Autumnal Chris 🍁♿️🍂
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chrislike.bsky.social
Autumnal Chris 🍁♿️🍂
@chrislike.bsky.social
120 followers 150 following 290 posts
Recovering humanist, software developer, stroke survivor. Delighted in detail. I take pictures in Western Mass. (he/him)
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chrislike.bsky.social
@deadder.bsky.social did it better
Political Cartoon by Michael deAdder shows a white woman with a ponytail, holding a plastic bag with “Myopic Books” written on it. She is staring into the Cloudgate sculpture, at herself reflected with a scared expression along with two rows of masked ice agents who flank her on either side. Behind “The Bean” is a tableau of highrise buildings. One of them has a sign on top that reads “CHICAGO.”
November 10, 2025 at 4:57 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
Yesss. I’ve got this one in a Conklin Nozac 1.5mm stub and it shows off so beautifully!
Birmingham Pen Company ink box, which is tall, cream colored, and textured like cold press watercolor paper featuring Voltaic Arc fountain pen ink. Along the top of the box is a multicolored ink swatch that moves from blue to purple to maroon in its sheen.
October 30, 2025 at 7:20 AM
chrislike.bsky.social
This Trader Joe’s receipt from 2015 makes me want to cry.
A receipt from Trader Joe’s sits on top of a book. It was used as a bookmark in Mikhail Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita. This means the last time I read this book was in 2015 and I may not as yet have finished it. The prices are the important part of this post. 39 items for $40.81. And they’d miscounted my bananas by 20, which I made sure I had refunded. That explains why the quantity 22 next to the bananas is circled in black ballpoint pen. Receipt text: CEREAL TJ'S JOE'S O'S 1.99 SALTED YELLOW TORT. CHIPS. 1.99 R-SALAD ORGANIC HERB 5 OZ. 2.69 ND ALMOND TU'S UNSWEETENED VAN 3.58 2FLOZ @ 1.79/FLOZ CHUNKY SALTED PEANUT BUTTER PKG 2.49 BLUE CRUMBLED TJ 3.49 A-GARLIC 2/BAG (3 OZ) 1.29 SWEET & SPICY PECANS 3.99 TJ'S PESTO TORTELLONE 2.49 SAUCE SAMBAL MATAH.. 2.99 SPICE GARLIC ONION SALT PARSLE 1.99 A-AVOCADOS EACH HASS 40 CT 1.39 GROCERY NON TAXABLE 2 @ -0.49 0.98 VEG SAUSAGE-LESS ITALIAN SAUSA 3.49 OLIVES KALAMATA & CHALKIDIKI D 1.79 BANANAS 22EA 0.19/EA 4.18 TRADER JOE'S 375 Russell Street Hadley MA 01035 Store #512 - (413) 587-3260 OPEN 8:00AM TO 9:00PM DAILY SUBTOTAL $40.81 TOTAL $40.81 DEBIT $40.81 ************6195 PURCHASE SWIPED AUTH# 662639 INVOICE #:6459,512,,0, 08-02-2015 08:37PM REFERENCE #: 324902 ITEMS 39 D, Ale 08-02-2015 08:37PM 0512 03 1994 6459 THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING AT TRADER JOE'S www.traderjoes.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:20 AM
chrislike.bsky.social
Bill Watterson has been my guiding star throughout my life. Just ask my mother.
Calvin and Hobbes 4 panel comic. 1: Calvin is running 2. Authority figure (off screen): “Calvin. Stop running through the house!” Calvin skids to a stop. 3. Calvin looks to camera. “The law is on the books, but it would take all their resources to enforce it.” 4. Authority figure: “CALVIN!” Calvin runs off the right side of the panel.
September 16, 2025 at 11:44 AM
chrislike.bsky.social
New bag of oatmeal fit perfectly in its container minus 1/2 cup for breakfast. 🥰
A transparent rectangular OXO food container with a white push top sits full of rolled oats on a white countertop. In front of it is an empty clear pouch with the label: Back Roads (feed your spirit) just oats, organic gluten-free, vegan no dairy no salt no soy. 2.45 lbs/1.11 kg. The oats are from Brattleboro, VT. In front of the bag is an eggshell white bowl with a brown rim and tall sides. 1/2 cup of dry oats sits in the bowl.
September 4, 2025 at 1:27 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
Journaling at the violet hour.
Midiri md journal sits on a metal table with 4 seashells to the left and a Lamy Al-Star in blue-green laying diagonally across the top of it. The journal has some stickers, washing tape that reads “BE FEARFUL OF MEDIOCRITY” and a clear plastic cover.
June 24, 2025 at 3:15 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
The tide is coming in.
Sand, waves, and hazy blue sky. #photography #EastCoastKin #FireIsland
June 23, 2025 at 7:35 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
New Ink Day! My wife got me a bottle of Birmingham Pen Co Abacus and some extra Glassblower’s Flame for Father’s Day. Dropped in my Lamy Al-Star <f> fountain pen right away. I love the shading and orange undertones.
Fountain pen testing page. Large italic letters: A wizard’s job is to vex chumps quickly in f… and various doodles in brown ink using a wide stub calligraphy nib. Paper is Tomoe River white with a dot grid. Ink swatch with the letters Happy Fathers Day written in cursive above it on cream colored ruled paper. The ink splat is brown with some light brown and orange yellow shading.
June 16, 2025 at 2:09 AM
chrislike.bsky.social
Lucky enough to see the first stop on tour for @theantlers.bsky.social and Okkervil River at The Drake in Amherst. The show was pared back, intimate, perfect. Everyone was friendly and happy to be there. Will Sheff started his set with The President’s Dead, and the crowd went wild.
#westernmass
#SaveTheDrake #ForWillyForHumanity Two men with guitar stand in front of microphones on a stage. A drummer sits behind them and over his head is a black sign with white lettering that spells out the Drake. The men are lit with purple and orange light, and the curtains behind them are black and green.
June 12, 2025 at 3:20 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
I dabbed some of Birmingham Pen Co’s Voltaic Arc fountain pen ink on the box top for faster identification and wow did it put on a show!
A white box, taller than it is wide sits on top of a walnut clipboard from Kakimori. On the side of the box I’d worn in gold letterpress: “ESTD IN IRON CITY The Birmingham Pen Company PITTSBURGH” On top of the box is a blob of ink that transitions from blue to pink to ciccolomino.
June 10, 2025 at 1:59 AM
chrislike.bsky.social
Morning Shadow on the east side of the street. Northampton, Massachusetts

