Smiling Cucumber
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smilingcucumber.bsky.social
Smiling Cucumber
@smilingcucumber.bsky.social
An onion can make people cry but there has never been a vegetable invented to make them laugh. ― Will Rogers
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Mudita, baby.
Yup. 😱
January 14, 2026 at 9:48 AM
This. is. just. brilliant. Listen! 🎼🎹
Take some well-deserved time off with Glenn Gould & his seatless old chair performing - & humming along to - JS Bach's Goldberg Variations in 1981. This performance lasted 13 minutes longer than his 1955 recording, & IMO those 13 minutes make all the difference.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klqj...
J.S Bach - Goldberg Variations - Glenn Gould (Fixed Unsynced Audio)
YouTube video by TF2 Starlight
www.youtube.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Smiling Cucumber
If you need a deep breath, a mental reset, a reminder of why you CARE and why you act, this is a very short read meant to give just that.

(I’m there because I take no money and it’s free. The other places aren’t. And @hcrichardson.bsky.social is there.)
Captured my thoughts about the current [waves hands] and am sharing essay style. Hopeful ending, because have you met me?

open.substack.com/pub/authorla...
I Cannot Change the World.
But I can change this.
open.substack.com
January 12, 2026 at 3:01 AM
Reposted by Smiling Cucumber
January 8, 2026 at 10:17 PM
Applauding these feisty "redcoats" who get the gravity of our republic remaining indivisible with liberty and justice FOR ALL.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8saU...
"Battle Hymn of the Empire" - Marsh Family adaptation of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" about Trump
YouTube video by Marsh Family
www.youtube.com
January 11, 2026 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by Smiling Cucumber
More than 5,000 people here in Powderhorn Park protesting ICE’s occupation of Minneapolis.

#FuckICE #iceout #mpls #FuckTrump
January 10, 2026 at 7:58 PM
Reposted by Smiling Cucumber
Common Sense, published 250 years ago today.
January 10, 2026 at 9:09 PM
2026 is hard and things are TRULY terrible but Newfoundlanders were so kind ... again! 💗🤝💗

www.ctvnews.ca/canada/newfo...
Gander, N.L., residents drop everything to drive stranded air passengers to hotels
Residents of Gander, N.L., formed an impromptu volunteer shuttle service for about 200 passengers aboard two planes forced to land unexpectedly at the town’s airport on Wednesday night.
www.ctvnews.ca
January 10, 2026 at 9:54 PM
🔆..."a huge crack in the dam in the House"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mon0... (13 min)
​​Something Interesting Happened Today | Explainer
YouTube video by Heather Cox Richardson
www.youtube.com
January 9, 2026 at 10:26 AM
Reposted by Smiling Cucumber
I keep coming back to all the little pockets of awesome in this. That this woman might have saved my life. Her little bounce. The snapping fingers. The raised fist. The guy in the light suit smiling at her joy.
Oh my gosh you guys! The House just passed my bill to extend the health care tax credits for three more years!
January 9, 2026 at 2:54 AM
Always wanted to find even one cardinal feather. 🐦
I just stumbled upon featherbase, a database of feather pictures from a bunch of bird species.🪶

So pretty!

www.featherbase.info/zh/home
January 7, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Reposted by Smiling Cucumber
The east holds the sun,
The day blushes and begins,
Snow gently falling.

#haikuchallenge east
January 4, 2026 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Smiling Cucumber
Mice scurry, spooked by wings embarking on midnight forage. Beyond the trees the coyotes yip and banter and small things stay quiet. The moon plays with shadows across the snow, trees becoming spectral, long fingers stretching while stars move through their stories.

#vssdaily embark
#vss365 spooked
January 6, 2026 at 1:23 PM
Super cool info from Ethan. 🦊🧭
How do foxes use “magnetoreception” to help them hunt?

Studies of red foxes “mousing” show a bias toward mousing in the direction of magnetic north — and that when foxes pounce toward north, they are ~ 4 times more successful! And other stuff that I don’t have enough characters for!!

#wildlife
January 7, 2026 at 7:55 PM
Jamie Walton is such a breath of fresh air from England's North East coast — just listen to him speak. 👨‍🌾 www.youtube.com/shorts/ALMLI...
January 4, 2026 at 8:48 AM
"It is time for the President to focus on the crises facing this country, and end the military adventurism abroad. Trump is failing in his job to run the United States of America. He should not be trying to "run" Venezuela."
Trump campaigned on an “America First” platform. Now he wants to "run" Venezuela?

60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Health care is collapsing. Housing is unaffordable.

Trump should address these major crises at home and end his illegal military adventurism abroad.
January 3, 2026 at 10:54 PM
Reposted by Smiling Cucumber
I’m at Times Square, where an emergency “No War On Venezuela” protest just took to the street. Easily a thousand people here in real-feel 20°F weather.

“No more coups, no more wars, Venezuela’s not yours!”

“No boots on the ground no bombs in the air, U.S. out of everywhere!”
January 3, 2026 at 8:02 PM
How about we focus on our brilliant full Wolf Moon today? 🌕😍
It was at perigree on January 1st, but today our planet is at perihelion and as close to the Sun as we will be in all of 2026! ☀️😎
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap26010...
January 3, 2026 at 12:16 PM
Reposted by Smiling Cucumber
Our Solar System is orbiting the center of our Galaxy at about 220 km/s so in 2025 we collectively traveled something like 7 billion kilometers across the Milky Way. Once in a while, when you have a moment, it’s worthwhile to take a look around, see where you are, and appreciate how far you’ve come.
January 1, 2026 at 5:27 AM
This was absolutely one of my favorite parts of this Inauguration. (Plus one hundred other parts too.) Just a brilliant afternoon in all aspects.
Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams is delivering a hell of an inspiring speech.

"They demonize us because our mosaic challenges their ideology.” Preach. #nyc #mamdani
January 1, 2026 at 8:14 PM
The live broadcast of Montrealer Yannick Nézet-Séguin (50) conducting the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert was *chef's kiss* today. He was smiling, I was smiling, the orchestra and the audience were smiling....😘 Fabelhaft!

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/a...
January 1, 2026 at 5:14 PM
We made it to the end of 2025. Things are terrible, but we can take ONE deep breath tonight. 🐾 I'm so grateful to be here with you Blueskis! Thanks for everything.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFUw...
#corgi #petpet #lovepet #cutespets #cute #funny
YouTube video by Love Pet
www.youtube.com
December 31, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Reposted by Smiling Cucumber
I put on my summer shoes, soles of my feet now in sand. Grains that gathered on hot walks and were never shaken out. I sit and close my eyes, wriggle my toes. Outside the winter storm rages but I am hearing the ocean, I am warm in recollections, sand now on the carpet.

#vssdaily sit
#vss365 sole
December 29, 2025 at 1:09 PM