Deborah Rose
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deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
Deborah Rose
@deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1.3K following 1.3K posts
Writer | Reader | Maker | Post Office Stan | Total Liberation | They/She

Boppin round the Mór-Roinn in a camper van with m'cats. Working on a novel that for now I'll just call "the Post Office book."

deborahrosereeves.com
https://usps-teach-in.carrd.co/
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deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
Went to Europe, saw some Art
An illustrated condom (large) on display in the 19th century room of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. This almost 200-year-old contraceptive – probably made from a sheep’s appendix – features an erotic etching depicting a nun and three clergymen. Thought to have been a souvenir from a brothel, only two such objects are known to have survived to the present day. It reveals that printing was being used in a wide range of contexts, and provides an insight into sexuality and prostitution in the 19th century. The illustration is barely visible in this picture unless you zoom in. In which case you’ll see a nun seated with her legs apart in front of three clergymen, the nun points her finger at one of them. The men, standing, hold their robes up to display their state of sexual arousal. The inscription Voilà mon choix, meaning ‘This is my choice’, makes the print a parody of both celibacy and the Judgement of Paris from Greek mythology
November 17, 2025 at 8:07 PM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
It's a whole sub-genre of cat pictures LOL
Tuxedo cat with a dashing white mustache, very alluring on a white embroidered quilt, legs spread wide and floofy belly just begging to be floofed. His name is Mingus and he is a sexy beast.
November 16, 2025 at 2:10 PM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
🍂
Photograph of a woman dressed in black hand mixing paints on a large round stone with a flat top. On a wooden table in the foreground are several small clay pots with dry ground pigments in various colours, from indigo to turquoise and more earthen colours. Close-up of clay pots with earthy red and turmeric colored powdered pigments and pottery jugs that contain linseed oil. Beside the pots, a vintage oval wooden painters palette with old dried paint on it. Close up of a large stone slab with long, wide swatches of hand-mixed paints in various earthen colours
November 15, 2025 at 7:19 PM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
Visited Rembrandt’s beautiful home & studio this afternoon. Loved the tutorial/history lesson, recreating his colour palette using the materials and techniques of his time. Metal paint tubes (syringes, in fact) weren’t created for another 200ish years in 1840.
November 15, 2025 at 7:11 PM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
Rokin Metro station, Amsterdam on a cold and overcast Caturday
On the platform wall of an underground metro station, a huge mosaic of a tubby tabby cat made of large pieces of marble and natural stone. The train tracks and platform are visible in the photo but the main focus is the cat mural.
November 15, 2025 at 6:09 PM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
Street Art, night-walk Amersfoort 🇳🇱
On a red brick wall illuminated by streetlights, a stencil of a little girl standing upright in a pale blue dress, long white socks and pigtails holding the hand of a shabby yellow teddy bear that sits slumped beside her.
November 11, 2025 at 7:57 PM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
A fun thing about travelling in Europe that I didn’t anticipate: Little Free Libraries guiding my next read. On a medieval street in Amersfoort 🇳🇱 tonight, I nabbed a copy of The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham & An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. Will drop off Katabasis before I leave. #BookSky
Night picture. In front of the doorway to an old house on a cobbled street stands a tall black bookshelf with a glass door front and a red frame that resembles a Japanese gateway.
November 11, 2025 at 7:49 PM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
Update
November 4, 2025 at 11:43 AM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
Spotted a Shaggy Mane, also known as Lawyer’s Wig, also known as Kristeva’s Abject, on a rainy day ramble in Denmark
Picture of a Shaggy Mane/Shaggy Inkcap mushroom. Atop a tall pale stalk, a bell-shaped cap of long, shaggy filaments, cream and beige in colour. At the base of the cap is a gloopy rim of shiny black viscous liquid. Within hours of being picked or depositing its spores, this mushroom begins to dissolve, “deliquesce”, or auto-digest, into a thick black ooze.
November 3, 2025 at 2:52 PM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
Starting tomorrow: Online Solidarity Sessions with the IPSC 🇵🇸

Preregister here:

www.ipsc.ie/event/online...

#SpéirGorm #SpéirGhorm #SaoirseDonPhalaistín
Flyer for IPSC SOLIDARITY SESSIONS Five Mondays from 3rd Nov- 1st Dec 7-8pm via Zoom Mon 3/11 Central Bank of Ireland (CBI): Still Funding Genocide Helen O'Mahony, Sean Marmion - IPSC Campaign Organisers Mon 10/11 Through the Lens: Joy, Grit, and the Everyday Magic of Gaza Eman Mohammed - Palestinian Photojournalist Mon 17/11 Update on International Law & Palestine, ICJ, ICC Cases John Reynolds - Associate Professor of Law, Maynooth University Mon 24/11 Solidarity as Praxis: Psychology, Power, and the Struggle for Palestine Dr Rebecca Heslin - Clinical Psychologist Mon 1/12 Updates on IPSC Priority, Campaigns Including Media Engagement; BDS, OTB, Shannon Zoë Lawlor and Brian O Eigeartaigh - IPSC Scan the QR code or go to ipsc.ie for more informationand to register
November 2, 2025 at 2:16 PM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
“I work on her.”

