Rachel Lense is Professionally Curious
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rachellense.bsky.social
Rachel Lense is Professionally Curious
@rachellense.bsky.social
4.8K followers 630 following 720 posts
Science communicator, artist | She/They 🏳️‍🌈 | Views = mine

Add me on Finch! 🐥 9Y176YFQTH

📃 Online Portfolio (rachellense.com)
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rachellense.bsky.social
The spouse captured this photo of Bubby and me the other day. Easily one of my new favorite photos, double chin and all. #catnap
A gray and white cat snuggles up to his owner's face on a bed. His hind legs are kicked up straight against the owner's pillow. The owner is wearing a face mask with whiskers that says "cat nap" in cursive on it. The owner is lying on her side with her face centimeters away from the cats upthrust legs.
November 11, 2025 at 5:35 PM
rachellense.bsky.social
#Inktober entry number two: #weave!
An ink drawing of a spider weaving a web in a small notebook. A glass pen and black ink bottle are placed next to the drawing.
October 2, 2025 at 10:49 PM
rachellense.bsky.social
A day late for the start of #inktober, but here's my inky #moustache for those observing. Decided to use my glass pen for this.
A cartoon of a suave person with a top hat and a giant moustache doing a little dance. A glass pen and black bottle of ink are seen on a table covered in cardboard next to the drawing.
October 2, 2025 at 10:38 PM
rachellense.bsky.social
Today is my birthday. Two years ago, I launched my dream job at NASA. Now, I face my last day of employment there. My position, along with thousands of others, evaporated at the whim of a wannabe dictator and his self-serving lackeys. I'm thankful for the time I had, but sad it's ending like this.
A smiling woman stands in front of the NASA logo and holds two thumbs up. She has blue hair and glasses and is wearing a grey sweater and black pants, plus a backpack and a purse.
September 29, 2025 at 11:55 AM
rachellense.bsky.social
I really hate this timeline.
Screenshot of the homepage for www.war.gov. features a banner across the top of the page claiming it as an official website of the United States Government. Two dominant headlines read, "TRUMP RENAMES DOD TO DEPARTMENT OF WAR" and "This Week in DOW: 'DOD' is now 'DOW,' Hegseth Honors Newest Army Officers, Space Command Relocating, Narco-Terrorists Neutralized"
September 7, 2025 at 9:32 PM
rachellense.bsky.social
Hooray for 300 days of mental health and emotion management!
Colorful image of a yellow Finch birb happily looking at themself in the mirror surrounded by hearts. Text on the image says, "Daily Affirmation, I am enough."
September 6, 2025 at 1:11 AM
rachellense.bsky.social
Practicing my still life sketching. (Err... stilled life? Still death? Still something, anyway.) Thinking about adding some flowers into the sketch. What do you think? Thistles, sagebrush, and wheat grass perhaps?
#art #sketch #skull
Two animal skulls sit on a glass table with two red patio chairs in the background. The larger skull is propped on the smaller skull and has two large, curled horns. A sketch of the large skull in a sketchbook is in the foreground with pencils and pens next to it.
August 14, 2025 at 5:39 PM
rachellense.bsky.social
IT'S NOT FAIR HOW FLUFFY THEY ARE

The nerve they have to exist as intelligent beings with the right to bodily autonomy. How am I expected to NOT bury my face in their floof 24/7? Hmm??

