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tumblesticks.bsky.social
tumblesticks
@tumblesticks.bsky.social
430 followers 650 following 440 posts
(Sue K.) 🇨🇦
Artist, drummer, relaxer. She/her #yeg
Currently into: all things Tolkien, Arkham Horror LCG, pixel art, gouache painting, Long Covid recovery, hockey #canucks, my cats

Currently out of: my wheelchair now, except for longer trips!
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dang, it's not even 8:30pm and the aurora is DARK RED, even with the full lights of downtown!

I've never seen it like this here before #yeg
kind of fuzzy phone camera photo of the night sky over a lowrise apartment building. In the sky is a fuzzy-edged, deep magenta stripe of an aurora, with a little cyan/jade green to either side.
November 12, 2025 at 3:22 AM
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Celebrating 🎃Halloween tonight with Arkham Horror: the Card Game by playing this team of older investigators with husband

Yes, for the first time since they disbanded in 1887, the League of Respectably Capable Gentlefolk reunite for once last mission: to solve the mystery of the Scarlet Keys!
A player card from Arkham Horror LCG: George Barnaby, The Lawyer. He's an elderly man with shaggy hair and a long white beard, holding a book in one hand and a pipe in the other. Class: Survivor A player card from Arkham Horror LCG: Norman Withers, The Astronomer. He's also an elderly man, with a long white beard, pictured in this card looking through a pile of books with a globe to one side. Class: Seeker A player card from Arkham Horror LCG: Charlie Kane, The Politician. An older man, balding, wearing a dark suit with a red tie and smoking a cigar while grinning. He's standing at a lecturn. Class: Neutral A player card from Arkham Horror LCG: Agatha Crane, the Parapsychologist. An elderly woman with short, 1920s styled white hair. She's turning the pages of an ancient tome wearing gloves and a white labcoat. Over one eye she wears a special device- the Ocula Obscura. Class: Mystic
November 1, 2025 at 12:16 AM
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Good news, Esme's doing a lot better! She's still got some sniffles, but otherwise she's eating and sleeping well, and is almost back to full cheek puffiness!

(I still feel like a the world's biggest asshole when I have to give her the daily antibiotics though)
A photo of Esme, our cute dilute calico cat, sitting on a green blanket. Her fur looks much nicer than before. Another photo of Esme, laying down on her blanket and squinting happily.
October 26, 2025 at 1:02 AM
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ok! I think I got these from an artist's youtube many years ago but I can't remember who it was for the life of me. Anyways, I find this works pretty well for most brushes
an image of the pressure sensitivity graph in the ipad app "Procreate"
October 22, 2025 at 11:16 PM
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My little girl cat is extremely sick with something (fever, sneezy nose, lethargy) and we're headed to the vet right now. She's only lived with me less than a year but she means everything to me and I am so stressed right now. Prayers and good thoughts appreciated
A dilute calico cat sitting in front of a window. She is young (1 1/2 years old) and her fur is not as well kept as usual :(
October 18, 2025 at 5:59 PM
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#tolkientober #tolkienTrewsday Day 14: Colours


After the defeat of Sauron and the destruction of Dol Guldur, the wood elves celebrate as colours begin to return to the once dark forest of Mirkwood, now renamed Eryn Lasgalen (Wood of Green Leaves)

7”x7”, gouache on 100% cotton coldpress
A small gouache painting in teals, greens, and yellows. A tangle of moss-covered tree branches in the foreground are darker, and in the background lighter. Bright new leaves sprout from all the foreground trees, and small round lanterns that glow with a soft yellow light are hung from various branches
October 14, 2025 at 6:37 PM
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Fire department was doing testing in our building. Immediately after hearing “testing, testing” through the speaker I looked over and saw Stitch standing on the end table and making this face. He did not move AT ALL for at least a minute
Photo of a white cat, standing up with his front paws on a living room end table. He’s looking into the distance, and his mouth is shaped in a tiny little frown. How could an interesting stranger be somewhere in the house and not pay attention to gentle Stitch?
October 10, 2025 at 10:57 PM
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Acalico Mouth yes a place for a box put box in calico mouth can trust calico for giveing good cronmch to box. friend calico

#caturday
a small calico cat biting the top flap of a cardboard box. along the top of the flap is an almost perfectly even row of teeth marks from previous bites a cardboard berry box, on a table. the tops have been completely chewed, just little crescent bites taken out of the tops of all the sides
October 5, 2025 at 1:40 AM
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put box in calico mouth

calco Mouth perfec t size for put box in to c\ronch! inside very Sharp and Perforate box crunch sound put box in Calico Mouth. Put Box In Calico Mouth. no problems ever in calicco mouth because good Teeth and Bite for box weak cardboard side and flaps.

