Wen Z
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wenz.bsky.social
Wen Z
@wenz.bsky.social
1.2K followers 250 following 6.1K posts
​​Editor, sometimes. Avocational choral singer, weekly.​ Wannabe other things​, usually.

​Fan of pets, wordplay, and diagramless crossword puzzles.

Grew up in Chicagoland; now living in NYC.

Banner pic: Pine Meadow Lake, Harriman State Park, NY. Ahhhhh.
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wenz.bsky.social
@fharriman.bsky.social

An apropos comment in the other thread.

An apropos picture here:
Delilah, a gray tabby cat (or a blue tabby cat, if you wish), is curled up asleep on my lap. In addition to the traditional "M" on her forehead, her silvery nose is visible, as are her whiskers, the white toes of one front paw, and the white sock of one back leg.
November 10, 2025 at 8:47 PM
wenz.bsky.social
Great minds in my feed:
Consecutive recent posts in my timeline. @infinitescream.bsky.social posted: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. @marisakabas.bsky.social posted: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
November 10, 2025 at 5:36 AM
wenz.bsky.social
@suzieqandmum.bsky.social
@theherdhouse.bsky.social

My darling little giraffe friend (shared with permission).

She sat down on the landing and ate Halloween treats while the four of us chatted. 😁
A kiddo stands in a full-length giraffe costume — including pretend ossicones on her head, and brown mittens that give her front "hooves." The same toddler-slash-giraffe sits cross-legged on the floor eating trick-or-treat fruit gummies. Now her tail is showing.
November 3, 2025 at 4:11 AM
wenz.bsky.social
Adams did say that he tried some bogus cures already, if that's what you mean:
A May 22 post from Scott Adams, @ScottAdamsSays, on X/Twitter. UPDATE 1: Please don't recommend I take lvermectin and Fenben. I tried that last year, via Dr. Makis, to no effect. There are claims of it working, but I am aware of no patient who benefitted from it. Neither are you. Please don't recommend fasting or any diet-related system. Someone credible would have noticed if that worked. Please don't recommend any cocktail of vitamins and minerals. I very much appreciate your caring, but assume l've heard about all of the above. I'm overwhelmed with those same suggestions all day long.
November 3, 2025 at 3:07 AM
wenz.bsky.social
Sounds lovely! And useful.

I happen to have handy a Black Swallowtail photo, taken a few summers ago in the backyard of my childhood home in Illinois.
A Black Swallowtail butterfly, with rows of yellow and blue dots around its wings and tail, is perched on a cluster of pink phlox flowers surrounded by green leaves.
November 2, 2025 at 6:37 AM
wenz.bsky.social
Here's a double blast from the past for @theherdhouse.bsky.social.

A moment from a rerun of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (during which Regis mispronounced a key name 🙄):
A contestant on an old episode of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is depicted above a question with four possible answers. Ziggy Stardust is a former persona of which of the following performers? A: Paul Stanley. B: lggy Pop. C: David Bowie. D: Marilyn Manson.
October 23, 2025 at 3:57 PM
wenz.bsky.social
Your own personal set of living architectural grotesques! 😁

Also, I'm reminded of this:
A gecko doing a poor job of hiding in a hotel in Cairns, Australia. It's on the ceiling atop an Exit sign, but its brownish-green tail and its hind toes are sticking out.
October 20, 2025 at 4:08 AM
wenz.bsky.social
Huh. Mine's on a piece of cardboard from a case of cat food.
The four kings from a deck of cards are mounted on a piece of cardboard. The kings from black suits are crossed out in red marker, and the kings from red suits are crossed out in black. They appear above a miniature American flag.
October 20, 2025 at 2:22 AM
wenz.bsky.social
I have another obligation today that I temporarily ducked out of. Just marched, largely by myself, for a whole nine blocks 😁; now headed back to chorus rehearsal.

#NoKings
The four kings from a deck of cards are mounted on a piece of cardboard. The kings from black suits are crossed out in red marker, and the kings from red suits are crossed out in black. They appear above a miniature American flag.
October 18, 2025 at 4:53 PM
wenz.bsky.social
Hoping to give my June #NoKings sign at least a brief outing today, and maybe to add a little something to the back.
The four kings from a deck of cards are mounted on a piece of cardboard. The kings from black suits are crossed out in red marker, and the kings from red suits are crossed out in black. They appear above a miniature American flag.
October 18, 2025 at 4:16 AM
wenz.bsky.social
My Abner has superb whiskers ... but none of them do a loop de loop.
A long-haired cat with cream- and latte-colored fur, a gray mask and ear rims, and crazy-long whiskers looks toward the camera. He has pale blue-green eyes, a tiny white blaze above his nose, and black nose leather. A bit of one tufty white mitt is visible.
October 17, 2025 at 4:41 PM
wenz.bsky.social
Attic figs, continued:

"In the 5th century B.C., Xerxes boasted that he would 'go to Attica and eat the figs' — i.e., conquer Greece. Try as he might, he never got there. Things much coveted but not attained are attic figs."

And so I named Figs in honor of an unrequited love.

2/3
"Figtail": The striped tail of a brown tabby cat is sticking out from under a rumpled olive-green blanket.
October 12, 2025 at 3:35 AM
wenz.bsky.social
My dad's horrible wordplay gave me the name for my tabby. When I told him that I was acquiring a former bodega cat, he started free-associating: "Pickles! New Delhi! Delilah!"