Pls send help
A tri-color Rough Collie lazes about in a field of grass and clover. She's looking off to the left with her tongue out. Towering green trees fill the background. Two tri-color Rough Collies fill the frame. One is lying down, but alert, eyes intently looking off to the right with pointed ears standing tall. Her pink tongue hangs out of her mouth as she pants. The second Collie stands behind her sister, smelling something inquisitively in the grass.
August 5, 2025 at 11:37 PM
rachellense.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pics, describe your gender
A meme with a cartoon goblin wearing a tattered cape and pointy hat stands on a rock while holding up a dead branch like a wizard staff. The goblin is smiling with its tongue and a couple sharp teeth sticking out. Text on the top and bottom says, "WE MUST REMAIN SILLY TO SURVIVE THE HORRORS OF THIS WORLD"
June 20, 2025 at 4:11 AM
rachellense.bsky.social
200 days of #Finch! 🥳
That's 200 days of self-care, mood tracking, reflections, goal setting, and--perhaps most importantly--interior decorating and outfit creating. I have never stuck with anything good for me like this for this long. So thankful to the creators and all my birb friends. 💜
Screenshot of a black and green cartoon bird wearing a black starry dress and holding a black lyre. She has a green, white, black, and grey rainbow hat on her head. Text on the screen says "200 day streak" and Monday through Sunday are checked off with yellow suns. A screenshot of a hot pink and blue cartoon bird with bright green insect wings and a pink, green, and blue rainbow hat wears a sparkly blue fairy dress and holds a hot pink light saber sword. Text on the screen says "Woohoo! Blueberry munched on Bread and energized for Day 200" A rainbow colored cartoon bird with a rainbow hat and sunglasses wears an open pineapple Hawaiian shirt and turquoise shorts while holding a disability pride flag. She waves at the camera while standing in front of a veggie-themed room A celebratory image of a rainbow-colored cartoon bird wearing a hiking pack and holding a green flag looks happy while walking. She's in a grey circle, like an icon, superimposed on a cartoon Parisian background. Text on the image says "200 adventures completed" and, at the bottom, "Finch: Self-Care Pet" with the grey face of a cartoon bird next to it.
June 17, 2025 at 2:00 AM
rachellense.bsky.social
Looks like the Sun is leaning into his evil clown phase. The wisps of his fiery wig flap and twist as he spins his head to face us, while the solar wind streams from his gaping, lipsticked maw.

In other words:
Solar maximum == Bozo maximum 🤡 #heliophysics #clowningaround
An image taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Overseer shows the full disk of the Sun and parts of its surrounding corona in an eerie red color. A giant coronal hole in the shape of an open mouth spans almost the entire width of the Sun's face. Red lines have been drawn around the "lips" and a big red ball is placed directly above the open mouth where its clown nose would be. The Sun also has two large eyes above the mouth are drawn as blue dots.
June 15, 2025 at 3:39 AM
rachellense.bsky.social
She certainly is! We got her as a pup, but when she was about 6 months old, we realized she needed a friend, so we rescued another one from a farm. Meet Zelda and Jasmine. (Zelda, on the left here, is the one on the couch in the last image.)
Two rough collies with long black, tan, and white fur lie side by side on a wooden deck. Both dogs wear matching blue bandanas with a colorful circular pattern. They are looking up expectantly at the camera with eyes and ears on alert. A wicker chair and table are partially visible to the right.
June 6, 2025 at 3:15 PM
rachellense.bsky.social
I love how much this woman thought about the way time changes someone. This is her poem, Leaves, from 2018. (I believe she died shortly afterward.)
June 6, 2025 at 3:07 PM
rachellense.bsky.social
One of the many nicknames we have for her is Woolly Bear 🤎
A fluffy brown, black, and white Collie lies on a brown leather couch and rests her adorable head on the arm rest.
June 6, 2025 at 2:50 PM
rachellense.bsky.social
A friend of mine often used to say, "Wow, isn't this the most glorious fucking day god ever made?" Can't argue with that shit. Today is INCREDIBLE because you and I exist together. 💖

