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Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

Backyard photos 💜

Everything is hard. Way, way too difficult. But there are baby birds and lily blooms to get us through the day.

The mama mourning dove in the nest with two babies a few weeks old.

The mama mourning dove in the nest with two babies. One is pecking at mom, the other is facing him. Mom has an eye on the camera.

Peering through a V in the tree trunk, the mama mourning dove watches the camera.

Light pink lilies amongst. The long green leaves. One is bloomed, partially open, and another is closed.

August 31, 2025 at 3:54 PM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

The bears from @explore.org get me through the workday. Oh, to be a bear.

A momma black bear and her cub on a rock. Cub is behind mom looking left while mom is looking right.

A field surrounded by trees. Two junior grizzlies are running across the field.

A calm part of the river, three pairs are in the distance catching salmon for lunch.

July 7, 2025 at 9:47 PM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

Love when crafting is this successful. 10yo was jealous of my little ribbon pen/pencil holder I made for my journal—but he wanted a whole art kit! Very proud of this.

March 24, 2025 at 1:28 AM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

A massive floof for your day.

My large fluffy cat laying on his back on the couch. Bottom feet sticking out, tail “up” and then the end curved away from him. He’s stretched very long. Head tilted back. Front paws are up and held to his chest. He’s also partially on a green and black pillow. On the floor are a few items like slippers scattered about.

March 12, 2025 at 2:00 AM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

Is the library just a library? Definitely not.

A lot of people say they’re for community, but how do they act it out? How do you?

Full poem here: jackiemcg.substack.com/p/bound

A library shelf on the right, tables and chairs next to a window on the left. It has a public or school library feel. There's a brown rectangle with part of the poem. It reads, "These books / bind me / to a community I / didn't know I had."

March 5, 2025 at 1:08 PM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

Me: it’s Orion!
My kids: oo, alien pirates? Like Tendi??

A picture of Orion’s Belt in the blue night sky

March 1, 2025 at 2:35 AM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

It's worth a try, yeah? I mean, lately I've been telling myself they can't yell at me if it's art, right? If they do, they are obviously being terrible, and I seem like the rational person.

So... have a cat. And more poetry is forthcoming. I'm always open to more resources I can share.

Post on my personal Facebook with the following text: I don’t react quickly to news stories (too many stories, overwhelming feelings, actually I do respond but not online), but that doesn’t mean I want to say nothing. I just want to do it well.

One way to do it well is to respond with art. It puts me in a place to ask questions, go learn more, and process feelings. Another is by finding out “what can we do?” I’m used to hearing either “all we can do is vote” or “there’s nothing we can do,” but neither of those is true. So, that’s how I’ll be posting.

You can find all of my poetry here: https://jackiemcg.substack.com/t/poetry

As often as possible, I’ll include a little bit about what the poem is in response to or inspired by and what we can do about it.

You may not agree with everything I say, but I hope you learn something. I hope you find something you do agree with a take a step to improve your community. I hope my poetry will challenge you to think differently and ask questions about a subject so you think about it in a new way.

Happy reading.

My fluffy cat on the couch amongst blankets and pillows. His side belly fluffy covers most of his face, but you can see one eye looking at you and his ears poking up.

February 25, 2025 at 8:53 PM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

Who has read this book?? Because I’m nearly done and I’m going to have to have a conversation about it!

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. Kindle on a green mat on a table.

February 16, 2025 at 1:17 AM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

I thought I would just repost all my poems from the last few years, and I still will. But there are also too many reasons for new ones.

Like these signs—we shouldn’t need them again, but here we are.

Protest sign that says “LAS FAMILIAS MERECEN ESTAR UNIDAS”

January 28, 2025 at 1:45 AM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

don’t look away
from the pain
brought by news
that doesn’t
touch your life
but tore theirs apart.

Protest sign that says “FAMILIES BELONG TOGETHER”

January 28, 2025 at 1:42 AM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

Got to spend the morning at the site of the forthcoming SA Arboretum. Good things are happening. 💜🌳

More/support: www.arboretumsa.org

January 25, 2025 at 6:14 PM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

What a book day!

📚Onyx Storm delivered
📚approved for Emily Wilde on NetGalley
📚The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love available from the library (not pictured)

Onyx Storm and Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales (kindle) on a green blanket.

January 22, 2025 at 12:08 AM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

A 20-degree difference used to be a big deal. Now we have 30- and 40-degree differences in a day… multiple in one week.

Showing 6 days of the weather forecast. Two days are circled. Monday the 30th shows high of 90, low of 52. The 31st shows high 73, low 44. The rest of the days are normal ranging from 44 to 75.

Another 6-day forecast. Sunday the 5th is circled with a high of 76 to a low of 33.

January 4, 2025 at 2:19 AM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

I have wanted to make veg decorated focaccia forever. The artist child helped me with it. 🍄

Focaccia in a round pizza pan. The cherry tomatoes are the mushroom tops with onion pieces as the mushroom stem. Basil leaves arranged in pairs between each mushroom.

B decorating the focaccia with cherry tomatoes and onion pieces to look like mushrooms and fresh basil leaves.

November 28, 2024 at 7:20 PM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

Everyone loves @explore.org at our house.

Explore.org wolves on screen with a few crows. The black cat is peeking out from behind the curtain.

The black cat is staring at the screen where the crow has perked up. The cat has a paw on the desk.

The cat is now fully on the desk sniffing at the crow on the computer screen. Apparently, cat is oblivious to the white wolf, the main reason I’m watching.

November 25, 2024 at 9:47 PM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

My 10yo and I might have a problem. We each reserved 2 books from the library but both left with 3.

And by problem I mean big plans for the weekend.

(Here’s most of our stack. He’s already started reading.)

Our stack of books from bottom (the biggest book) to top (the smallest):
The Mask Falling by Samantha Shannon
Wild Life by Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant
The Bird Way by Jennifer Ackerman
One Piece #2
One Piece #23

November 22, 2024 at 1:58 AM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

Library find: a crepe for every occasion.

My hand holding a book with an old paper cover: You Can Do Anything With Crepes—as Appetizers, Main Courses, Desserts. The cover art features a red plate with 3 rolled crepes that have a creamy sauce and shrimp in and on top.

November 22, 2024 at 1:14 AM

Jackie McGinnis

@jackiemcg.bsky.social

Never forget this Mary.

“Cast down the mighty
Fill the hungry
Lift the lowly
Send the rich away.”

Image: The artist Ben Wildflower's depiction of Mary, based on the Magnificat.