Rita Briar she/they
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ritabriar.bsky.social
Rita Briar she/they
@ritabriar.bsky.social
320 followers 320 following 1K posts
Writer of SFF, Secretary of WisCon, gardener

USian told to be white; bisexual and non-binary

For: kittens & kindness; Against: kierarchy & prison

Pic alt: self-portrait in brush pen
Banner alt: eclipse pic from pi day 2025
Posts Replies Media Videos
ritabriar.bsky.social
Elder cat is far too content to move, and also it's lunchtime
Elder cat, curled into an oval shape to fit my jean-skirt lap. She has a big, contented grin that matches the sigh she just made.
November 11, 2025 at 6:12 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Mallow. It's Mallow.
Still of Mallow eating crunchy from a home made puzzle bottle. There's a cat-ion pun sticker showing in this one. The cat looks a bit like her.
October 28, 2025 at 2:16 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Guess who's getting another growth spurt?!
October 28, 2025 at 2:16 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Mallow at the vet! She loves the filter fan. Prolly makes it smell less like doggos.
Mallow, 14 months old, settled in a cat carrier with a personal fan. She looks cautious but also comfy.
October 9, 2025 at 8:04 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Sketching any ol wasp I happen upon
Brush pen sketch of a wasp in black ink with head, thorax, and wings, but only the stipes of the abdomen. The sketch is in a notebook pre-printed with a blue-green watercolor blob. Above on the page is a sketchier sketch of a spider and an amaranth seed head.
October 9, 2025 at 2:21 AM
ritabriar.bsky.social
I got video! They move like a plant!
September 16, 2025 at 12:00 AM
ritabriar.bsky.social
I had a visitor yesterday
Large light-green bug in a preying mantis or stick bug configuration. Facing away and resting on a weathered deck board.
September 14, 2025 at 4:00 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Random picture for good luck in September
Close up of a cicada in garden debris Tag: insect
September 9, 2025 at 10:31 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Cat update in photos. Pause plus action shot during playtime.
Paws: Mallow looking up. Her back is to us and we can see the whole top of her head. She has big eyes! She's generally a light-furred kitty with a dark, stipey tail and darker ears. Her back is toasted-marshmallow colored. She's on a light, textured soft blanket on a bright blue couch. Action: Mallow rearing back with one paw moving in a blur and eyes focused down and right. Her tail is straight and stiff for balance. Her head and other front paw are also slightly blurry. She's on a smooth bright blue striped blanket on a lavender couch.
September 9, 2025 at 10:19 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Today's sketch is cosmos seed
Scattered lines resembling long, skinny flower seeds on a blue-and-white pre-printed watercolor background. The background looks like sky. In the upper-left corner Sept 4 is written in brush pen. To the left in a bit of clear sky, cosmos seed is written in brush pen. The lines are in a neat column along the left, and more random around the rest of the page. A few lines are crossed, and a few are repeated parallel of each other.
September 4, 2025 at 2:45 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Next year, leave it to ripen more, so it produces these little black seeds!
Hand open next to nearly-ripe bright red amaranth flowers. In the palm of the hand are some amaranth seeds-just little black specks!-and light-brown chaff. The hand is light-skinned with a silvery wedding band and a purple marker smudge. The background has potted plants.
September 1, 2025 at 4:09 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Brush penmenship practice
Notebook with bright pink pre-printed watercolor splotches and rows of inconsistent letters in black, capital first and then lower-case. A silvery brush pen rests across the left-hand page, at a convenient angle for a lefty. The Os and Ps are artfully worked around the splotches, and the other letters are in rows, usually getting smaller to the right. Punctuation fills out the bottom of the right-hand page.
September 1, 2025 at 3:50 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Mallow in July
Mallow looking regal on a tilting squishy woven footstool. July 2025
August 2, 2025 at 3:58 AM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Mallow March-June
March 2025 Mallow looking out the window from the top of a cat tree. She is longer in her body and her head is almost big enough for her body. April 2025 Mallow standing on her back paws and looking at something she's jumping for. May 2025 Mallow chewing on her claw. June 2025 Mallow holding a long string with all 4 paws. The other end is being pulled on offscreen, making the string taut.
August 2, 2025 at 3:58 AM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Mallow Nov-Feb
Bonus Void Floof
Void Floof and Mallow curled & comfy. Void's paws are on Mallow's head, and Mallow has a blissful expression. Nov 2024 Dec 2024 Mallow is 50% back leg by length when folded Jan 2025 Long loooong Mallow! Stretched out, she's two or three feet long paws to paws. Feb 2025 Mallow has her head to the back of the couch seat, and her feet are hanging off the front
August 2, 2025 at 3:58 AM
ritabriar.bsky.social
In honor of Mallow's 1st birthday, here's 1 pic a month for the last 12 months (bonus pic to get both sisters' first snuggles)