🎨: @falseknees.bsky.social
A four-panel comic featuring a brown bunny surveying what's around them. A small patch of violets is next to them. The bunny says, "What a beautiful fucking day. Nothing beats this shit. Look at that fucking flower. Shit it's good to be alive."
May 28, 2025 at 12:06 PM
rachellense.bsky.social
I've never kept a mood journal before, but now that I'm using #Finch, apparently I do. (It asks how you're feeling every time you open the app.) Boy, howdy, how my moods have changed over the months... What started at the end of January and has gotten increasingly worse since? 🙄
A mood tracker showing little boxes from December '24 to March '25. The boxes start out mostly green but start having a smattering of red around the end of January. A mood tracker showing little boxes from March '25 to May '25. The boxes are almost all some shade of red or neutral gray, with a tiny bit of green sprinkled here and there.
May 20, 2025 at 2:40 AM
rachellense.bsky.social
STAY TUNED FOR AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
My li'l Prince Bubster has adorably pink nose that fills me with joy. May it also bring happiness to you and yours today. 🩷
A grey and white cat's face looms large over his little body. He is sniffing the phone taking his photo, making his pink nose and lips ginormous compared to the rest of him.
May 13, 2025 at 2:39 AM
rachellense.bsky.social
Kids these days.
May 10, 2025 at 7:51 PM
rachellense.bsky.social
LOVE a good color chart! Actually referenced mine yesterday when deciding which colors to use on this hydrangea piece for Mother's Day (no, it's not great; yes, I'm still learning)
Photo of a piece of a hand holding a piece of white cardstock with watercolored pink and purple flowers and green leaves
May 9, 2025 at 3:28 AM
rachellense.bsky.social
Realized you can save outfits and furniture collections in #Finch. There goes my evening 🫠
(Also: be my birb friend! 9Y176YFQTH)
A cartoon finch character stands in a cozy bedroom with red carpet, a bed with red and white bedding, a nightstand, and a grandfather clock on the wall. The finch wears a wizard costume with a black star-covered hat, a purple robe with stars and a moon pendant, and holds a curled staff. A gray cat sits beside it. Below the main scene is a wardrobe menu displaying four outfit options: “LI’L MISS” (a white and blue dress with a frilly white headband and parasol), “MAGIC MAY” (a wand-wielding outfit with star antennae), “PINGÜINO” (a green penguin costume), and “PIRATE KID” (a colorful pirate outfit with overalls). The same finch character in the same wizard outfit and bedroom setting. Below the main scene is a second wardrobe menu with four different outfit options: “DA CAP’N” (a pirate outfit with a red coat, black befeathered hat, and hook hand), “FAIRY PRINCESS” (a sparkly blue fairy dress with purple butterfly wings and crown), “FIR KING” (a forest-themed robe with a crown of twigs and staff), and “GRAVY” (a funky throwback outfit with a pink jacket, light up glasses, and a watermelon swirl baseball hat).
April 30, 2025 at 2:33 AM
rachellense.bsky.social
How is this level of cute even possible? HOW?!
The most adorable tri color Collie looking away from the camera The most adorable tri color Collie looking at the photographer The most adorable tri color Collie looking directly at the camera AND INTO YOUR SOUL (which subsequently melts in adoration)
April 23, 2025 at 4:28 AM
rachellense.bsky.social
When shit hits the fan, where do you turn? For me, as shit slowly crescendos to firehose pressure washing the fan, I've been turning more and more to #poetry.

Here's the poem that spoke to me today:
my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell
by Gwendolyn Brooks
A screencapture of Gwendolyn Brooks' "my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell" from poetryfoundation.org. It reads: I hold my honey and I store my bread In little jars and cabinets of my will. I label clearly, and each latch and lid I bid, Be firm till I return from hell. I am very hungry. I am incomplete. And none can tell when I may dine again. No man can give me any word but Wait, The puny light. I keep eyes pointed in; Hoping that, when the devil days of my hurt Drag out to their last dregs and I resume On such legs as are left me, in such heart As I can manage, remember to go home, My taste will not have turned insensitive To honey and bread old purity could love.
April 11, 2025 at 9:05 PM
rachellense.bsky.social
Wendell Berry's famous poem feels so timely right now
A photo of a slightly yellowed book page with a dog-eared corner. Wendell Berry's "The Peace of Wild Things" is printed on the page. It reads: The Peace of Wild Things When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
March 15, 2025 at 5:56 PM
rachellense.bsky.social
Do we have the same glasses??
March 12, 2025 at 1:28 PM
rachellense.bsky.social
Happy happy Mario Day! May your day be sproingy, bright, and fun! #mar10day
A festive digital graphic celebrating Mario Day features a 3D-rendered image of Mario in his iconic red hat and blue overalls, jumping with a fist raised in the air. The text "HAPPY MAR10 DAY" is displayed in bold, colorful letters, with the number "10" integrated into the word "MARIO." A row of yellow Super Stars with small sparkles runs beneath the text. In the top right corner, a logo for the 35th anniversary of *Super Mario Bros.* includes characters like Luigi, Bowser, and Princess Peach. The background is primarily white with red borders, complementing Mario’s theme.
March 10, 2025 at 2:28 PM