Marguerite
LightNews LightNews
marguerites.bsky.social
Marguerite
@marguerites.bsky.social
850 followers 180 following 970 posts
Soprano, tech person, fan conrunner. Not usually in that order.
Posts Replies Media Videos
marguerites.bsky.social
Ha, and looking at the full thread, the author is @hugobookclub.bsky.social. Good job, Olav.

(Also adding a repost for alt text. More people should get to enjoy this.)
A slide on a large screen behind a speaker’s table, clearly set up for a talk/lecture. Why do the Nazis of today love Alternate History? • Because fascism is premised on nostalgia for an idealized past, and AH is a sandbox to play with alternate pasts. • Many AH stories are about the Second World War, and brain-rotted fascists stupidly miss the point of those stories. • Asshole losers like to imagine a world where they aren’t losers.
November 28, 2025 at 8:35 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
The #nytxword with a cryptic clue! And it’s one of @brainmage.bsky.social ‘s go-to examples!

(It’s in the archive and is 25 years old, lest anyone think I’m spoiling a recent crossword.)
The clue is “A little lower”, 4 letters long. The answer is CALF. Lower as in “one who moos”, not lower as in altitude.
October 31, 2025 at 11:45 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
I’ll be fair to the driver and say that the car parked on the footpath next to the shelter blocked his view of me just as it blocked mine of him, but if I jump up and the people turning the corner start running, maybe a belatedly-signaled stop would still be appreciated.
A car is fully on the footpath and blocking visibility of oncoming traffic and the crossing just behind.
October 27, 2025 at 10:57 AM
marguerites.bsky.social
I hadn’t binned it.
A glossy flyer telling people to spoil their vote on Oct 24 (the Irish Presidential election). Local right-wing (independent-as-in-no-formal-party) councillor asking residents to spoil their vote, claiming both candidates are establishment — one is a party candidate but the other is a left-wing independent — and implying that complaints and frustrations can be fixed with the spoiled vote message.
October 25, 2025 at 1:15 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
Solidarity with @catsofyore.bsky.social
A cartoon black cat is smoking a cigarette, all against a jaunty yellow background that matches the cat’s eyes. Up the side is “Silence.”, and added across the bottom is “everything will be fine”.
September 24, 2025 at 9:07 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
I guess we should just be glad they don’t talk about having a blast?
ICONIC CITY-CENTRE HOTEL IN THE HEART OF BELFAST, IRELAND Looking for a great base to explore vibrant Belfast? The Europa Hotel puts you right in the centre of the action, with the city's best shopping, entertainment and cultural attractions just steps from your door. Only a 15-minute drive from George Best Belfast City Airport, this well-positioned hotel is ideal for both leisure travellers and those wanting to experience Belfast's rich heritage and lively atmosphere. When hunger strikes [edit: this is the bit that is thoughtless at best, given the actual hunger strikes and deaths thereby], The Causerie restaurant transforms fresh local ingredients into delicious….
September 14, 2025 at 8:15 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
At a café near the Anaheim convention center and they’re already getting ready for @laworldcon.bsky.social. Dragons? Puns? Could be both.
A chalkboard ad stand outside the Blossom Café in Anaheim. It has two cartoon dragons on it, one with a speech bubble saying “I’m tired.” The main text says “‘Dragon’ your feet? Come get a treat!”
September 8, 2025 at 4:50 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
This is an important letter from Karen Sugrue.