#BookWormSat #TodaysPoem
Mary Ruefle poem PERSONALIA When I was young, a fortune-teller told me that an old woman who wanted to die had accidentally become lodged in my body. Slowly, over time, and taking great care in following esoteric instructions, including lavender baths and the ritual burial of keys in the backyard, I rid myself of her presence. Now I am an old woman who wants to die and lodged inside me is a young woman dying to live; I work on her.
November 1, 2025 at 11:25 AM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
Window scene, Aarhus Denmark
Poster propped up in a window. Four rectangular prints (probably a woodblock or linocut print) repeated on a single page. On the top and bottom left is a print that depicts a monochromatic print of a raised fist (back of hand view) that has Inuit amulet patterns tattooed on the wrist. Wide red and white lines radiate around the fist and red ink says “Power to the Inuit”. On the top and bottom right is a print that depicts an Inuit woman in black with facial tattoo on forehead. Behind her is a circle in half red half while. Text above and below her says “We Fed Ourselves / While They Ate Gold” Close up of the block print that depicts an Inuit woman in black with facial tattoo on forehead. Behind her is a circle in half red half while. Text above and below her says “We Fed Ourselves / While They Ate Gold”
October 27, 2025 at 10:32 AM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
Protect the hive!

Cool to spot some Millo irl

#StreetArt
Large scale mural on the side of a tall building, by Italian street artist, Millo. In Millo’s distinctive style, monochromatic lines depict a skyline of tall buildings with airplanes and clouds above monochromatic streets. In the centre sits a large scale childlike figure drawing and writing in a notebook. Behind him in colour is a golden brown honeycomb with realistic looking bees, and around his feet are pink and green flowers. In the boys notebook are doodles of bees and hexagons, with the words “Protect the Hive”, “Sense of Justice + Equity”, and “Mutual Care”
October 27, 2025 at 9:47 AM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
Despite the wind and rain (or perhaps because of it), Aarhus jumped into my list of favourite cities this weekend

#StreetArt
Mural on the side of a building. The Smiling Sun antinuclear logo features a smiling, red spiky sun on a yellow background, surrounded by black text “Atomkraft? Nej Tak” (in English "Nuclear Power? No Thanks")
October 27, 2025 at 9:19 AM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
Reason 13,679 why Scandinavians report higher levels of happiness: *post-scan* checkout dividers!

No panicky pressure to pack your crap as quickly as the staff scans it. No impatient sighs or belligerent stares from the people behind you. Truly, I have seen the promised land.
Picture of various grocery items on a conveyer belt, separated by a long diagonal metal bar that divides each customers items. The items have been scanned and customers can take their time packing while the staff continues serving the next person.
October 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
Large scale text at a Hank Willis Thomas exhibition at Portland Art Museum a few years back. I think of it often.
On a red wall in large all caps: THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY THING A PERSON CAN DO IS BE OPEN TO CHANGE.
October 22, 2025 at 8:08 AM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
Generally happy with my first attempt stitching a more realistic embroidery and hope to be done this week. Guess what’s bugging me though? It will be a biiiitch to do over but I don’t know if I can leave it as-is and not take my regret to the grave lol
Hand stitched embroidery in a hoop depicts a whitewashed Irish cottage with a red door and small red windows, surrounded by trees, and in the foreground of the scene three young children climbing a fence to get into the garden.
October 21, 2025 at 9:16 AM
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Cutest community book swap in a small town on the Jutland peninsula in Denmark. As well as books & magazines, the bottom shelves of this repurposed wardrobe had free and very cute clothes & shoes (just not in my size sob 😭)
A tall free-standing wardrobe/dresser repurposed as a community book-swap. The dresser is painted cream and, to showcase the books inside, a glass panel has been placed into the upper section of what was formerly an all-wooden door. Handwritten all-caps in black marker says: “bogfællesskab bytte-biks” which translates as “book community book swap”. Twinkly lights are draped outside and inside. Close up of two stickers on the glass door on the free community library. One is a heart in the colours of the Palestinian flag. The other is a square rainbow flag with the hashtag #NazisRaus which means #NazisOut and in smaller letters that are hard to read it also says refugees welcome
October 20, 2025 at 3:32 PM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
“Your job as a writer is making sentences.

