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Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

I'm always amazed when l come here after not feeling well for a few days and I actually have a couple days of replies and ♥️,'s. It reminds me that just because I'm sick, I'm not forgotten. Been super nauseous and it makes me not want to do things. I'll be ok though, good enough. I can try to eat.

Probably should have made mashed potatoes or something but was just really feeling something green, and I had mixed greens for salads going squish in my refrigerator so I cooked them up with some onions and some mini bell peppers. yellow and red. At least the colors are appetizing and the flavor is pretty good, did it with olive oil, lemon juice, dried lemon peel (even a little bit of this adds so much lemon flavor), majorum, and tarragon, and of course a little salt and pepper. You can never forget those. So it's got a really nice herbal acid balance with the veggies. It actually tastes really good, so I'm hoping I can keep it down. Since the last few days that's been my problem and it leaves me with no energy at all to be getting sick. It's gross also, I don't tolerate it very well, even though I've probably done it for nearly as many days in my life as I haven't, lol. Also, while I was writing this, I ate some of the veg and they are quite good. I think they might stay down. I'm very happy. Food doesn't have to be super complicated to taste good. I wouldn't call what I made super complicated just because I put a couple of herbs in it. And I would call that the most complicated part. Just a couple finger pinches of herbs really brought out the flavor in this beautifully.

November 27, 2025 at 3:23 AM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

Pretty much the same picture I usually take at sunset (I like to photograph the same thing over and over just under different conditions on different days, I don't really know why I do it), but this is sunrise ☀️

Sunrise in the background, a little cloudy and the sun coming up is highlighting the clouds and making them look purple and pinkish. bottle brush trees in the low mid-ground, palm trees on the foreground.

November 20, 2025 at 11:38 AM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

Long exposure view from my hammock in Miami FL at 1:33am. Also it is super hard to adjust the phone to keep it stable (especially if you also have a tremor) while the hammock rocks. Human gimbal over here, lol.

It's a long exposure photo so you can see some detail but it's dark. In the lower left side and along the bottom is the partial roofline of my house, above it is sky, it's cloudy, I can't tell what type because it's just total coverage of could, they don't look like cumulus though, maybe cumulonimbus clouds? The color is kind of very dark grey purple. There's a slight glow, but it isn't light from the moon (because it's on the other side of the photo, guess it could be reflection but it's all covered by clouds too), I'm guessing it's light from the Indian casino. The city light mostly comes from other directions. Suppose it could be suburban but it would be more excurban at that point. In the upper right corner stretching down the right side, you can see the branches and limbs from two big gumbo lumbo trees. In the very upper left corner you can see branches from a live oak tree. They're just dark outlines though, they don't have any color, more like dark shadows against a lighter background. The only thing that has any color at all is the sky, and maybe my house which is a different shade of grey. Also, I don't really lie in my hammock much, I sit in it and use it like it's a swing. Just a really comfortable swing with a nice back support. I even pump my legs on it like I'm a kid. It's like a a $40 Costco special camping hammock, It's bright blue. I have it strung up between two palm trees, and I bloody love it.

November 7, 2025 at 6:54 AM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

Don't toot their horn too loud, they can't even all vote yet. They didn't do it alone. As women, we did it together. Also millennials are the only generation not becoming more conservative as they age.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A modified bar graph showing party affiliation by age and gender. The parties included are Republican, independent, Democrat, other. The first line is 18 to 29-year-old men, 26% a. Republican, 29% are independent, 24% are Democrat, 22% are other. The second line shows 18 to 29-year-old women, 17% are Republican, 29% are independent, 30% are Democrat and 28% are independent. The third line shows 30 to 49-year-old men, 26% are Republican, 29% are independent, 28% are Democrat, 17% are other. The fourth line shows $30 to 49-year-old women, 25% are Republican, 23% are independent, 30% are Democrat, 21% are other. The fifth line shows 50 to 64-year-old men, 37% are Republican, 28% are independent, 25% are Democrat, 10% or other. The sixth line shows 50 to 64-year-old women, 33% are Republican, 22% are independent, 32% are Democrats, 13% or other. The seventh line shows 65-year-old and up men, 36% are Republican 29% are independent. 29% are Democrat, 6% are or other. The 8th and final line shows women 65 years old and up, 34% or Republican, 21% are independent, 38% are Democrat, and 7% or other.

