Julia Hayden
@julenesque.bsky.social
artist, retired ux designer, explorer, & professional gadabout - known most places as julen. Occasional treasure hunter on demand. She/her. Crozet tra la la.
Spotted a tractor trailer in Waynesboro with part of an ice sheet hanging over the edge of their trailer-top. There was no way on earth I was going to drive behind that.
February 3, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Spotted a tractor trailer in Waynesboro with part of an ice sheet hanging over the edge of their trailer-top. There was no way on earth I was going to drive behind that.
I would expect two youngish female newspeople to know how to pronounce Maria Shriver, or that someone in the newsroom might have corrected it the first time.
February 2, 2026 at 10:21 PM
I would expect two youngish female newspeople to know how to pronounce Maria Shriver, or that someone in the newsroom might have corrected it the first time.
I showed The Princess Bride to my mom this evening and it totally did not land for her. Me: it's a touchstone for my generation, with a smart future-forward structure, eminently quotable, comforting and familiar, classic and multi-disciplinary, funny & touching & hopeful.
Her: It was fine.
Hunh.
Her: It was fine.
Hunh.
February 1, 2026 at 1:37 AM
I showed The Princess Bride to my mom this evening and it totally did not land for her. Me: it's a touchstone for my generation, with a smart future-forward structure, eminently quotable, comforting and familiar, classic and multi-disciplinary, funny & touching & hopeful.
Her: It was fine.
Hunh.
Her: It was fine.
Hunh.
In other news, Nelson County cops rescued an injured Kangaroo not that far from 29S today, and she's going to be OK. (You need to have very specific vetted permits to have a Kangaroo as a pet, and some counties outright ban them).
I am now in a deep dive as to what animals I could own where.
I am now in a deep dive as to what animals I could own where.
January 31, 2026 at 9:28 PM
In other news, Nelson County cops rescued an injured Kangaroo not that far from 29S today, and she's going to be OK. (You need to have very specific vetted permits to have a Kangaroo as a pet, and some counties outright ban them).
I am now in a deep dive as to what animals I could own where.
I am now in a deep dive as to what animals I could own where.
My phone notifications alternate between "A bird is side-eying the seeds in your feeder!" and "The country is going to hell in a handbasket!"
January 31, 2026 at 5:45 PM
My phone notifications alternate between "A bird is side-eying the seeds in your feeder!" and "The country is going to hell in a handbasket!"
Hunh. I think my early love of bullnose-y fonts stems from the Mary Tyler Moore credits.
January 28, 2026 at 9:54 PM
Hunh. I think my early love of bullnose-y fonts stems from the Mary Tyler Moore credits.
If they make Youngkin the new head of ICE, it kills his lazy presidential ambitions, which makes me think he'd say no.
January 28, 2026 at 3:48 AM
If they make Youngkin the new head of ICE, it kills his lazy presidential ambitions, which makes me think he'd say no.
Why is it my pettifogging middle-aged injuries aren't from picking up new hobbies or glamorous trips but instead mundane activity like dealing with our current dumb snow?
January 27, 2026 at 8:31 PM
Why is it my pettifogging middle-aged injuries aren't from picking up new hobbies or glamorous trips but instead mundane activity like dealing with our current dumb snow?
!!!!!!!
387 tiny paper buildings, made in the 1950s / 60's by Austrian insurance clerk Peter Fritz.
socks-studio.com/2013/12/06/t...
They were stored in a plastic bag, before ending up in a junk shop where Oliver Croy found them in the early 2010s.
socks-studio.com/2013/12/06/t...
They were stored in a plastic bag, before ending up in a junk shop where Oliver Croy found them in the early 2010s.
January 27, 2026 at 8:28 PM
!!!!!!!
If you have not cleared the top of your car, today is a good day. I had a shelf with meltage on the sides. I shoved my snow brush under the ice plate and pushed out the soft snow layer under the ice, then pushed the brush up at the edges, cracking the ice plate into pieces I could push off. Easy.
January 26, 2026 at 7:01 PM
If you have not cleared the top of your car, today is a good day. I had a shelf with meltage on the sides. I shoved my snow brush under the ice plate and pushed out the soft snow layer under the ice, then pushed the brush up at the edges, cracking the ice plate into pieces I could push off. Easy.
It’s a good day to try and find a well designed sic semper tyrannis t-shirt.
January 25, 2026 at 1:20 PM
It’s a good day to try and find a well designed sic semper tyrannis t-shirt.
5 heavy sleet-soaked inches in Crozet. Pain to shovel. Did a half loop on my driveway; couldn’t make it back up a tiny incline.
Our wheelbarrow plow struggled mightily.
We decided to save our backs and come back in.
Our wheelbarrow plow struggled mightily.
We decided to save our backs and come back in.
January 25, 2026 at 1:06 PM
5 heavy sleet-soaked inches in Crozet. Pain to shovel. Did a half loop on my driveway; couldn’t make it back up a tiny incline.
Our wheelbarrow plow struggled mightily.
We decided to save our backs and come back in.
Our wheelbarrow plow struggled mightily.
We decided to save our backs and come back in.
There was once a time when I said "What is wrong with people?" about things like putting ketchup on carrots and abandoning their shopping carts in parking spaces and writing glowing fulsome articles about the eternal perfect beauty of the Mona Lisa.
