Hilary Tamar
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hilarytamar.bsky.social
Hilary Tamar
@hilarytamar.bsky.social
330 followers 400 following 870 posts
dyke. lapsed academic philosopher. far, far too fond of epistolary novels.
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hilarytamar.bsky.social
I am being completely normal about this.
Screenshot of a phone: a full-width banner appears at the top of the screen showing a countdown “186 hours to Mikveh” over a picture of women dancing with a Torah scroll at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
November 27, 2025 at 1:16 AM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
I wish I was joking but the Starbucks ones do include actual pumpkin.
Screenshot of the Starbucks app listing the ingredients of the Pumpkin Spice Latte. The first ingredient is milk, the second is “Pumpkin Spice Sauce”; the list of the sauce’s ingredients begins with “sugar, condensed skim milk, pumpkin puree”.
October 5, 2025 at 6:22 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Portrait of a convert’s first Rosh Hashanah
Lit candles, a silver kiddush cup with wine, a small stemmed glass filled with pomegranate seeds, and a sliced round challah bread, in front of a laptop displaying instructions for various Rosh Hashanah blessings. Various sacred texts together with a highlighter and post-it notes are in the background.
September 23, 2025 at 11:53 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
All my condolences.
A brown and white tabby cat is curled up asleep on a flowered bedspread. Her face is propped up on her outstretched legs.
August 29, 2025 at 6:10 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
The bendy bit I completely forgot to mention is probably relevant too… ::facepalm:: The palm grip style is wide and flattened? Or is that something else again?
The top portion of a cane, shaped like a flattened question mark. The handle is covered with a circular foam grip.
August 8, 2025 at 4:14 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Omg my copy of @ineffablepenguin.bsky.social’s Villainous is here! The perfect thing to re-read while stuck in bed with a broken leg.

An awesome edition of an awesome book deserves unboxing pictures!
A cardboard box with a redacted mailing label and a round iridescent sticker of a penguin in sunglasses with suns on them. Imagine a macaroni penguin with flair. An open box with three small black feathers scattered over bubble wrap concealing the box’s main contents. One of the book’s two main characters occasionally consorts with ravens. An open box containing a peach-colored book tied with string. A label marked “Raven Post” is attached to the string with black sealing wax stamped with a raven in gold. Tucked under the string is a thin black bookmark with a purple ribbon and the words “Once upon a time …”. A small muslin drawstring bag lies nearby. A large paperback book with a peach cover and the title “Villainous”. There are thorny vines running up one side opposite a tall black stone tower.
August 5, 2025 at 11:09 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Phone screenshot reading “Estimated delivery between Monday, Jul 28 and Wednesday, Jul 30”
July 21, 2025 at 4:58 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
I mean, I do appreciate a nice rant, but as an alternative I offer…

an ID badge holder and a bracelet keychain.

Hear me out. The badge holder is very stiff, and while that’s protective, it also gives the card a larger and consistent footprint: there’s more of it to grab and 1/
A transit card visible in the window of an ID badge holder, attached by a metal split ring to a tall sturdy fabric loop about an inch wide. The fabric loop is held open to show its thick backing.
June 19, 2025 at 9:16 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Today is my finch’s first hatchday! Their name is Violet and I would die for them.

(I rely utterly on Finch dot app for keeping me moving forward through the day and helping protect me from overwhelm. It’s officially a “self-care app”, but I’ve found it quite versatile.)
A screenshot of a small colorful cartoon-style bird wearing a birthday cake on its head, overlaid with confetti. There is a tiny koala named Steve standing beside the bird. The caption reads “Happy 1st Hatchday to Violet! You’ve both grown so much this year.”
May 29, 2025 at 12:22 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
+1 for glasses and lighting. I may have spoken too soon about the size of yours: I have one that’s too small for me to read that is approximately 1.5mm (right of the picture); the middle scroll is 2mm and the left, which I found unwieldy, is 3mm.
Three black and white cross stitch patterns, each with a different sized grid. There is a central roll of pages with part of a grid showing, and a flat pattern flanks it on either side. A closeup shot of the smallest grid showing that each square is only slightly larger than the tip of a Pilot G2 gel pen
April 16, 2025 at 9:01 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
I quadruple-checked my matzah when I bought it and yet this morning I find this nonsense on the box
The corner of a box of matzah labeled “NOT FOR PASSOVER USE”
April 13, 2025 at 4:03 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Sorry, forgot to extract the pic:
Police officers use pepper spray Sunday on a demonstrator wearing dervish clothes in Istanbul. Umit Bektas / Reuters
March 27, 2025 at 4:26 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Re-reading Bud Krogh’s INTEGRITY today as a palate cleanser and remembering when consequences existed.
The cover of Egil “Bud” Krogh’s book INTEGRITY: GOOD PEOPLE, BAD CHOICES AND LIFE LESSONS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
February 7, 2025 at 9:42 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Got my prints from @clever-reports.bsky.social!
Photo of five postcard-sized prints, each showing a digital drawing from @clever-reports.bsky.social. There are two prints of landscapes and three of various cloud formations.
January 28, 2025 at 12:51 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Mine too!
Screenshot from Finch.app. A cartoon bird in a white jacket and black top hat is sleeping in a bed in front of a fireplace with a menorah on the mantel. The room has blue walls and there is a snowman beside the door.
December 26, 2024 at 3:20 AM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Acres and acres of cookies!
Dozens of dark brown chocolate cookies dusted with powdered sugar
December 18, 2024 at 5:13 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Why do Republicans want to privatize the Post Office? To make money, sure, but also for the most traditional of American reasons: racism.

