Catherine Bannister
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cbannister.bsky.social
Catherine Bannister
@cbannister.bsky.social
2K followers 1.3K following 5.7K posts
Contumacious and curious, an avid follower of useless information.

To learn more about the Smithsonian Campaign for Our Shared Future, go here: oa.si.edu

To help #EndALZ please visit alz.org

To protect our beautiful National Parks, npca.org
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cbannister.bsky.social
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekFForFramed
My surname spelled out in photographs of objects that form each letter arranged in the order of ‘BANNISTER’ and framed in a long rectangle.
February 12, 2026 at 2:44 PM
cbannister.bsky.social
A friend gave me her matinee tix today. So good. (There is a “Zoom” call that, sadly, really hits home 😊)
Playbill for Eureka Day at TimeLine Theatre, Chicago
February 11, 2026 at 9:15 PM
cbannister.bsky.social
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekFForFramed
The three abstract oil paintings that I bought from my artist friend (Tiffany Stronsky) last Fall. There is one medium sized and two smaller, all framed in white wood, laid on a wooden table. They are all colorful blasts of colors: blues, greens, oranges, burgundies and even pinks.
February 11, 2026 at 3:04 PM
cbannister.bsky.social
Chicago friends: from where do you source your paczki?
My Polish friend swears Roeser’s is the best on the northside.
I need a plan for next week!
February 11, 2026 at 4:13 AM
cbannister.bsky.social
I would really like to see ice skating. “We don’t know” is not breaking news.
February 11, 2026 at 3:00 AM
cbannister.bsky.social
Mmmm wish I’d seen this recipe last week when it was so frigid here. But it’s Chicago so I’m sure we’ll have another polar vortex before Cubs home opener.
This French-Canadian Classic Blends Wine, Whiskey, and Maple Into the Coziest Sip
The Caribou is a French-Canadian mulled wine combining red wine, rye whiskey, maple syrup, and orange juice. Serve this easy-to-make hot cocktail for the ultimate winter warmer.
www.foodandwine.com
February 11, 2026 at 1:37 AM
cbannister.bsky.social
When I visited NASA in Houston last year I thought the Texans were just pronouncing “Gemini” with their drawls but then the contestant on Jeopardy! today also said “jem-a-nee”, so I had to look it up. TIL that’s the official NASA way since 1965!
NY Times article from 1965: NASA Clears Up Way Gemini Is Pronounced; HOUSTON, April 2 (UPI) - Regardless of what the dictionary says, the Federal space agency’s official pronunciation for its new man-in-space program, Gemini, is “Jiminy,” as in “Jiminy Cricket.” That was the word today from the public affairs office of the agency’s Manned Spacecraft Center near Houston. A spokesman said the agency’s names committee in Washington was the oficial source. Ever since the program started, there has been a running debate whether the pronunciation should be “Jeh-mih-nee” or “Jeh-mih-nigh.” The American College Dictionary expresses a preference for the latter. It’s either way in Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Gemini is the zodiacal constellation known as The Twins, after its two largest stars, Castor and Pollux.
February 11, 2026 at 12:36 AM
cbannister.bsky.social
Looks like I need a visit to the Art Institute stat!
chicago.suntimes.com Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 2d
In what will likely be a major draw for the museum, the Art Institute of Chicago on Tuesday installed its first-ever Norman Rockwell painting, and it depicts the Chicago Cubs.
The Art Institute of Chicago just hung its first Norman Rockwell, and it depicts the Cubs
chicago.suntimes.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:49 PM
cbannister.bsky.social
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekFForFramed
A framed vintage poster on an easel in the Díez-Mérito bodega in Jerez, Spain shows a woman with thick dark hair holding a bottle of cognac and a corkscrew (?) and tilting her head back toward a crowd of tuxedoed men clamboring around her. The poster reads, in art nouveau lettering, “Jerez, Cognac, Oxigenado, Diez Hermanos, Jerez de la Frontera”. Behind the easel and poster you can see black painted barrels beneath a stone archway.
