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fernmonkey.bsky.social
Bouba's Delivery Service
@fernmonkey.bsky.social
2.5K followers 1.2K following 29K posts
Hold fast and make things.

Culture ship name: GSV Oh No, Not Again
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fernmonkey.bsky.social
Tired: leopard print
Wired: trout print

(I would seriously wear this, which would be very amusing in a country where leopard print is an extremely popular item of ladies' fashion)
A men's fleece from the Duluth Trading Company in "brown trout print". It is brown around the neck and shoulders, fading to white at the cuffs and hem, and covered in dark spots. It really does look like a brown trout.
January 3, 2026 at 9:20 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
Thinking of that Toni Morrison quote now.
African-American men seemed to understand it right away. Years ago, in the middle of the Whitewater investigation, one heard the first murmurs: white skin notwithstanding, this is our first black President. Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children’s lifetime. After all, Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald’s-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas. And when virtually all the African-American Clinton appointees began, one by one, to disappear, when the President’s body, his privacy, his unpoliced sexuality became the focus of the persecution, when he was metaphorically seized and body-searched, who could gainsay these black men who knew whereof they spoke? The message was clear: “No matter how smart you are, how hard you work, how much coin you earn for us, we will put you in your place or put you out of the place you have somehow, albeit with our permission, achieved. You will be fired from your job, sent away in disgrace, and—who knows?—maybe sentenced and jailed to boot. In short, unless you do as we say (i.e., assimilate at once), your expletives belong to us.”
December 31, 2025 at 2:00 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
Love how Italian recipes always specify "mezzo bicchiere di vino". HALF a glass of wine, so of course you must drink the other half in order to make sure there's nothing wrong with it.

(This ragu is destined to become anelli al forno, and it's completely normal to put peas in, don't shout at me.)
A red and white enameled cast iron pot with two handles. A dark red sauce with peas can be seen simmering within.
December 31, 2025 at 1:12 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
Me last night biking home, enjoying the Christmas lights and thinking I really should get my eyes tested
my astigmatism lets me see beautiful angels before I drive into oncoming traffic
December 31, 2025 at 11:02 AM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
It's remarkable how often the outdoor cure works. My Dieffenbachia seems to be blissfully happy on the landing, and I suspect that what it likes is the skylight.
A large handsome Dieffenbachia and similar Dracaena fragrans on a staircase landing.
December 29, 2025 at 3:54 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
🌱 This marks the first time I've ever seen a poinsettia growing outside in Europe, and it was on a southeast-facing hillside. Feeling a lot better about my complete inability to keep them alive after Christmas.
A raised flower bed made from pale stone, with a poinsettia growing. Compared to the potted Christmas ones, the contrast and transition between green leaves and red bracts is much less abrupt.
December 29, 2025 at 3:13 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
Makes me think of this classic Thelwell.
A car is pushed off the road by a bucking horse, ridden by a man in formal hunt attire. He is obviously shitfaced and only barely conscious. The driver says to the passenger "You never hear anything about testing THEIR breath."
December 27, 2025 at 1:03 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
About to leave the cosy (fake) hearth to bike to church and bring my chorister friend his phone and glasses. Hope your Christmases are going well. #JoinIn
A living room with a Christmas tree, a tv showing a crackling log fire, a decorative glass jar of baubles. The general theme is red and gold.
December 25, 2025 at 8:23 AM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
Wake up babe, new period sex euphemism just dropped
Sign promoting the Starbucks Red Velvet Latte
December 24, 2025 at 12:03 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
A French mouse riding a lobster to bring you all festive wishes of peace, joy, health and happiness. I couldn't ask for anything more.
See main post for details.
December 24, 2025 at 10:52 AM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
This one had a raccoon mask.
Little calico cat on a car. She has a marvellous fluffy squirrel tail.
December 23, 2025 at 2:57 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
Some little Sicilian street kitties. The little calico would run up to be petted every time we walked by, and had a dear little chirp like a low battery indicator.
Two little cats, one tabby and white, one dilute calico, on a red tiled sidewalk.
December 23, 2025 at 1:25 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
The full image raises more questions than it answers. No legs in evidence, but that's definitely a foot?!
Screenshot of stock image depicting white-coated black male doctor treating pink-shirted white female patient. Oddly enough she has no legs but 1 foot wearing a high-heeled shoe.
December 19, 2025 at 2:09 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
- This Christmas tree is nice, perhaps we should put something around it
- How about white marble chips? Tasteful, and they'll hide the cables for the big glowing LED reindeer and gifts
- Sure. No other factors to consider in our city FULL OF WANDERING CATS, are there?
- nah, can't think of a thing
A Christmas tree surrounded by LED reindeer and gifts, sunk into white marble chips that I believe are supposed to represent a snowdrift. A small tabby and white cat is squatting over the marble chips in an obvious excretory position.
December 18, 2025 at 11:07 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
- You know, you can't take pictures of every single street cat in Sicily.

