Catherine Dill
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catherinedill.bsky.social
Catherine Dill
@catherinedill.bsky.social
2K followers 1.9K following 190 posts
Formerly known as atomic_pickles, but still thinking about atomic pickles. Fancies: gardens, birds, mountains & rocks, satellites, Delftware, N95s. She/her. Only personal views reflected.
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catherinedill.bsky.social
@seancasten.bsky.social Can I offer you a hat?
A gray baseball bat with the text “abolish the senate” in block white text.
November 9, 2025 at 10:32 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Some beautiful things I saw in the waning hours of northern latitude summer:
A wide angle picture of a marsh, the water is in the bottom half of the photo, a grey cloudy sky in the top half, reflected slightly in the water. A distant treeline of late summer trees is visible. A photo of green things! In the center is a very small bright green tree frog (I think!), resting on a green leaf. Water and small white flowers are visible too.
September 21, 2025 at 6:13 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
My mom had a quilt of race shirts hanging up when I was a kid that one of her clients made for her in lieu of a monetary payment during a tough time. I carry one of images with me as an instruction: “when in doubt run uphill.” And when I feel uncertain or alone or scared or powerless, I do.
An image of an old rave t-shirt. It is a dark pink background with the phrase “when in doubt run uphill” in blue block letters and a stick figure running on an incline.
September 14, 2025 at 8:18 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
This is how I remember my father, running downhill in the San Gabriels towards Islip Saddle, on a trail that has long since burned. I inherited my height from him, and one of the few perks of being short is a low center of gravity for downhill running!
Picture of a short man running downhill on a mountainous trail. The trail is grainy and sparsely dotted with pine trees, there is a bright blue sky behind.
September 14, 2025 at 6:51 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Here I am running another race with my mom and very mad that she was disrupting my focus.
A young child and a woman running a race together. The child has a bib with the number 62 and is wearing pink shorts. The woman is also wearing pink shorts without a white shirt and a bib with number 63. They both have short dark hair.
September 14, 2025 at 6:42 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
I ran my first race as a toddler. (Side note: were my parents actually monsters??)
A young child running a race. She has pink sweatpants and a blue t shirt and a race bib with the number 908. She is very cute.
September 14, 2025 at 6:40 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
While my mom preferred marathons and the occasional 50k trail run, my dad was an ultrarunner–his preferred race length was 50 miles, but he had a smattering of 100 milers. I spent much of my childhood crewing him on various races, including his favorite, the Angeles Crest 100.
The poster as a young child walking her father across the finish line of a 100 mile race. She is wearing black boots and a pink skirt, he is wearing blue running shorts without a shirt. There is a sign that says finish in the background.
September 14, 2025 at 6:38 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Rather delighted with my running art today.
A screenshot of a Garmin running route recap, which includes the squirrels concentric lines of the 4 mile route, akin to a Picasso.
September 14, 2025 at 6:20 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
I was floored watching coverage of the LA fires in January and seeing so many frontline firefighters not wearing proper PPE.

I will happily go for a vigorous hike wearing a respirator when there is a passing smoke from a forest fire 100 miles away.
A hiker is pictured wearing khaki long hiking pants, a purple UPF shirt, a turquoise bandana, and a white N95 mask. In the background a dirt trail, a slightly burnt mixed conifer forest, distant granite rocks, and a hazy blue sky.
August 19, 2025 at 5:20 AM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Bonus rock and flower
A gorgeous granite boulder with a hint of green lichen visible in a sparsely populated pine forest with bright blue sky behind. Two orange-red columbine blossoms against a wet granite rock from a natural spring.
August 18, 2025 at 12:59 AM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Lucky enough to have spent another afternoon in another canyon in the San Gabriels. Throwing myself out of cell phone range is really the only strategy working for me right now to force a few hours of calm.
Silver chaparral bush with golden flowers (chamisa?) in a granite canyon with a few greenish trees and blue sky in background. View of a sparsely forested canyon in the San Gabriels with a manzanita bush in the foreground and a saddle and peak in the background against a bright blue sky. View of a canyon with granite rock on the left and oak and sugar maples on the right and a barely visible stream. View of a crosscut of an old fallen cedar tree with many holes from various insects.
August 18, 2025 at 12:57 AM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Look, things are tough. But I’m in LA for another week, and I got to spend the afternoon in a marvelous canyon that somehow survived the worst of the Station, Bobcat, and Eaton fires, and then I got to run out of it with a lilting wind against my face. What a gift.
A portrait picture of a canyon in the San Gabriel mountains, there is a stream and small waterfall surrounded by granite walls and a number of greenish oak, bay leaf, and sugar maple trees.
August 15, 2025 at 11:02 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
I even biked there on the east bank of the Anacostia River. Scary!

