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betsy0316.bsky.social
Betsy
@betsy0316.bsky.social
1.6K followers 740 following 8.2K posts
The Queen of California

Vintage from the 20th Century

Used to be studio_gal at the old place

Joni Mitchell, Cats, Gardening, Running, Traveling, Theater, Opera, Photography (amateur), Humanity. Sometimes in that order.
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betsy0316.bsky.social
A weird thing about getting old (nearly 70!) is that you come across something that you really, really love but you don't actually WANT it. I neither want nor need another 'decorative blanket', I have 2 beauties that I use daily & sev'l in a closet upstairs.

But still. I love dis. #Yesh
a decorative throw blanket features a title panel image of Mooch the cat, inspired by Théophile Steinlen's iconic 1896 poster advertisement for the Parisian cabaret "Le Chat Noir"
November 22, 2025 at 3:33 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
well at least we still have #Caturday
a perfectly beautiful tabby cat sits in the classic "tail wrapped around front feet" pose. He is sitting on the same chair as the photographer. His eyes are open just enough to make sure that he is being observed. His pure white whiskers pour out like spider silk against the backdrop of the living room. Cat lovers will not be surprised to learn that it is near His Lordship's dinner time.
November 22, 2025 at 3:15 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
Clark, aka Clarky Clark, Alarm Clark, & Clarkitty, in his salad days

tho we lost him this year, he is forever in our hearts.

one thing I miss is how his sleek abundant fur had the clinging texture of a spider silk, and whenever I vaccumed the stairs I had to peel it off the roller every few steps.
a young grey and white cat, with faint tabby markings from his mother and the soft luxurious long hair of what our vet said might be a Himalayan father, rests on the arm of a blue velvet chair. His louche tail loops slightly over to one side, and his front legs & paws are stretched out quite comfortably in front of him He gazes at the camera with quiet green eyes that did all his speaking for him.
November 18, 2025 at 3:00 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
3.25 mile walk thru my neighborhood today. A little bit of shvitz in the air b/c the low-hanging clouds were still lurking in the hills. No real commotion when I walked past the Barkalicious house.

766-foot elevation gain (just had to say it didn't I).
grey clouds swoop across the sky like a blanket over the cozy hills studded with neighborhoods in the expansive view of an early fall mid-morning in Northern California.
November 17, 2025 at 5:27 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
One of my favorite people in the world, I don't know his name, but he was a guard working at the Guggenheim during a particularly challenging (for me) exhibit. I asked him "but what does it *mean*?" and he absolutely lifted the veil for me. I was so excited. He said it was OK to take his photo.
in the green light of a Guggenheim exhibit on how art can be used to hide ourselves or make ourselves unknowable as well as express who we are - sometimes at the same time - an utterly charming warm and expressive man in a guard's uniform smiles in a way that invites you in and stay a while.
November 13, 2025 at 2:32 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
you love to see it
an orange rose blooms against green leaves, rising up out of the dark soil and a beautiful seriously blue pot.
November 13, 2025 at 1:46 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
also, a handful of the ranunculus are gearing up for the flowering season! Always happy to welcome these beauties back, year after year. #garden #love
#gardening #joy
🌱
clumps of spriggy kind of parsley-lookin' green leaves emerge from the soil after a long summer slumber. They will be joined soon by another dozen or more from fellow corms, and before you know it this space will be WILD with vibrant pink blooms on 2-foot long stems.
November 12, 2025 at 6:16 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
Good morning! Happy to report from the #Garden that *4* snap pea seeds have germinated & begun to sprout! In a field of some 30+ seeds it's what we call "a good start"! I get very excited when my seeds get crackin'!
#gardening #joy
🌱
a tiny bit of spring green is pushing its way up & out of the soil. It looks like a fragile little periscope from a seed submarine. The soil around it looks busy with all sorts of bits & particles of organic matter, but soon this little guy will be bigger than anything else in the garden bed.
November 12, 2025 at 6:10 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
here's the aftermath of a huge calving about 20 minutes after
freshly calved icebergs bob in the brown-roiled bay waters and there is bright blue where the compacted ice is suddenly exposed to sunlight the new icebergs themselves are an intense blue, the water is choked with ice as the glacier gives up some of its girth
November 11, 2025 at 4:37 AM
betsy0316.bsky.social
a perfect evocation of our experience in the #HighArctic of the Svalbard Archipelago
July 2025
this photo is definitely worth a thousand words
blue skies barely visible over jagged mountain ridges; rising midfield are stern bare slopes, interrupted halfway down by the jumbled crammed claustraphobic shards of a blue-white glacier dominating the ice-slushed water line. A Zodiac with 7 travelers & 1 guide is blurrily reflected in the Arctic bay.
November 11, 2025 at 4:04 AM
betsy0316.bsky.social
another view of the same section of this glacier
#HighArctic
July 2025

click to expand if necessary
sweeping sloping staggering broken packed cracked clustered blue grey white brown stacks of ice grind their way toward the sea
November 11, 2025 at 3:45 AM
betsy0316.bsky.social
massive #HighArctic glacier

layers and colors

July 2025
a close-up of a glacier reveals nooks, crannies, cracks, striations, pulses of blues, whites, greys and browns, stripes thru the colors, evidence of calving, and just overall immensity that dwarfs the chunks of ice that are floating in the still waters at the foot of the glacier
November 11, 2025 at 3:42 AM
betsy0316.bsky.social
I have no words for this scene except "Arctic WOW"

pls click to expand
rocky mountains dwarf an expedition member in the High Arctic on a summer day (July 2025). The blue-coated human being looks to be the size of a toy soldier. She is standing on a mossy, rock-strewn rise which looks out over snow- and ice-streaked mountains.
November 11, 2025 at 2:50 AM
betsy0316.bsky.social
this is the calendar entry up with which I can put
the day, 11, floats at the top of a blank calendar square. There are no entries.
November 11, 2025 at 2:35 AM
betsy0316.bsky.social
BCE