The source of the information is the p rri census of American rights 2024.

November 5, 2025 at 5:30 PM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

This one is attractive. It's just a little weird once you realize that it says things like "Rerel" and "Baned Boks" in places, lol. But you know it's a conversation starter, you can talk not only about banned books but also about AI imagery with it. "REREL" is my favorite btw, lol.

A picture of an AI image of a book titled "REREL"

November 5, 2025 at 3:08 AM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

I got two sleeps last night but they amounted to about 9 total hours which is so much sleep for me. Usually I get 3-5 hours (also always woken in the middle by pain or needing to pee). It must have been a night of good sleeps. I'm so happy for both of us ☺️

An oversized emoji of a smiling crescent moon superimposed over a smiling full moon.

November 3, 2025 at 6:56 PM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

The first picture is what people think coconuts look like, the second is what they actually look like when they come off the tree (I would have found a bigger better looking one, but it's dark and I didn't want to fall right over one). It's been windy today so a lot of them came out of my trees.

A cracked open coconut. Has the characteristic brown husky type material on the outside and It's cracked open so you can see the flesh.

This is what a coconut looks like when it comes off a tree, it's green, it's hard and smooth. It's nothing like what most people think of when they think of a coconut. I have four coconut trees, three female and one male, so my coconut trees are very bountiful. This is one that fell off today since it was windy. I think it's really small but it's probably not easy to tell from the picture. Also, if you didn't have your own coconut trees and live in like the tropics you probably wouldn't think it were that small.

November 1, 2025 at 6:45 AM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

I had been begging doctors to put some hydrocortisone into my foot for years. They wouldn't. Well you can buy anything on the internet. So I did it myself (I would not recommend this for anyone, it has to be aspirated) The spasticity around where I injected it is down at least 80%-90% though.

A vial of injectable hydrocortisone next to two syringes held on my own small hand. They're all empty, because they've been pulled up and used.

October 30, 2025 at 1:40 AM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

Today's sunset from my house in Miami. It almost looks like there's a little sun hiding up in the clouds, but it's a refractory effect, the sun is much lower on the horizon.

$Today's sunset from my house. It's framed on the top right and left by coconut trees, and from the side and underneath it's framed by a branch from a gumbo lumbo, a Brazilian cherry (bush?, It's kind of like a small tree actually) and in the distance bottle brush trees, at the very bottom you can just barely see the roofs of houses. The clouds are kind of gray but they also shine in certain places. It almost looks like there's a sun shining out of a cloud in the middle but it's not the Sun, it's a refractory effect, the sun is much lower on the horizon now. You can also see some lovely orange and yellow tones over to the left where the clouds are more diaphanous and blocking less light.$

October 29, 2025 at 10:39 PM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

Cream of potato and spinach soup. Spinach an afterthought, but it's really good and it makes it look so pretty. It was also stupidly easy, all I did was take a frozen pack of spinach and dump it in toward the end of a super basic potato soup recipe that I'd gussied up with some herbs & spices, lol.

Homemade cream of potato and spinach soup. I sauteed onions, then added the potatoes and milk (the recipe I started with originally called for cream but I didn't have any, I also didn't really follow the recipe, it looked more like one of those things that's ingredients with instructions. So if you already know instructions to make soup, you don't need to follow theirs) and toward the end I dumped a frozen pack of spinach into it, melted it down, and let it come to a boil one more time before turning the burner off and putting the lid on. It's delicious. I seasoned it with salt and pepper, majorum and and thyme, and just a little tarragon for brightness. Oh, and I also used a bit of the McCormick's umami mushroom and onion seasoning that I am currently obsessed with.

October 26, 2025 at 10:10 PM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

My little backyard fire. Don't worry there's nowhere for it to get out of control to. It's been raining and those bricks go on for at least 8ft in every direction. It's also a small fire, mostly damp leaf debris and cardboard, lit with a little kerosene (I like trench lighters). Easy to kill.