I know some devices handle OCR okay, but to be on the safe side for access I’m reposting with the words in alt text.
Madam — John Boyne's article about JK Rowling (An ode to my friend JK Rowling on her 60th birthday, July 27) refers to "grown women" who support trans rights as being "complicit in their own erasure" and likens our support of trans people to "being ready to pin a handmaiden down as her husband rapes her". Growing up in Ireland in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, I am one of the "grown women" he refers to. I remember vividly the treatment of women who did not look or act as we were told we should; the vitriol with which queer people were spoken about and treated; the scorn and shame heaped on parents of gay people; the Aids epidemic; the Kerry Babies trial; and I remember Ann Lovett, dying cold, alone and terrified. The "grown women" of Ireland remember very well what erasure and control and lack of bodily autonomy feels like, and it is for that very reason that we stand so passionately with the trans community today. Over 10,000 people marched for trans rights through the streets of Dublin. They, like me, simply want for the trans community what we want for ourselves - dignity, respect and the right to make medical decisions about our bodies in privacy with our doctors. Karen Sugrue, co-chair, Mammies for Trans Rights
August 3, 2025 at 9:14 AM
marguerites.bsky.social
A lovely view, nonetheless.
Dublin’s red and white Poolbeg Chimneys rise above a power station on the Liffey River. The sun is shining, the water is calm, and wisps of summer fog are just drifting across.
July 11, 2025 at 6:42 AM
marguerites.bsky.social
Bags, boxes, they’re always a little funny in my house.
Moving boxes are stacked in a hallway. The top one has a young tabby cat peeking her head up from under the flap. A paper bag lies on its side on a wooden floor. It is perfectly ordinary except for the furry black tail curling out.
July 5, 2025 at 8:59 AM
marguerites.bsky.social
If you see this, post a picture from your device without an explanation.
A street-side utility box painted with a cartoonish gull wearing a puffy “South Side” (North Face) jacket, with a stylish bag over their shoulder, long eyelashes, lipstick on the tip of their beak, glasses on top of their heads and a ketchup-covered chip hanging out of their mouth like a cigarette.
June 25, 2025 at 7:47 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
Because some of the people I need to reply to use screen readers:
Not selected: I was ignoring you Not selected: I forgot Selected: I saw your text and told myself that I was going to respond, but I wanted to finish what I was doing first. After that, I got side-tracked and went to do something else and completely forgot your text even existed because I was stuck in my own tiny world until I went to text you days or even weeks later about something completely unrelated Transciber’s note: option 3 is completely different from option 2, I swear. I usually have several cycles of being reminded, starting to reply, and then getting side-tracked. Focus and executive function are things to cherish.
June 22, 2025 at 4:59 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
Despite how much it took over my garden previously, I was glad to see a baby ragwort peeking out the other day, as I hadn’t seen any so far this year. No ragwort, no cinnabar moths (and reduced numbers of other creatures).
The distinctive yellow flowers and green rosettes or leaves of common ragwort peeking out among longer grasses.
June 16, 2025 at 3:10 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
Despite how much it took over my garden previously, I was glad to see a baby ragwort peeking out the other day, as I hadn’t seen any so far this year. No ragwort, no cinnabar moths (and reduced numbers of other creatures).
The distinctive yellow flowers and green rosettes or leaves of common ragwort peeking out among longer grasses.
June 16, 2025 at 3:10 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
The info is there, and yet it’s not filling me with confidence.
A language-free diagram of how to attach a light fixture to the wall and connect the wiring.
June 4, 2025 at 3:14 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
Almost any Thomas Canty cover, but particularly the first three Keltiad books. One was fully metallic silver, to boot!

How do you describe his style? A cross of Art Nouveau/Mucha with some Pre-Raphaelite influence?
Stylised, lots of use of line work, but striking single figures front and centre.
A set of three books side by side. All covers focus on a central female figure in an art nouveau-esque style, posed and stylised.
May 26, 2025 at 5:51 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
Travelling down O’Connell Street, I noticed this inset in a building by the Liffey. Do we think it was originally connected to the wind vane up top and moved to more easily display the current wind direction to all below? Or is it coincidence / decorative. (I mean originally. I assume it is now.)
A building with a slightly shabby red-brick facade stands taller than its neighbours. In the “attic” space, above the highest windows but below the peak of the roofline, there is a large, patina-ed compass rose with what appears to be a movable indicator. There is also a small metal wind vane set up directly above, at the highest point of the facade.
May 22, 2025 at 7:57 AM
marguerites.bsky.social
I was so confused, because this peony bloom is definitely neither the deep burgundy of Buckeye Belle nor the pale pink of Sarah Bernhardt, and the others I’ve planted are too young to bloom yet. Then I remembered I had ordered and planted Julia Rose in the first batch. Mystery solved.
A nearly-open Itoh peony bloom with a set of delicately-ruffled petals somewhere between peach orange and a lush pink. They are allowing a sneaky peek into the centre, where the yellow stamens hide. It should bloom fully in another day or so.
May 17, 2025 at 2:57 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
#BloomScrolling

