyinwinter
#beautyisresistance
#beautyasresistance
November 26, 2025 at 10:37 PM
This RS Thomas poem seems appropriate for tomorrow's holiday.
I love Thomas' poetry, though I understand barely half of it.

www.youtube.com/shorts/1Du4V...
“The Bright Field” – R. S. Thomas read by Helena Bonham Carter #poetry #helenabonhamcarter
YouTube video by elijah woodworth
www.youtube.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:38 PM
From the morning walk. Turn the sound up and listen to the birds. The Merlin app ID'd cedar waxwing along with the tufted titmouse, cardinal, and robin that I could pick out.

#beautyinwinter
#beautyasresistance
#beautyisresistance
November 25, 2025 at 5:59 PM
November 23, 2025 at 10:12 PM
I love sweet potatoes. No surprise—I am 100% Southern on my dad’s side.

That said, Stokes Purple are the best potatoes I’ve ever had. Hints of homemade marshmallow, vibrant color, smooth consistency. They are even tastier the next morning, cold, with breakfast.

Argyll share my passion.
November 22, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Gratia Léger
You want armed service members to disobey illegal orders.

They have an ethical, legal & moral obligation to refuse in order to protect the country.

The only reason this should anger Trump is if he plans to carry out illegal attacks.

Which makes him a tyrant, and tyrants must be stopped
November 21, 2025 at 3:26 AM
A sky of sulky clouds: a giant prehistoric bird pecks an orca while a bluebird turns into a crocodile. On the lip of the horizon, a patch of dried
Betadyne.
Sunrise in 40 minutes

#beautyinwinter
#beautyasresistance
#beautyisresistance
November 20, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Don’t know if sleet IS colder than rain or if it just feels colder. In 45° it seems like it shouldn’t matter whether the rain falls as ice pellets that melt on contact with car or ground, or as water.
November 18, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Glowing embers lie shallow on horizon’s newly bared limbs. They emit no warmth, yet the copper moon floats above them, all but done and feather light.

#beautyinwinter
#beautyasresistance
#beautyisresistance
November 18, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Winter colors have arrived.
From our walk last Wednesday afternoon. (I like walking in the early morning, but on cold & windy mornings I wait till it warms up a bit.)

#beautyinwinter
#beautyasresistance
#beautyisresistance
November 18, 2025 at 12:31 AM
I love it when the waking sun paints the undersides of the grumpy grey clouds. This morning it was tangerine and coral.
November 17, 2025 at 11:37 AM
My choir is singing Christina Rossetti’s “None Other Lamb” as our communion motet. I’m thrilled. It’s been one of my favorite hymns since I was in my early teens.
November 16, 2025 at 1:18 PM
No photos from the morning walk because it was COLD and overcast. Argyll & I kept our heads down. But the sun flirted with us in the afternoon, so we walked more.

Somehow this vista makes me think of undergraduate walks to the east of Grand Rapids MI.

#beautyasresistance
#beautiyisresistance
November 12, 2025 at 11:43 PM
The sycamore’s glory is its winter bark.

#beautyasresistance
#beautyisresistance
November 12, 2025 at 8:30 PM
What a pleasant start to the morning. Less windy than expected, and what’s more, I turned on the radio (usually I listen to audio books) to find a lovely string version of Summa by Arvo Pärt.
Părt is my very favorite contemporary composer.
November 12, 2025 at 11:25 AM
White specks are hitting & melting on my windshield.
November 11, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Gratia Léger
This.

Knowing that they were going to do this, they should have addressed the public on the decision. Made USE of the moment.
This is actually good spin, or would have been. But the fact that the Democratic cave happened without even a coordinated, agreed-upon message like this indicates the depth of the leadership void.
November 11, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Gratia Léger
Worth remembering that the Christian nationalism that fueled the empires in The Great War seeded Europe's turn away from Christianity for the next century.

Historically, Christian nationalism is the enemy of true faith. It is a false gospel whose fruits are known mostly in war.
November 11, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Yesterday Argyll & I used a trail converted from a RR line.

I call these “The Watchers by the Way”, and have observed them over many years. Currently bearded by vines & sometimes defaced by graffiti, they stand and watch no matter what.

#beautyisresistance
#beautyasresistance
November 11, 2025 at 12:36 PM
I signed.
November 10, 2025 at 4:44 PM
It’s that time again: savoy cabbage sautéed with apple, cranberries, parsley, & a hint of garlic then seasoned with cardamom.
Make it while the cranberry harvest lasts.
November 10, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Exactly
What the Senate Democratic defectors did is like the Montgomery bus boycotters calling it quits after 40 days because city leaders promised to “review” bus seating policies.

History teaches us the status quo doesn’t change because of vague promises, it changes because people persist in resisting.
November 10, 2025 at 12:18 PM
November 9 is a big date in Germany's relationship to democracy.

www.dw.com/en/november-...
November 9: A fateful day in the history of Germany – DW – 11/09/2025
From the end of the monarchy to the 1938 pogroms to the fall of the Berlin Wall, November 9 is a significant date on the German calendar.
www.dw.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:00 PM
The moon just came up, pale apricot and leaning forward & a little to his right to whisper something into our ears.
November 9, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Elections are a challenge to power. That’s their point. And if you think you should be in power for ever, you will not be a friend to free and fair elections.”

—Joanne Freeman, with Heather Cox Richardson,
“What the Heck Just Happened” 11/8/2025.
November 8, 2025 at 5:42 PM