I miss those days.
I miss those days.
January 24, 2026 at 9:25 PM
There was once a time when I said "What is wrong with people?" about things like putting ketchup on carrots and abandoning their shopping carts in parking spaces and writing glowing fulsome articles about the eternal perfect beauty of the Mona Lisa.
I miss those days.
I miss those days.
The Commonwealth's Seal was last updated in 2005. As in the many previous updates, the opportunity to clean it up and make it look less like someone's nephew was asked to "fix it up" was completely ignored. So many bad design decisions.
Guess I'm going to have to just get the motto on a t-shirt.
Guess I'm going to have to just get the motto on a t-shirt.
January 23, 2026 at 7:49 PM
The Commonwealth's Seal was last updated in 2005. As in the many previous updates, the opportunity to clean it up and make it look less like someone's nephew was asked to "fix it up" was completely ignored. So many bad design decisions.
Guess I'm going to have to just get the motto on a t-shirt.
Guess I'm going to have to just get the motto on a t-shirt.
Still processing the recent knowledge that Faulkner intended the Sound and the Fury to be color-coded. That would have been so helpful and cool.
January 22, 2026 at 12:37 AM
Still processing the recent knowledge that Faulkner intended the Sound and the Fury to be color-coded. That would have been so helpful and cool.
Yep.
I was present for the birth of the web, the explosion of personal sites, and the blogging revolution, and you know what we never had to do? Beg people to use our shit.
AI boom could falter without wider adoption, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella warns
Big tech boss tells delegates at Davos that broader global use is essential if technology is to deliver lasting growth
www.irishtimes.com
January 21, 2026 at 2:18 AM
Yep.
I have no faith in your squirrel baffle if your product illustrations feature chipmunks doing squirrel things.
I have no faith in lots of things right now, but squirrel "experts" who do not know what squirrels look like are the easiest to process.
I have no faith in lots of things right now, but squirrel "experts" who do not know what squirrels look like are the easiest to process.
January 17, 2026 at 10:53 PM
I have no faith in your squirrel baffle if your product illustrations feature chipmunks doing squirrel things.
I have no faith in lots of things right now, but squirrel "experts" who do not know what squirrels look like are the easiest to process.
I have no faith in lots of things right now, but squirrel "experts" who do not know what squirrels look like are the easiest to process.
Last spring (after another spree of reading all the Virginia content in multiple Green Books), my mom and I tried to figure out where this was - we ended up about a quarter mile off, but it was still a guess. So this article was particularly welcome.
Secrets of the Blue Ridge: Lucy Brown’s Mountain View—Get the Word! | Crozet Gazette
www.crozetgazette.com
January 3, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Last spring (after another spree of reading all the Virginia content in multiple Green Books), my mom and I tried to figure out where this was - we ended up about a quarter mile off, but it was still a guess. So this article was particularly welcome.
Google clearly tried to fix their AI results, and they made it worse.
January 2, 2026 at 9:38 PM
Google clearly tried to fix their AI results, and they made it worse.
Starting the New Year by reorganizing my studioffice, and once again, I'm at the point where I'm eighth-guessing some decisions. It's like playing with a 88% filled tetris board, but there's a cat sprawled over the right five columns.
January 2, 2026 at 9:37 PM
Starting the New Year by reorganizing my studioffice, and once again, I'm at the point where I'm eighth-guessing some decisions. It's like playing with a 88% filled tetris board, but there's a cat sprawled over the right five columns.
Also, Myrna Loy is wearing a series of ridiculous hats that have no business looking that good on her.
January 1, 2026 at 9:20 PM
Also, Myrna Loy is wearing a series of ridiculous hats that have no business looking that good on her.
I need a full tour of the carousel in Shadow of the Thin Man, and then I need to know if it was just an MGM thing, or it existed (exists?) in the wild. That thing is glorious.
Then I need to investigate that awesome chair in the Charles entry.
Then I need to investigate that awesome chair in the Charles entry.
January 1, 2026 at 9:09 PM
I need a full tour of the carousel in Shadow of the Thin Man, and then I need to know if it was just an MGM thing, or it existed (exists?) in the wild. That thing is glorious.
Then I need to investigate that awesome chair in the Charles entry.
Then I need to investigate that awesome chair in the Charles entry.
My mother frequently gets frustrated with "technology" but in many many many cases (but not all), it comes down to poor ux, narrow-sighted assumptions, and a cascade of "standards" that hew more closely to trends and influential likes. She's tired of me saying, "No, that's just bad UI design".
January 1, 2026 at 7:03 PM
My mother frequently gets frustrated with "technology" but in many many many cases (but not all), it comes down to poor ux, narrow-sighted assumptions, and a cascade of "standards" that hew more closely to trends and influential likes. She's tired of me saying, "No, that's just bad UI design".
Drove by the courthouse today and there still isn't a placard up to commemorate The Punch.
December 31, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Drove by the courthouse today and there still isn't a placard up to commemorate The Punch.
The rise of corporate mascots in the past 3-5 years says something about us as a culture, but danged if I know what it is.
December 28, 2025 at 12:53 AM
The rise of corporate mascots in the past 3-5 years says something about us as a culture, but danged if I know what it is.