#caturday
photo of a small calico cat with her mouth open, top fangs exposed and about to sink into a delicious cardboard box a closer photo of the same calico cat, still trying to bite the cardboard box. Her tongue is out and her eyes are intense!
October 5, 2025 at 1:39 AM
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finally kicked this guy's butt last night
Three game cards representing Cthulhu, the final boss of the latest Arkham Horror Card Game campaign "The Drowned City". The art is gorgeous (Fantasy Flight are committed to only using human artists for their games!) and each card shows his wings, visage, and claws that you have to fight. In the background, the city of Arkham both burns and floods.
September 30, 2025 at 2:13 AM
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anyway, trying new things is hard, but fun!

for me, the process of gouache painting feels sooo good even if I don't (yet) like the results as much as my digital art, and I'm excited to keep going

And yes I DO keep trying to tap the "undo" buttons when I make a brushstroke I don't like 🤡
The background layer of my painting, which has a blended glowing sky (to put the lantern over later), and the farthest trees of the forest silhouetted against it. The next layer of the painting, which are the dark foreground trees. The tree on the right has its details mostly filled in, but the one on the left is still entirely dark.
September 28, 2025 at 8:51 PM
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Here's the actual professional image from the tutorial (Ruth Wilshaw is the artist)

I tried to make my painting look a bit like Lindon with the lantern, different foliage, and the leaves on the path but I think I may have been overly ambitious
A screenshot of the tutorial I watched, from Ruth Wilshaw’s “Get Goauchey” course. It shows a much more adept version of the painting I tried to make!
September 28, 2025 at 8:40 PM
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for the first time since I got Long Covid almost 3 yrs ago, I was able to finish a painting today! please be encouraging of my attempt😅 
I’m still very much a beginner when it comes to gouache & I’m also fairly weak when I have to sit upright for long periods (which doesn’t help my brush control)
This is a small gouache painting of a path through forest at night, illuminated by a fancy lantern hanging from a tree branch over the path. There are fireflies glowing all about. The colours are various blues, greens, and pale yellows with a touch of burnt sienna.
September 28, 2025 at 8:38 PM
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in loving memory of Maru 💔😭 , here is Esme carrying on his proud tradition

#sad #caturday
September 6, 2025 at 6:21 PM
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Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you joy and happiness.
August 6, 2025 at 3:11 AM
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you were right! 375 for 12 minutes turned out to be the optimal temp/cook time

they were the perfect side dish for the fried haloumi cheese I needed to use up tonight, thanks for the inspiration and notes!
A bowl with a few servings of air-fried potato chips, sliced 1/4 inch thick and spiced with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. The chips look crispy and golden brown
July 6, 2025 at 1:21 AM
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celebrated Canada Day as a Canadian citizen last night by walking down to the legislature bldg to watch the fireworks (I love living downtown!)

also got this very tiny Canadian flag. Mr. Tumblesticks says every year I'll receive a slightly larger flag until I've fully & comfortably assimilated
A small crowd stands in the large fountain plaza in front of the brightly lit legislature at night. In the sky, red and white fireworks explode as the crowd looks up A small red and white Canadian flag attached to a toothpick, laying on a table
July 2, 2025 at 7:40 PM
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today starts my husband's 3rd year of volunteer tree planting, and my first!

he dug the holes for me, but I was able to plant ten whole trees myself, and I bet I can do a lot more next week

#yeg #RootForTrees
A photo at a local park. There are about six flats of different kinds of native baby trees for the volunteers to plant, such as Trembling Aspen, Balsam Poplar, Green Alder, plus some wild rose bushes and Saskatoon berries. The grass behind them is very high, but apparently that helps the little trees to survive.
June 21, 2025 at 9:39 PM
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Reminder: tonight's a good night to check out any old maps you've been carrying around for secret moon runes, because it's mid-summer's eve and there'll be a crescent moon!

(credit to www.reddit.com/r/tolkienfan... )
An image of Thror's map to the Lonely Mountain from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit". The moon letters that were read by Elrond on mid-summer's eve are shown, and can be translated to, "Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's day will shine upon the keyhole"
June 20, 2025 at 6:44 PM
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Advice please!

I accidentally own an ultrasonic diffuser now, along with a bunch of ... stuff?

and while I do believe in a lot of nonsense I'm also Granny Weatherwax & don't hold with aromatherapy

is there anything else can I do with all this? can I get it to make NICE smells?
a package of wellness stuff I guess? It's all sitting on my little cafe table in the morning sun. There's a white diffuser packed in its box, two leather zipper pouches full of oils, a cleaning kit, and some kind of gift pouch I haven't even looked in yet
June 19, 2025 at 9:03 PM
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turn the sound on if you want to hear my weird cat snoring because he fell asleep with his face inside a cracker box on top of a pile of junk
June 19, 2025 at 5:20 AM
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it's the weekend, time to make another big batch of chickpea vegetable salad! there's something so soothing about slicing lots of different pretty foods
a big metal bowl full of brightly coloured food: cucumbers, red bell peppers, grape tomatoes, red onions, chickpeas, olives, & feta cheese
June 15, 2025 at 5:29 AM
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guess what, i'm now watering six little guys each day! i got a new big hanging thing full of petunias at the grocery store

pictured below with Esme the beautiful and perfect girl
A little spotted calico cat stands in a deck chair and sniffs a hanging planter with purple spotted petunias in it. Almost the same photo, and the little cat is still standing on the deck chair, but now she gazes brightly up and to the left, excited by all things around her as usual
June 6, 2025 at 12:57 AM
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in LC recovery news:

today I was able to go to the garden store with mr. tumblesticks and get a few plants & strawberries for our balcony! Esme (pictured below) "helped" me pot them

I feel like I'm at a point where I can absolutely water 5 little guys once a day? but I suppose we'll see 💧🌿🙏
A small balcony in an apartment building, with some plant stands and little plants in the background. In the foreground there's my lounge chair, and my little girl cat Esme (a dilute calico cat) looking happily up at the sky. She loves balcony time!
May 17, 2025 at 12:36 AM
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Quote post with a picture of the plane you’d expect as a bribe
It's an Air New Zealand Jet, with both Eowyn and Arwen from the Lord of the Rings films painted on the side
May 14, 2025 at 7:29 PM