Big Cat Energy

Little Jimmy
A tabby cat lies atop a play-mat. In his front paws, a toy is both sport and trophy.
November 11, 2025 at 12:38 AM
betsy0316.bsky.social
#garden report contd: seedlings in Tier 1 doing reasonably well. Transplanted Brussels sprouts & broccoli in Oct, but I don't remember which seedlings are which now - so we'll have to wait to see what literally develops!
Romaine lettuce: at least 1 seedling thriving. Fingers X'd!

#gardening #joy
🌱
a lovely young seedling, my guess is broccoli, holds its own in the fall garden. Its two biggest leaves promise future strength; smaller leaves below give one hope. possibly a Brussels sprout seedling, this fine green fella is coming up out of a garden bed currently littered with autumn leaves (California live oak, cherry, & apple trees). almost shouting out loud, the spring green romaine lettuce seedling has set in pretty firmly and is unwrapping a 4th leaf that is still close to the mother stem.
November 10, 2025 at 9:20 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
and then there were three
#polarbears
#HighArctic

July 2025

#travel #photography
#nature #photo
three polar bears sniff aroun the same break in the pack ice, possibly discerning whether there was anything snackable under that cold Arctic water
November 9, 2025 at 4:57 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
a most interesting view from the breakfast table

#HighArctic
#polarbears

July 2025

#nature #photo
#photography
#coffee time
#travel #photo
a window table aboard Aurora's ship "Sylvia Earle" is dressed for breakfast - napkin, flatware, coffee cups. Thru the window is a patchwork of pack ice. On that pack ice, two polar bears are just wandering around (the whale carcass they've been investigating is not in view here). The sky above is a flat grey.
November 9, 2025 at 3:37 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
oh hai!

Big Polar Doggo investigating ship
(do not stare into the abyss)

#photo taken with a zoom lens from a respectable distance

#HighArctic
#polarbear
#travel #photos
#nature #photo
#photography
A polar bear literally walking on thin ice lifts its head to investigate a UFO in its territory. The attention is brief. Finding nothing worthy of further notice, the bear continued on its way to a whale carcass suspended in the ice floes in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.
November 9, 2025 at 3:17 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
big doggos

#polarbears
#HighArctic

July 2025

#travel #photo
#photography
#nature #photo
a polar bear on her back, head and neck stretched out, front paws reaching up into the air, back legs splayed out in confident comfort on an ice floe. Toe beans alert! Also, claws. the polar bear is on her side now, rolling around for a good back scritch on the pack ice. One front paw is stretched out, the other crooked up near her neck. One back leg is visible, also stretched out. satisfied by her roll on the pack ice, the polar bear rests on her othr side. One front paw is draped ove the other. Her face is clear in this photo: dark muzzle, black nose & lips, black eye, one dark ear. She is massive, and still just a cute doggo.
November 9, 2025 at 3:13 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
More #PolarBear #blep

these guys are just so cuddly cute!

#HighArctic pack ice polar bear blep

July 2025

#travel #photo
#photography
#nature #photo
a polar bear, standing at the edge of an ice floe with dark quiet Arctic Ocean partially reflecting his image, turns to one side with one paw suspended over the ice and gives a cartoonish blep of his long dark tongue
November 9, 2025 at 3:00 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
just big doggos
a polar bear has rolled onto its back on an ice floe. its paws are up in the air, its back legs stretched out straight. It's totally boopable black nose and little black eyes face just a little off-center of the camera the polar bear on the ice floe has rolled onto one side. its head is down on the ice. one back leg waves in the air, one front paw is bent at a totally cute 90-degree angle. The bear is on a smooth section of ice; just behind it, the ice is thinner as it edges toward the stern grey waters of the Arctic Ocean.
November 9, 2025 at 2:05 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
who knew that polar bears are just big doggos?

#HighArctic
#IcePack
July 2025

#travel #photos
#photography
#nature #photos
a pretty hefty sized polar bear sprawls out on the ice, looking for all the world like a dog dozing by the fire. I'm told polar bears sprawl out on the ice like this to cool down.
November 9, 2025 at 1:59 PM
betsy0316.bsky.social
serious polar bear blep you guys
I am not making this up

#HighArctic pack ice polar bear blep

July 2025

#travel #photo
#photography
#nature #photo
a polar bear strides along a section of pack ice. its big tongue is just sticking straight out, under its black nose, just begging someone to reach out and grab it
November 9, 2025 at 3:57 AM
betsy0316.bsky.social
powerful cutie pie
#PolarBear
#HighArctic
#NotKiddingAround
photo taken from a respectful distance

#travel #photo
#nature #photo
#photography
a powerful polar bear manages to look just as cute as punch as it strides across a piece of pack ice
November 9, 2025 at 3:30 AM