#coffee #westernmass #photography
pictured: coffee and a gluten free vegan strawberry lemon muffin, which was excellent. Provided by Tunic, the game themed cafe with impeccable taste.
June 3, 2025 at 9:32 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
The Nahvalur Nautilus fountain pen is a wonderful writing instrument. I can’t use it because it activates my trypophobia somehow. A hole exists where my brain insists it shouldn’t. Even preparing this post has left me feeling nauseous.
Nahvalur Nautilus fountain pens in “Spring” blends ebonite. 3 green and yellow fountain pens with yellow gold accents, capped, uncapped, and uncapped at a 90° rotation to show off the side profile of the nib. Each pen has a portal in gold showing the interior of the pen on opposite sides of the pen body. There is a gold ring around the body of the pen near the finial.
June 2, 2025 at 12:39 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
Virginia Wolf and I share a penchant for beginning notebooks. I copied this quote into my latest one in fountain pen, but neglected to use “strikingly legible handwriting.”
Let us take down one of those old notebooks which we have all, at one time or another, had a passion fer beginning. Most of the pages are blank, it is true; but at the beginning we shall find a certain number very beautifully covered with a strikingly legible hand-writing. Here we have written down the names of great writers in their order of merit; here we have copied out fine passages from the classics; here are lists of books to be read; and here, most interesting of all, lists of books that have actually been read, as the reader testifies with some youthful vanity by a dash of red ink. - Virginia Woolf (1958) "Hours in a Library". Granite and Rainbow: Essays by Virginia Woolf New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co. P.25. Picture of a lined midori md notebook with printing in green and yellow ink (Quirky Leaf by Esterbrook) fountain pen: Lamy Safari <F>.
May 21, 2025 at 3:00 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
We are CSA members at the farm down the street. This chive plant from their covered tunnel is going in the ground next week.
#photography #csa #gardening #eastcoastkin
A pink chive blossom stands above a field of green age pink chive plants.
May 17, 2025 at 5:05 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
I found a random office spiral notebook from staples that handles anything I ink on it with aplomb. It only says “Staples” on the front cover. I have no idea how to get more and I was unable to search through all 2000+ results on the Staples website.
Notebook paper with a spiral bound top. Lined with random fountain, pen, test letters. Glass blowers flame by Birmingham Pen Company. You can see heavy sheening on an O in the middle of the page. The ink is dark blue with a vibrant pink sheen. A black top bound spiral notebook with the word “Staples” centered in white at the bottom of the cover.
May 11, 2025 at 5:19 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
The clouds looked so beautiful through my polarized sunglasses, I tried to capture it with my phone, through the car’s sunroof, one-handed, sunglasses in my mouth. One of those attempts to capture a flying moment where the taking of the picture is the story.