"Delilah," of course, doesn't evoke "deli" when spoken—but I thought that the more discreet visual nod was funny.
Delilah, a gray tabby cat (or a blue tabby cat, if you wish), is curled up asleep on my lap. In addition to the traditional "M" on her forehead, her silvery nose is visible, as are her whiskers, the white toes of one front paw, and the white sock of one back leg.
October 11, 2025 at 3:05 PM
wenz.bsky.social
In fairness, the ears do kinda scream Oriental Shorthair cat.

*But* the head shape is wrong — so I think that the Frenchie/Chihuahua cheerleaders are in the right.
A photo of a white Oriental Shorthair cat, with huge ears placed at an angle to its head, and a triangular or wedge-shaped face. It has brown face markings, bright blue eyes, and pink nose leather, and it's looking straight ahead at the camera. Photo credit: Lena Rogala / Eyeem / Getty.
October 1, 2025 at 3:34 AM
wenz.bsky.social
Attn.: Suzie, c/o @suzieqandmum.bsky.social:

I just saw a TV commercial for MSC Cruises, and I am here to tell you: Don't let Mum take you on one!
A photo from MSC Cruises features a ginormous fake open-mouthed shark with a bunch of teeth. The accompanying text gives the following pretend definition: sharkitecture. shahr-ki-tek-cher, noun. The architectural art of making you scream on an 11-story thrill ride called Jaw Drop, because nothing says holiday like a shark-sized adrenaline rush.
September 29, 2025 at 11:39 PM
wenz.bsky.social
Also, you may have another oddball potato in The Herd.

😆 😱

(Potato pancakes?)
A still from the start of the video, in which James Earl Jones is shaking his head. The blurring makes him look kinda scary. Like some largely faceless, two-legged alien life form. Perhaps a lumpy gray-brown potato. With eyes.
September 25, 2025 at 7:06 PM
wenz.bsky.social
@kayleerowena.com

Pretty sure I recognize the Green-Wood Cemetery mausoleum where you did the watercolor a few weeks ago. Nicely done!

I didn't meet your skunk there, but I met a friend or a relative:
A cute skunk in the grass, seen from behind and from a sorta safe distance, with its face in right profile.
September 16, 2025 at 2:04 AM
wenz.bsky.social
@theherdhouse.bsky.social
@isamiscreant.bsky.social

More fun with languages in Bluesky:

I opened a reply to someone new to me and immediately saw the following. The message disappeared as soon as I started typing (actual words this time!)

It happened again as the exchange continued.

😵‍💫
A Bluesky invitation to "Write your reply"; there's nothing typed into the reply box. However, below is a question: "Are you writing in Amharic?"
September 14, 2025 at 1:15 AM
wenz.bsky.social
Impressive creature and image!

I felt kinda the same way about approaching this cute critter in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, but for entirely different reasons:
A cute skunk in the grass, seen from behind, with its face in right profile.
September 13, 2025 at 8:47 PM
wenz.bsky.social
A cute skunk in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, seen in right profile, from behind, and from a safe distance.
September 2, 2025 at 2:39 PM
wenz.bsky.social
🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌
A bunch of chef's kiss/perfection/"that's Italian" emojis in a Bluesky reply. Adding the 20th emoji generated the question, "Are you writing in Korean?"
August 31, 2025 at 6:07 PM
wenz.bsky.social
I hope to get back to Australia sometime. There's at least one bat-care facility that takes volunteers. ...

Here are a couple of photos from the garden, if I may offer pix in return:
Three grey-headed flying foxes — fruit bats — hang upside-down by one foot from bare tree branches. They're wrapped up snugly in their black wings, with small patches of reddish fur showing. They look rather like slightly bulgy oval Christmas tree ornaments. There are some green leaves on branches below the bats; the sky above is blue, with some shapeless, hazy white clouds. At the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney in Australia, September 2008. The same shot of the same three bats, but the topmost bat has started to open its wings, which are bent outward at its sides, with the thumbs visible. More of its red back and ruff are also visible, and its black ears.
August 31, 2025 at 5:02 AM
wenz.bsky.social
Accessorizing gray-and-white* cats' mitts.

*Or blue-and-white, if you prefer.

Short-haired Delilah toes and long-haired Abner toes.

#Caturday
#Cats
#CatsOfBluesky
A close-up of the front legs of a tabby cat, who is standing facing the camera. Her lower chest is white, her legs are gray and stripey, and her toes are white, in a scalloped pattern. The front legs of a cat, who is lying on a wooden floor, are poking out from under a floral-patterned futon. His legs are gray; his tufty mitts are white.
August 30, 2025 at 8:15 PM
wenz.bsky.social
?!
A screenshot of the two posts above — The Herd House sending love from 10 dogs, then my reply with one waving-hand emoji for each of the 10 dogs — followed by a question from Bluesky, which asks, "Are you writing in Korean?"
August 29, 2025 at 8:18 PM
wenz.bsky.social
RAWR and kisses!

@theherdhouse.bsky.social
Here's a dinosaur for kids to ride when fed with change — at least, I've decided that it's a dinosaur — on a city street. It's standing on its hind legs and wearing a saddle. Its body is green, its legs and saddle are purple, and it's daubed with splashes of paint in various colors that add considerable panache.
August 25, 2025 at 4:14 PM