Valentina Sarno
@windruffle.bsky.social
Language teacher, TEFL certified. Building Kiwake - a phone-free language & culture space in Gallipoli. kiwake.substack.com
Starting up this song and the ensuing album full blast when you're feeling slightly icky or anxious is like standing in a fresh mountain waterfall when you're parched and dried out by the sun. Thank you forever #thecure
tidal.com/browse/track...
tidal.com/browse/track...
The Cure - Plainsong (Remastered)
Listen to Plainsong (Remastered) on TIDAL
tidal.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Starting up this song and the ensuing album full blast when you're feeling slightly icky or anxious is like standing in a fresh mountain waterfall when you're parched and dried out by the sun. Thank you forever #thecure
tidal.com/browse/track...
tidal.com/browse/track...
November 17, 2025 at 8:57 AM
My small but pretty November garden.
Dog in background.
Dog in background.
November 12, 2025 at 1:38 PM
My small but pretty November garden.
Dog in background.
Dog in background.
Just some of my flowers this morning: some tiny purple and a chocolate red rose.
November 12, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Just some of my flowers this morning: some tiny purple and a chocolate red rose.
Reposted by Valentina Sarno
everyone look ... somewhere!
📷Gerard Koopen
#streetphotography #street #photography #monochrome #blackandwhite #bnw #flickr flic.kr/p/2r5PwML
📷Gerard Koopen
#streetphotography #street #photography #monochrome #blackandwhite #bnw #flickr flic.kr/p/2r5PwML
November 10, 2025 at 5:21 AM
everyone look ... somewhere!
📷Gerard Koopen
#streetphotography #street #photography #monochrome #blackandwhite #bnw #flickr flic.kr/p/2r5PwML
📷Gerard Koopen
#streetphotography #street #photography #monochrome #blackandwhite #bnw #flickr flic.kr/p/2r5PwML
Listening to Tracy Chapman's "The Promise". God, such beautiful tunes, gives me shivers.
tidal.com/album/533196...
tidal.com/album/533196...
Tracy Chapman - Greatest Hits
Listen to Greatest Hits on TIDAL
tidal.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Listening to Tracy Chapman's "The Promise". God, such beautiful tunes, gives me shivers.
tidal.com/album/533196...
tidal.com/album/533196...
Reposted by Valentina Sarno
Wake up babe, new Tade Thompson story just dropped.
[And its an expansion of one of my favorite Tade stories]
[And its an expansion of one of my favorite Tade stories]
Hey, Kids, Stories!
Clarkesworld # 230.
Features my science fiction novella THE APOLOGISTS.
Also stories by @kashinggiwa.bsky.social and @izom-chisom.bsky.social and others!
Clarkesworld # 230.
Features my science fiction novella THE APOLOGISTS.
Also stories by @kashinggiwa.bsky.social and @izom-chisom.bsky.social and others!
Issue 230
Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine and Podcast.
clarkesworldmagazine.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:55 AM
Wake up babe, new Tade Thompson story just dropped.
[And its an expansion of one of my favorite Tade stories]
[And its an expansion of one of my favorite Tade stories]
I would love to live surrounded by more nature than people. Like I did in New Zealand. In the meantime I'll just have to settle with sun, sea, and looking at gorgeous flowers that bloom in November as though it were spring. And, of course, my life-savers, my dogs, my angels in furrs.
November 5, 2025 at 7:54 AM
I would love to live surrounded by more nature than people. Like I did in New Zealand. In the meantime I'll just have to settle with sun, sea, and looking at gorgeous flowers that bloom in November as though it were spring. And, of course, my life-savers, my dogs, my angels in furrs.
An obsession against waste
open.substack.com/pub/kiwake/p...
open.substack.com/pub/kiwake/p...
An obsession against waste
There are various parts of me that are part of whatever mental health issue ails me.
open.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 2:12 PM
An obsession against waste
open.substack.com/pub/kiwake/p...
open.substack.com/pub/kiwake/p...
Today in Mancaversa: dogs, sea, flowers in the morning.
October 23, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Today in Mancaversa: dogs, sea, flowers in the morning.
Yes!
Genres aren't real. They are mental projections we impose on stories to simplify the way talk about and sell them but stories come unshaped from deep within us and writers shouldn't feel constrained by or even respect genres at all. The story comes first.
Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat
October 14, 2025 at 5:43 AM
Yes!
Reposted by Valentina Sarno
New prints available up in my shop! You can see the newest additions here: jocelynandersonphotographyshop.com/collections/... . The Great Blue Heron moon prints are now available.
Calendars are also available at: www.createphotocalendars.com/Store/Jocely...
Calendars are also available at: www.createphotocalendars.com/Store/Jocely...