Most of your time will be spent making sentences in
your head.

In your head.

Did no one ever tell you this?

That is the writer's life.

Never imagine you've left the level of the sentence behind.”

#WriteSky
Photograph of page in book (Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg) Why are we talking about sentences? Why not talk about the work as a whole, about shape, form, genre, the book, the feature story, the profile, even the paragraph? The answer is simple. Your job as a writer is making sentences. Most of your time will be spent making sentences in your head. In your head. Did no one ever tell you this? That is the writer's life. Never imagine you've left the level of the sentence behind. Most of the sentences you make will need to be killed. The rest will need to be fixed. This will be true for a long time.
October 20, 2025 at 6:50 AM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
For reasons unknown even to myself, it’s cold & windy so I have to re-read Several Short Sentences About Writing 🍂

"Here, in short, is what I want to tell you. Know what each sentence says, what it doesn't say, and what it implies. Of these, the hardest is knowing what each sentence actually says.”
Photograph of a paperback book called Several Short Sentences About Writing by Veryln Klinkenborg taken in the front seat of my campervan. A blurb on the front cover by the New York Journal of Books says “No other book, old or new, is as well reasoned as this, as entertaining or as wise… Best book on writing. Ever.” In the background of the picture, a grey and white cat on the dashboard of the van looks out at a marina. Beside her is a green dinosaur plushie and above her dangles a wooden ornament in the shape of Oregon carved out with a flower motif.
October 20, 2025 at 6:33 AM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
I limit my cat posting to one or two pictures on Caturday out of a genuine fear of what I might become if I don’t practice restraint. I have 15 almost identical versions of this photo of Mingus with a cobweb on his face on my phone, and I want to share them allllll
Close up of a tuxedo cat with a cobweb draped across his nose and the left side of his face. He stares out regally as though this costume is of his own design and not a panicky couple of seconds in the basement.
October 18, 2025 at 7:07 AM
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Happy Caturday from Sweden. Once Mingus realized that every journey didn’t end at the vet’s office he became an extremely relaxed traveller, nothing wakes him now lol
October 18, 2025 at 6:50 AM
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Today a dense fog rolled in and I could barely see a thing in front of me at the end of this dock, but a gaggle of Graylag Geese & a single Gray Heron were audibly if invisibly nearby.
Photograph of a long dock (in the foreground) in which it’s hard to tell where the sea ends and the sky begins due to the fog.
October 15, 2025 at 7:52 PM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
One of my favourite ways to make memories as I bop around in my campervan is recording little snippets on the Merlin Bird ID app. Cool way to know which birds I’m hearing & I now have a library of other overheard sounds like farm workers, wind on a lake, or my own breathing as I take it all in.
Phone Screenshot of a recording on the Merlin Bird ID app. At the top of the screenshot is the date, my location in Strömstad Sweden. Below that is a spectrogram showing a visual representation of the surrounding sounds. Below that are suggestions as to the identity of the birds in the clip I recorded: one is a photograph of a Gray Heron and the other suggestion is a Graylag Goose. Phone Screenshot of a recording on the Merlin Bird ID app. At the top of the screenshot is the date, my location in Vevang Norway. Below that is a spectrogram showing a visual representation of the surrounding sounds. Below that are suggestions as to the identity of the birds in the clip I recorded: one is a photograph of a Canada Goose and the other is a Whooper Swan Phone Screenshot of a recording on the Merlin Bird ID app. At the top of the screenshot is the date, my location in Brittany France. Below that is a spectrogram showing a visual representation of the surrounding sounds. Below that is a suggestion as to the identity of the bird in the clip I recorded: a Zitting Cisticola
October 15, 2025 at 7:41 PM
deborahrosereeves.bsky.social
I will say this, though 🍊

(Thank you Mary Ruefle)
A poem by Mary Ruefle Kiss of the Sun If, as they say, poetry is a sign of something among people, then let this be prearranged now, between us, while we are still peoples: that at the end of time, which is also the end of poetry (and wheat and evil and insects and love), when the entire human race gathers in the flesh, reconstituted down to the infant's tiniest fold and littlest nail, I will be standing at the edge of that fathomless crowd with an orange for you, reconstituted down to its innermost seed protected by white thread, in case you are thirsty, which does not at this time seem like such a wild guess, and though there will be no poetry between us then, at the end of time, the geese all gone with the seas, I hope you will take it, and remember on earth I did not know how to touch it it was all so raw, and if by chance there is no edge to the crowd or anything else so that I am of it, I will take the orange and toss it as high as I can.
October 12, 2025 at 8:47 AM