Mallow Aug-Nov
Bonus Elder Cat
Mallow Aug 30, 2024 Fluffball stage, pure sugar fluff Mallow Sept 2024 Trying to shove an enture mousie toy in her mouth Mallow October 2025 Attitude! Still mostly fluffy sugar tho Mallow and Elder Cat curled up together on a blanket. November 2024
August 2, 2025 at 3:58 AM
ritabriar.bsky.social
I just found a pic of it:
Angie & Augie kittens, looking content and in each others' space in a carrier. The top's down and they're ready to cruise!
August 2, 2025 at 2:54 AM
ritabriar.bsky.social
I don't have any with all eight, but here's a sampler:
Three tiny fluffball kittens eating from open cat food cans. Mallow being a tiny marshmallow-colored fluffball. Stripey, hiding in the greenery with one of her kittens. Tuxo-Claes, eating from an open cat food can.
August 2, 2025 at 12:34 AM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Evidence of the baths part
Five wet cats on a towel on a cat bed in a bathtub. A blur to the left suggests a sixth cat. TuxoClaes is looking up with big, betrayed eyes. One grey stripey kitten, relatively dry, is looking directly at the camera is a self-satisfied way. Mallow is swatting playfully at the blur. The remaining two kittens are asleep. Pumpkin-kitten: tiny, in a sink, betrayed, and wet. She stands on a smaller wet towel with water running over her back. There're a small watering can & dawn dish soap on the edge of the sink. Wet Mallow-kitten being cradled & pet in a white guy's arm. His shoulder is way up so she can stand comfortably on his chest & arm.
August 2, 2025 at 12:24 AM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Again, in action!
July 17, 2025 at 3:24 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
A few days ago I finally used the @cabell.bsky.social rainbow bath bomb and it exceeded (very high) expectations
Lovely purple bath with foam & a cloud-shaped bath bomb in the middle. Perfect rainbow arc coming from the cloud, with less-perfect rainbow spiralling out from there, getting thinner as it gets further out into the bath.
July 17, 2025 at 3:22 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Behold! My first story sketch, inspired by a real spider
Loose brush pen sketches of a spider in 4 poses: curled up in the center of its web with "Zzz" next to it, popped out with alert lines around, pointed the opposite direction with an arrow indicating direction, and curled again with "Zzz"
June 30, 2025 at 1:53 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
I'm finally having a successful onion harvest this year
Laundry basket stacked with about a dozen half-formed onions, with greens & scapes filling the rest of the basket. Fluffy black cat making a gremlin face & trying to nom the end of an onion green.
June 24, 2025 at 11:23 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
@the-wanlorn.bsky.social When Hettie and Mack were visiting before they came to your house, there was much bouncing:
June 23, 2025 at 9:12 PM
ritabriar.bsky.social
Thrilled to report progress on the zucchini front
Close up of the base of a non-vining squash plant. There are over a half-dozen buds tucked between enormous leaf stems. The soil is covered by dead leaves and half-rotted avocado skins.
June 12, 2025 at 3:12 PM