It’s happening!
I got my first peony plant a bit more than 2 years ago. I now have 7, theoretically.

This is the first flower I’ve gotten out of any of them. Pretty sure this is “Buckeye Belle”, but I’ll get more clues when it’s fully open. (Mark what I plant? Pshaw!)
Dappled sunlight falls on the bright green leaves of a peony and an unfurling red-pink flower bud. It’s nestled among a red rose bush, long grasses, and the delicate white flowers of comfrey.
May 14, 2025 at 10:49 AM
marguerites.bsky.social
Yeah, definitely sounds familiar.
Two sleeping cats in mirrored curves - mostly it’s just their paws touching, except that each has a rear leg extended as though they’re chest-kicking the other. Fight sleep groom sleep coexist.
May 13, 2025 at 11:40 AM
marguerites.bsky.social
Millie has no sense of personal space.
A tabby cat cuddles in the entrance of a cat cave. The dark void at one end is not actually empty, but is the head of a black-headed cat - the rest of her is mostly underneath the tabby.
May 13, 2025 at 11:04 AM
marguerites.bsky.social
Only the first few I found in my roll: Pat Byrne / Jam Art Factory for the peacock music, @prayforpatrick.bsky.social for the risograph punt and three of the stamp prints, with Brian Ó Muirí / blagbeag providing the cuig pingin.
A peacock perched on the large trumpet of an old phonograph, all printed on an old page of music. Three overlapping images of the old Irish stag punt coin, one cyan, one yellow, and one magenta, with details picked out in black. A quartet of framed linocuts based on old Irish stamps: 1) Éire pingin (Ireland one penny) in red, 2) Éire cuig pingin (Ireland five penny) in a dark blue, 3) “Rialtas Sealadach na hÉireann 1922” / “Provisional government of Ireland 1922” overprinted on a UK 2p in orange — one of the first stamps issued by the State, and 4) “Saorstát Éireann 1922” / “Irish Free State 1922”overprinted on a UK halfpenny stamp in green. The detail in the recreation is wonderful, and specific enough that you could probably date the source stamps from what’s included.
May 12, 2025 at 11:05 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
Oh so it’s *your* fault.
A mass of yellow-green cloud with a very defined front edge overwhelming the blue sky. A “sedimentary” view of layers of clouds moving across the sky.
May 12, 2025 at 9:02 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
I used to have to turn right onto Gardiner Street. If I got lucky, it was only crossing three lines of traffic. Often it was four, sometimes with cycle traffic. (You’ll note from the 2019 picture that it’s been a two-lane road for years and years, but that didn’t stop drivers from widening things.)
An overhead view of Gardiner St Lower looking from the railway bridge toward Talbot St and northward. The road is jammed with cars for blocks - two rows in each direction - even though the road markings indicate that it’s only one (admittedly wide) lane each way.
May 12, 2025 at 1:26 PM
marguerites.bsky.social
No scaffolding on Findlaters! This hasn’t been the case in years. Decades? And the stone’s all been cleaned, as well. It actually took me a minute to realise what I was(n’t) looking at.
The pale stone of Findlater’s church rises proudly against a bright May sky with idealized, fluffy clouds behind. There has been work going on for many years, both repairs and cleaning. The church had centuries of city smut on it, turning the stone nearly black with soot and exhaust, and now it gleams a mix of pale blue-grey and nearly cream, showing the patterns in the stone for the first time in ages.
May 5, 2025 at 12:45 PM