October 17, 2025 at 5:51 AM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

Watch out for Tony Stephens @steph209.bsky.social he is a scammer. I've tried to tell him I have no money, he keeps asking for it. This is the Nigerian prince scam. Also I'm sorry blind people for no alt text, but you should just avoid this guy, he asked a disabled person to go into credit card debt

October 16, 2025 at 9:08 PM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

The tiniest pumpkin ever. No I'm actually kidding it's a Brazilian cherry (you can eat them but they don't really taste like cherries more of a sour savory flavor, kind of odd not not bad, this is the only one in my rather large bush, or small tree? right now), I don't remember the Latin name.

October 14, 2025 at 7:03 PM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

Flower-Bot Cam

October 12, 2025 at 7:06 PM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

"Funny how easy heart-break can come. I've always had a talent for it."

October 7, 2025 at 2:16 AM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

My first drawing with oil pastels in over 20 years. Nothing special, just wanted to see what they could do and the sunset over water is always lovely. I had forgotten how nicely they shaded color, better than colored pencils, they get your hands dirtier, probably why I never used them very much.

My first drawing with oil pastels since highschool. It's of the sunset over the ocean. Nothing fancy. Just trying to see what the tools have in them really.

October 3, 2025 at 11:29 PM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

Does anyone here know about metals? I know a bit, but not enough for this. I have acidic skin (the kind that 1% of the pop. has, that will eat leather, it tarnishes silver, see the chain, it shined originally) the charm has a capsule with my father's ashes please see alt. txt.
#metalworking

It's a realistically heart shaped locker that houses a small capsule of my father's ashes. It was once silver played but I have acidic skin and I rubbed all the plating off. I thought it was some kind of copper alloy underneath, now I think I might be tarnishing that? I hope someone will tell me. Also if there's anything I can do to preserve it so I don't rub away all the metal altogether. Like maybe paint it with clear enamel or something. I'm really hoping anyone who knows anything about it will see this at all and hopefully give me some advice. It's so important to me, I wear it everyday, I don't care if it's beautiful, it's inherently special.

The backside of the same locket. Instead of having the lines where veins and arteries might be it has little cut-outs of more traditional heart shapes that fill the area. It also has all the silver plating rubbed off to expose what I think is some kind of copper alloy underneath (looks copper toned, is too hard to just be copper, also where it appears to be tarnishing, not doing it the way pure copper would). I've rubbed it too much and worn it too much but it means so much to me that I went to grasp it while I was in the middle of trying to get a couple of good pictures of it. It's my father (or a tiny vial of him) and it's my reminder that even in death he's always with me. I don't believe in anything much but this is a very physical thing and I carry out with me, a part of his physical being goes with me everywhere.

October 2, 2025 at 7:27 PM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

You can also cut photos so that things are centered, I did that with the fire hydrant, I cut it to an average size and made sure it was centered. There was more background to the original image, but I wanted to highlight the fire hydrant. This picture I didn't crop at all, since it's all important.

Photo of the son coming in between the buildings in New York
It's shining off the ice rink and next to perfectly aging in an ice skater. There are other ice skaters spread around the outdoor ice rink.

September 22, 2025 at 9:25 PM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

@gravitasfreezone.bsky.social

BUB got tired of being boring, now he's Gravitas Free Zone! I like it.

A cartoon image of a smiling turtle with a heart over his head.

September 22, 2025 at 8:23 PM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

I feel like the flower is beautiful all by itself. I feel like the world is beautiful. Sometimes I find things others find ugly to be beautiful. I like the mundane. I like the things other people miss the beauty in. I see beauty everywhere I go. Everywhere I look.

A picture of a delayed fire hydrant the top is painted yellow and the bottom red, the paint is chipping, and there's an "OUT OF SERVICE" sign placed over where the for nozzle would go. I'm the background there's a fence and will literally area that looks industrial. This picture was taken in Detroit.

September 22, 2025 at 1:04 AM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

Cropped but not edited. I'm big on taking good pictures. Not editing them to look good later. I'll tweak them sometimes, to make what I want stand out, but not more than I could have done in a dark room. I want them to look real, not like a fairy tale.

A picture i took of a red hibiscus with light yellow highlights. There's dark green foliage in the back. You can also just barely see a large clay pot in the background, but you can't see what's in it.

September 22, 2025 at 12:16 AM

Empire Nine

@empirenine.bsky.social

We get off this rock before our sun only begins to use up all its hydrogen in the process of becoming a red giant, or we all die from the radiation. Space is an important frontier.