- Not with THAT attitude!
An assortment of street cats outside some little wooden cat-houses More street cats, this time outside a wine shop
December 18, 2025 at 9:31 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
Judgy Aesthetic Opinion: If you're going to have a fake Christmas tree, it should be wildly exaggerated and camp.
A large piazza-sized Christmas tree in Catania that's just a cone of golden LEDs decorated with red LED spirals and elephants.
December 18, 2025 at 4:20 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
I think I saw the dog equivalent of that today.
A small shop full of Christmas stuff. Guarding the door are a giant plush mouse and nutcracker soldier, and a big white dog with a red neck how is asleep on the floor.
December 17, 2025 at 9:48 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
The only RETVRN I will countenance is to have Dionysiac raves in the acoustically-fascinating Ear of Dionysus Cave.
Artificial cave with an interestingly sinuous shape and pointy top. Has awesome echoes.
December 17, 2025 at 1:21 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
🧪 Question for Cat Genetics Bluesky: why is it that tortoiseshell cats are almost always predominantly black with some orange hairs sprinkled in? Why are orange-forward torties like this one so unusual? I know about X-inactivation and the O gene, but why does the black tend to dominate?
An unusual tortie cat. Mostly orange with black brindling on the head, lower back, hindlegs and tail. White paws and bib.
December 16, 2025 at 4:43 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
I'm deadly serious about the Msscribe Saga being one of the Texts For How We Got Here. (Yes, tiny print, but it's all in the alt text.)

charlottelennox.livejournal.com/887.html
Yes, of course Msscribe wanted attention and admiration for herself and her fics -- the creation of the fangirl sockpuppets shows that. Yes, we can absolutely conclude that she read about the so-called "Inner Circle" at FictionAlley and decided that she was going to be in it. But I think the real driver for her was her love for verbal combat, her zest for blood in the online water. We all know that there are many "trolls" online -- people who get pleasure from going into enemy territory, being as obnoxious as possible, and then taking on all comers with all the aggressiveness and rudeness they can command. I believe that Msscribe had this same drive -- but she didn't want to suffer the consequences of that kind of behavior. Nobody likes trolls, and they generally lose, too. But Msscribe found a way to release her aggression on both sides simultaneously, while always making sure her preferred side got the last word, and simultaneously furthering her other goals as well. And I don't think she ever really understood that most other people, including many of her closest friends, don't share that drive. Most people don't like to be in the middle of a roaring flame war, and they're not thrilled to have some idiot censorship fanatic blackmailing them so they can have the pleasure of flattening his ridiculous arguments or some disgusting racist insulting them so they can have the pleasure of telling him off. I don't think she fully realized how badly she was treating her friends, or even her enemies. Isn't it all just a game of "Snaps"?
December 15, 2025 at 12:11 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
Me: look, don't be disappointed if we don't have as good a time in Sicily this year as we did last year. I just don't want you to get your expectations too high

Restaurant kittycat: comes over to say hi and immediately rolls over for a belly scritch

Spouse: eats pasta alla Norma, not disappointed
A small tabby and white cat being petted by the hand of a white man who is wearing a flannel shirt
December 14, 2025 at 11:15 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
Aaaaaaaand this is me shutting up and biting back a few friendship-costing remarks.
Calvin and Hobbes meditating
December 14, 2025 at 10:11 AM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
The mood is right
The spirit's up
We're here tonight
And that's enough

Simply having a tardigrade Christmas time
Two tardigrades with some sort of conical meshy thing that looks vaguely like a Christmas tree
December 11, 2025 at 10:27 AM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
Exception: Judy Poovey is an EXTRAORDINARY schmo.
Venn Diagram of The Secret History Readers Left: This book is a haunting tale of dreadful people that causes my heart to yearn for beauty despite all the warning signs the book gives to the contrary. Right: I hate everyone in this book and I hate this dumb ass unreliable narrator and I'm mad at everyone in my life who told me I had to read this. Intersect: Judy Poovey is best girl.
December 10, 2025 at 11:14 PM
fernmonkey.bsky.social
Thanks, but these days I go with a short A-line bob, and that works just fine.
Yr Humble Narratrix in profile, dark bobbed hair with rather more grey than I'd like
December 10, 2025 at 3:09 PM