October 12, 2025 at 9:12 PM
New prints available up in my shop! You can see the newest additions here: jocelynandersonphotographyshop.com/collections/... . The Great Blue Heron moon prints are now available.
Calendars are also available at: www.createphotocalendars.com/Store/Jocely...
Calendars are also available at: www.createphotocalendars.com/Store/Jocely...
Reposted by Valentina Sarno
A White-breasted Nuthatch doing a floof at me because I am taking photos and not offering peanuts. (I did offer peanuts after this photo.)
October 12, 2025 at 11:32 PM
A White-breasted Nuthatch doing a floof at me because I am taking photos and not offering peanuts. (I did offer peanuts after this photo.)
My comfort zone among the clinks
kiwake.substack.com/p/a-comfort-...
kiwake.substack.com/p/a-comfort-...
A comfort zone among the clinks
I had recently decided not to engage in the harmful and terrifying realities of the world, because I know too little.
kiwake.substack.com
October 13, 2025 at 9:45 AM
My comfort zone among the clinks
kiwake.substack.com/p/a-comfort-...
kiwake.substack.com/p/a-comfort-...
Am I noticing stuff that everyone else has already noticed? I have found a new item in Gmail's options like "Report Spam", "Report Phishing", and now "Report Illegal Content". Why does it feel creepy?
October 7, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Am I noticing stuff that everyone else has already noticed? I have found a new item in Gmail's options like "Report Spam", "Report Phishing", and now "Report Illegal Content". Why does it feel creepy?
Reposted by Valentina Sarno
Today’s rather grim proof note:
P415 line 24: delete “people”
Sorry, people.
P415 line 24: delete “people”
Sorry, people.
October 6, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Today’s rather grim proof note:
P415 line 24: delete “people”
Sorry, people.
P415 line 24: delete “people”
Sorry, people.
Of course, it's not the sea cucumber's fault he's not as pretty as my peachy rose. He's still beautiful because he's alive and from the sea. Of course, now he's probably dead, poor thing. So it would be more accurate to say he WAS alive.
October 6, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Of course, it's not the sea cucumber's fault he's not as pretty as my peachy rose. He's still beautiful because he's alive and from the sea. Of course, now he's probably dead, poor thing. So it would be more accurate to say he WAS alive.
A pretty thing, and an ugly thing, both pink, natural and make me happy. Instead of opening completely, my rose🌹 just retains that cute peachy pink 🍑 coloured ball. The sea cucumber 🥒 is pink and blobby and caused by the humongous waves 🌊 from the other day, so it brings back that memory.
October 6, 2025 at 11:31 AM
A pretty thing, and an ugly thing, both pink, natural and make me happy. Instead of opening completely, my rose🌹 just retains that cute peachy pink 🍑 coloured ball. The sea cucumber 🥒 is pink and blobby and caused by the humongous waves 🌊 from the other day, so it brings back that memory.
What is the best thing to finally shut out all the noise from the sewer works going on right next to my house? FINNISH METAL! <3
October 6, 2025 at 8:33 AM
What is the best thing to finally shut out all the noise from the sewer works going on right next to my house? FINNISH METAL! <3
Little Maya has finally stayed only home and is only going out on the leash for a couple of weeks now. Nikita is her big, beautiful, protective sister. They are adorable on walks together. Maya now looks clean and smells good, too! She is occasionally even playful (It only took about a year 😅)
October 1, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Little Maya has finally stayed only home and is only going out on the leash for a couple of weeks now. Nikita is her big, beautiful, protective sister. They are adorable on walks together. Maya now looks clean and smells good, too! She is occasionally even playful (It only took about a year 😅)
"It's ok to be in a tree": about... me! And me preferring to watch the world through a tree. open.substack.com/pub/valentin...
It's ok to be in a tree
I have thought so much while I was out of the country, for two months, living in my son and daughter in law’s apartment on the other side of the world.
open.substack.com
September 30, 2025 at 9:08 PM
"It's ok to be in a tree": about... me! And me preferring to watch the world through a tree. open.substack.com/pub/valentin...
September 24, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Reposted by Valentina Sarno
A Magnolia Warbler in a Winterberry bush. This migrating warbler wasn't interested in the berries, but the leaves caught this bird's attention. This warbler took a quick bath by getting his/her feathers wet from the wet leaves (too quick for me to get any photos but it was fun to watch.)
September 7, 2025 at 11:43 PM
A Magnolia Warbler in a Winterberry bush. This migrating warbler wasn't interested in the berries, but the leaves caught this bird's attention. This warbler took a quick bath by getting his/her feathers wet from the wet leaves (too quick for me to get any photos but it was fun to watch.)