#photography
Photograph of clouds and power lines half through the lens of sunglasses. A suspicious finger shape appears in the bottom right.
May 9, 2025 at 7:32 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
Western Mass has had nearly a week of rain. I grabbed this shot of our lilac bush during a morning lull.
#photography #gardening #eastcoastkin #macrophotography #westernmass
Closeup of a pink/purple lilac flower, about to open, with a water droplet suspended from it. In the droplet, upside down, you can see a flowering dogwood tree with white petals. There is an open lilac flower in the top right and a still-closed flower in the bottom right.
May 8, 2025 at 12:32 AM
chrislike.bsky.social
I am a firm believer in No Mow May. This invasive Bugle is crowding out the invasive lawn grass, and I say it’s welcome to it. My pollinators love them.

#gardening #nomowmay #photography
A stalk of blue bugle in front of a lawn full of them out of focus. The bugle is a series of offset tiny leaves and mini blue striped flowers in the shape of snapdragons. 📷 iPhone 15 Pro 🔎 24mm f1.78 ISO 64 RAW developed in photos app
May 5, 2025 at 2:12 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
Thank you! Really beautiful! Reminds me of KWZ Honey, which I just swatched a sample of from VanNess.
Picture of an open notebook with a grey dip pen sitting in the crease between pages. The paper is white with a faint grey 5mm dot grid. On the page is a blob of swatched yellow gold ink with doodles and the words: KWZ honey hocoro 2mm stub A wizard’s job is to vex chumps quickly in fog. Around the rocks the rugged rascal ran Shaded This smells great ABCDEFF a the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 🖋️ Sailor Hocoro dip pen 2mm stub nib 📄 Tomoe River 65gsm 💧 KWZ Honey
April 20, 2025 at 1:09 AM
chrislike.bsky.social
I found some inspiration in your poetry.
A photograph of an open notebook on a walnut surface. The left side is blank with a little ghosting of the fountain pen ink behind it. The right side has text written in calligraphic italic: "where did it all go wrong?" asks the nostalgic, confusing his fear of mortality for a love of life and kin. impermanece becomes the enemy, which makes life itself his enemy. all means ure justified, as no outcome could be worse than the injustice of his own approading end. 🖋️Sailor Hocoro 2mm stub 📄 Tomoe River in a JetPens Kanso notebook 💧Diamine Spiced Apple
April 17, 2025 at 2:02 AM
chrislike.bsky.social
Your story of fountain pen woe inspired my practice today.
Top-bound spiral notebook, lined, with a black vintage dip pen and calligraphy nib lying diagonally across the bottom right. Written on the page in large italicesque lettering are the words: “That is a very large splodge of purple ink I just dropped on my pants. - SproutCan” 🖋️ Speedball C2 📄 Staples Generic spiral bound, ivory, lined 💧Private Reserve Ebony Purple
April 16, 2025 at 6:04 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
The Old Man and the Goat

September, 2021. The Isle of Skye, The Old Man of Storr.
#skye #scotland #photography #naturephotography #goat #sonyalpha
A farmer’s goat on the side of a mountain stares at the camera. The lower edges of The Old Man of Storr appear in the upper left side of the frame. On a sightseeing trek with my wife and daughter, we came across this furry friend along the switchback trail to the summit. It was so foggy, the famous pillars were often obscured and the midges were something else! Camera: Sony a7C Lens: FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM Aperture: f/7.1 Exposure: 1/125 ISO: 100 Focal length: 70mm
February 6, 2025 at 3:14 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
Grinding, NYC.

#photography #bikesky #bikenyc #sonyalpha #blackandwhite #b&w #streetphotography #nyc
A bike delivery gig worker scans for his next job on his phone on the side of a street surrounded by tall apartment and hotel buildings. He wears ripped jeans, a shiny puffer and a balaclava, all black. Camera: Sony a7C Lens: Zeiss 35mm FE Aperture: f/2.8 Exposure: 1/320 ISO: 2000
January 26, 2025 at 12:56 AM
chrislike.bsky.social
House finch secretly prefers trance.

#photography #birds #birdsky #SuperTakumar #WesternMass #nature #birdwatching #birdphotography #birbs #sonyalpha #trance
A male house finch looks over its right shoulder, showing off its red plumage along the head and breast. It sits on a small crest of snow. I personally love the bokeh in this picture from the vintage lens. Camera: Sony a7C Lens: SuperTakumar 135mm manual Aperture: f/8? Exposure: 1/200 ISO: 100 Processing: DarkTable
January 22, 2025 at 3:56 PM
chrislike.bsky.social
Augusten Burroughs’ new curio boutique in Northampton, Massachusetts: The Shiny Black Door. I captured one of its windows before Christmas.

#photography #shopping #augustenburroughs #christmas
An antique dresser with black Baroque pulls sits in the middle of a window of a The Shiny Black Door, surrounded by black ornaments, jewelry, and topped with a Bazaar magazine featuring a photo of Princess Di. Camera: Sony a7C Lens: Zeiss 35mm FE Aperture: f/2.8 Exposure: 1/80 ISO: 640
January 21, 2025 at 6:32 PM