(I’m a big fan of sun protection and don’t mind looking ridiculous)
Two people pictured standing next to bikes. One has a smoky face emoji over their face. The other is me wearing a white bike helmet and a white update shirt with the hood over the helmet.
August 11, 2025 at 11:51 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Post your last photo of DC to show what a hell-hole it is.

(The Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens overrun with…lotus flowers)
A beautiful big white and pink lotus flower bloom with a bright blue sky in the background
August 11, 2025 at 11:42 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
The Windy Fire (and the nearby SQF Complex Fire) resulted in the total loss of many groves, but this one grove, the Freeman Grove, had a number of survivors. I took great solace in seeing the survivors and great hope in seeing many baby sequoias from the ashes. May at least a few of them outlast us!
A stand of surviving giant sequoia trees that have been lightly burned. There is a blue sky behind the trees and bright green ground over at their base. A vibrant green baby giant sequoia tree in front of completely burned out trees and a blue sky in the background.
August 11, 2025 at 3:34 AM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Presenting v2 after some helpful notes:
Front of beige baseball hat with the phrase “no boat in lake” in black block italic letters Back of beige baseball hat with a blue, red, and white symbol A5
July 8, 2025 at 6:58 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Couldn’t help myself. If ten or more people request a hat I will happily do a limited run of these and mail them out gratis, a small contribution to the resistance. Although graphic design is my passion, I will take notes on color/font/etc!
White baseball hat with the text “no boat in lake” in black block letters
July 8, 2025 at 1:56 AM
catherinedill.bsky.social
This little tiger is from MacArthur Park (literally, the park giveth!), and I feel pretty confident in saying that I think he would have loved to join the good citizens of Los Angeles in running ICE et al. out of the park today, if only he would tolerate harnessed outside time.
Picture of an orange and white tabby cat with helicopters ears in full effect.
July 8, 2025 at 12:55 AM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Yes, really not quite what I expected when I made these hats. That’s on me!
Dark gray baseball hat with the phrase “abolish the senate” on white block letters.
June 22, 2025 at 1:03 AM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Well, with the news breaking I am extra glad I touched grass this morning, even if it was in a literal swamp at the start of a heat advisory.
View of water meeting land in a swamp environment, water is a muddy brown, green flora, bright blue sky. A view of lots of green flora in the wooded part of a swamp, tall grass, a wild rose bush in bloom, hardwood trees in the background. A view of ferns perfectly lit by morning sun in a clearing in a forest.
June 22, 2025 at 12:55 AM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Wishing I was in Los Angeles today with family and not a mere mile and change away from what surely must be one of the worst parades in history.
Rally poster with the phrase “America has no king” on it.
June 14, 2025 at 3:59 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
I love finding sidewalk crack flowers.
An errant orange snapdragon growing out of the sidewalk cement with red brick visible behind.
June 13, 2025 at 3:44 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Wishing I was home right now. In the meantime revisiting a few of my favorite views of downtown situated amongst the greater basin. A reminder that Los Angeles is vast and diverse both in its peoples and its geographies!
A view of the entire Los Angeles basin from Mt. Lowe in the San Gabriel mountains. Downtown Los Angeles in visible in the middle of the image, the Pacific and Catalina island are visible in the distance. A view of the Santa Monica Bay in the foreground with downtown Los Angeles visible in midrange and the San Gabriel and Tehacapi moohntains visible in the distance. A view of downtown Los Angeles from Debs regional park with a castor bean plant visible in the foreground.
June 10, 2025 at 2:02 AM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Time to resurface the screaming peacock magnet I made in 2020.
A collage of images of seven screaming peacocks.
April 10, 2025 at 4:35 PM
catherinedill.bsky.social
Kelsey, I have a saved image ready to go just for this feeling.
Screengrab of a scene from Tim Robinson’s show “I think you should leave” of a man behind the wheel of a car wildly gesticulating and screaming “this is the maddest I’ve ever been!”
April 9, 2025 at 1:21 PM