facts.usps.com/diverse-work...
A screenshot from the Post Office website. Text reads "The Postal Service is diverse. The strength of the Postal Service lies in its amazing diversity. Historically underrepresented racial groups account for 53 percent of the workforce." There is also a pie chart labeled "U.S. POSTAL SERVICE RACIAL/ETHNICITY COMPOSITION AS OF SEP. 30, 2023". The slices of the chart are labeled "WHITE 47.0%", "BLACK OR AFRICAN AMERICAN 29.1%", "HISPANIC OR LATINO 13.5%", "ASIAN 7.6%" and "OTHER 2.8%".
December 14, 2024 at 11:25 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Oh, excellent, I’ve been meaning to ask this, now that I’ve seen enough of your other process posts I might be able to grok the answer: how did you make this one? I can’t work out how you got the spots.
A long narrow fused glass pendant, mostly glossy white with six matte colored dots along its length.
November 4, 2024 at 5:14 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Yep. For reference:
Photograph of an OED entry “man (mæn), v. Forms: 1 mannian, 4-6 manne, 6-7 mann, 6- man. [OE. mannian, f. mann MAN sb. Cf. MLG., MDu., Du., MHG., mod. G. mannen, ON., Sw. manna, Da. mande.] 1. a. trans. (orig. Mil. and Naut.) To furnish (a fort, ship, etc.) with a force or company of men to serve or defend it. Said also of the men. c 1122 O.E. Chron. an. 1087 (MS. E.) Heora alc ferde to” Photograph of an OED entry “10. Falconry. To accustom (a hawk, occas. other birds) to the presence of men. Hence (transf. and gen.) to make tame or tractable. I he spelling mained in quot. 1632, if not a mere misprint, seems intended to suggest derivation from F. main hand.)”
October 1, 2024 at 5:13 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
The earliest printings with dust jackets I have to hand are a Homer vol.2 and an Aeschylus, reprinted 1988 and 1989, and both indeed lament the lack of editors. I never noticed, and I wonder what changed in 1990. Fun—thanks!
The back dust jacket of an Oxford Classical text: “The original aim of covering all the principal classical authors has not been lost sight of, although the difficulty of finding suitable editors, the increased competition for their services, and the undesirability of unnecessary duplication of classical texts have inevitably affected the scope and pace of the scheme. It remains, however, the Delegates' policy to fill the outstanding gaps and to revise old editions in the light of recent research.”
September 28, 2024 at 4:20 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Introduced my cat to YouTube tonight.
Overhead view of a brown and white cat sitting staring at an iPad just a few inches in front of her.
September 20, 2024 at 12:05 AM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Struggling not to fall asleep in the middle of the day and then I look up and see this, the very definition of unhelpful.
Brown and white cat sound asleep in a chair.
September 12, 2024 at 4:29 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
Portrait of an Indecisive Cat: Snuggle or Snub, the Eternal Dilemma
Brown and white tabby cat sitting on a couch with her head turned to look back over her shoulder.
September 2, 2024 at 12:55 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
My @nora.zone kobold hoard is here! Very excited to have shinies to clank in my hands.
Closeup of variously colored fused glass cabochons in a white woman’s palm
August 31, 2024 at 7:52 PM
hilarytamar.bsky.social
A @moxiest.art elephant!

It’s making me very cheerful and I recommend it for all your uplifting and/or Pride needs.
The lid of a laptop computer with two stickers. The one on the left is an elephant drawn in rainbow crayon. The one on the right is a drawing of a cat wearing a witch’s hat and blue face mask with text “I believe in magic and masks”.
June 12, 2024 at 1:46 PM