February 10, 2026 at 2:37 PM
cbannister.bsky.social
The practice of writing dates and names on the back of physical photos has been so helpful as I’ve been scanning decades of albums. I‘m not going to have a clue who some people are in the shots I’ve taken digitally!
February 9, 2026 at 6:49 PM
cbannister.bsky.social
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekFForFramed
Yoshitomo Nara’s “Missing in Action” (1999) hanging at the Guggenheim-Bilbao in 2023 shows a little girl against a blank creamy background with a dark brown bob, oversized eyes that slant upward making her look like she’s frowning angrily, two dots for nostrils and a straight red line as a mouth. She’s wearing a short sleeved red dress with a white peter pan collar and the dress circles out from her hips. Only her left arm is visible above her bare legs.
February 9, 2026 at 2:50 PM
cbannister.bsky.social
NOW IT IS TIME FOR BASEBALL!!
February 9, 2026 at 3:30 AM
cbannister.bsky.social
Congrats, Seattle!
February 9, 2026 at 3:25 AM
cbannister.bsky.social
Increíble
simifresh.bsky.social simi @simifresh.bsky.social · 3d
the bushes were people 😂
February 9, 2026 at 2:46 AM
cbannister.bsky.social
Todos necesitamos aprender español. Al menos un poco.
February 9, 2026 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by Catherine Bannister
taniel.bsky.social
what a shot
halftime show
February 9, 2026 at 1:38 AM
cbannister.bsky.social
This is utterly amazing. ❤️
February 9, 2026 at 1:31 AM
cbannister.bsky.social
This has got to be one of the most elaborate Halftime sets ever, right?
February 9, 2026 at 1:28 AM
cbannister.bsky.social
They just had the Italian gold medalist in speed skating on (with her adorable little boy) and Francesca Lollabrigida is perhaps the most perfect name for these games. 🇮🇹
February 9, 2026 at 12:32 AM
cbannister.bsky.social
OK I’ll be over here watching curling. I trust BlueSky to alert me when it’s time for Mr Bunny.
February 8, 2026 at 11:45 PM
cbannister.bsky.social
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekEForEponymous
The Catherine Palace (Tsarkoe Selo) in Pushkin, outside St Petersburg, Russia. The entire palace is massive; this photo shows only a small corner of the blue main building with four stories of white trimmed windows connecting to a yellow archway with another two floors of white trimmed windows. Looming behind the buildings are the gold gilded onion domes. The palace is named after Catherine the Great but was expanded into its current footprint by her daughter, Empress Elizabeth. The exteriors alone have over 100kg of gold decorating them. German troops stayed here during the WWII siege and dismantled much of the palace interiors - most have been restored.
February 8, 2026 at 3:18 PM
cbannister.bsky.social
Saw a preview of “Miss Julie” tonight at Court Theatre. Not my favorite, tbh. A slow, strange soap opera with unlikeable characters and stilted dialogue, oddly staged behind circular netting. At least it was short! 🥴
Program for “Miss Julie” by August Strindberg, translated by Harry G. Carlson, directed by Gabrielle Randle-Bent, Feb 6-Mar 8, 2026; Court Theatre, University of Chicago.
February 8, 2026 at 4:40 AM
cbannister.bsky.social
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekEForEponymous
An early 1970s dance class in the basement cafeteria of a Catholic grade school. Two rows of (I think all) little girls stand in various styles of clothing with their arms above their heads forming (mostly) circles. The little girl closest to the camera (me!) is all in black and is reaaaallly concentrating, Michael Jordon style with her tongue slightly out, on stretching herself into the perfect ballet pose. The “leotard” was named after the French acrobat, Jules Leotard.
February 7, 2026 at 2:53 PM
cbannister.bsky.social
I could’ve used one of those cool Italian silver puffer coats last week in Chicago’s polar vortex
February 7, 2026 at 2:04 AM
cbannister.bsky.social
For no particular reason… il duomo di Milano
The duomo in Milan lit at night the duomo in Milan in bright sunshine inside the duomo in Milan the roof of the duomo in Milan
February 7, 2026 at 2:01 AM