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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel
@laurelfynes.bsky.social
8.2K followers 970 following 8.2K posts
learning from the world, my family, students, birds, trees, plants, waterways, relationships. unlearning. biophiliac. growing roots along great lake ontario. settler. she/her. class site: https://bsky.app/profile/k2westacres.bsky.social
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 4h
If it’s as good as it smells, I’m trying it but with added plums, too. It’s Italian plum season. Mmmmm.
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 4h
Truly the best smell. I love Concord grapes but I’m the only one in the house that eats them, so the fact they only come in large baskets can be an issue.
This year I decided to follow up on that recipe I read over a decade ago. Just waiting for the ice cream bowl to freeze…
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 5h
A slow and delightfully messy process, but I’m finally doing something I’ve wanted to do for years. Fresh Concord grapes make the best smelling sorbet starter I’ve ever smelled. It’ll be a while until the ice cream compote and mixing bowl are chilled. Sorbet tomorrow… what a colour! 🍇
Two glass measuring cups on a wooden cutting board, one with sugar and a much larger one with washed Concord grapes. A lemon sliced in half is in front of them. Strained purple compote, made from the ingredients in the earlier photo.
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 7h
I just looked it up. They’re related. Do yours turn as colourful as ours?
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 14h
Good morning! From my beloved morning view to yours, across the prairies and over time zones.
A narrow tunnel of trees lining a little breakwater spit with ends in the open water of Lake Ontario. The trees are leafy and green, though the dirt path through them is dotted with golden leaf litter. The early morning sun shines at the end of the tunnel, orangy light making the trees at the end glow.
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 14h
Morning has the most magical moments.
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 14h
The view from here.
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 14h
Heading east.
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 14h
Morning over Lake Ontario. A stripe of pink before sunrise, moon still shining in the sky with a small selection of stars and planets.
A band of peachy pink light on the horizon between dark blue sky and waves on Lake Ontario as seen from the shore, looking southeast. A bit of land at left is in silhouette, topped with trees. The moon in crescent, and a tiny, dim light which is most likely Venus, in the sky high above.
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 1d
Whoa…
They have been spotted on the Don and in my area (nearby Sam Smith Park, in the marina) several times in the last few years.
Now, we do have mink galore in the city, but if it was big and had a wide, whiskery face - otter!
laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 1d
🧐
No, it’s brilliant
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 1d
So while he seems to catch that early on, his conclusions are the opposite- that it’s poorly written or poorly executed… huh. I get that Deerhoof pushes boundaries. But THIS song? It’s like a building storm, a rising tide that sweeps you along. Fascinating to hear him find only fault. 🤯
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 1d
I’m fascinated by this reaction. This is one of my favourite of their songs, and I’ve got (mumble, mumble) of their albums so there’s loads to love. But this song is one of those “stay in the car after arriving” songs. A “shush everyone” song. It gives me chills.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttqx...
Composer Reacts to Deerhoof – Jagged Fruit (REACTION & ANALYSIS)
YouTube video by Critical Reactions
www.youtube.com
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Reposted by Laurel
napaaqtuk.bsky.social
Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · 1d
Western Alaska was hit hard by the recent storms. Houses floated away in Kipnuk, houses flipped over, people lost everything from the flooding that came with the storms. Please donate if you can. This group has a long history of supporting AK communities.

alaskacf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/c...
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 1d
The opposite is absolutely true, too. Happened to me this year. Kept reading, though I wasn’t happy about it.
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Reposted by Laurel
weedenkim.bsky.social
Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 1d
Photos coming out of Western AK are devastating.

Hardest hit are indigenous villages off road system, many miles by air from supplies. Most built on river deltas w/ no high ground to which to escape.

Cuts to NASA/NOAA mean worse weather data. Cuts to EPA mean no grants for erosion control. Etc.
newseye.bsky.social
News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 1d
These are mostly indigenous communities in Alaska that have been slammed by the storm.

The local manager of a small airline fleet says he is the only one doing evacuations right now!

Defund FEMA and people are abandoned. Defund public media and no-one knows.

FYI, today is Indigenous Peoples Day.
Homes flooded in Kipnuk Flooding seen with water up to the crash barriers of local roads Sheds and debris lie scattered in the storm A small blue house has been blown onto its roof
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 1d
Grubs! Gotta be some good grubs under there…
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 1d
Wanna feel uplifted? Love plants and how they interact with the flora and fauna around them? Watch this. I already adore Joey, so it’s lovely to see someone who inspires him. It’s nearly 20 minutes but man, I could listen to these guys talk all day.

youtu.be/pCUBWtWV-y4?...
Public Landscaping...with Native Plants!
YouTube video by Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't
youtu.be
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 2d
Whoops - completely missed it. 🤓
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 2d
Right?
Sure, it’s there because they buried the creek that ran here a century ago… but it’s a fantastic spot.
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 2d
Sweetgum gifts I gathered from under the tree. See why I love them? They’re spectacular!
A stack of sweetgum leaves arranged with largest at the back, smaller leaves on top. The pile is twisted to show the range in colours from pale yellow, orange, green, scarlet red, deep burgundy, and splotchy versions with a bit of each colour. Even the stems show this range of colour. They’re all from one tree. The largest sweetgum leaf, varying from burgandy, green, yellow and pinkish red. Two spiky brown sweetgum balls, one including the branch it fell with, are below the leaf. The whole sweetgum collection, better to judge the size of the larger leaf.
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 2d
Those were yesterday’s visit, here’s a few from today. Cold rain kept my stroll short, this morning. I went back for sweetgum leaves and dawn redwood cones. Turkey tail was a bonus.
A dawn redwood tree in front of a sugar maple (seen as orange through the redwood boughs). Paths crisscross behind the trees, orange leaves are scattered on the grass. Sweetgum cones, still tight balls of green, dangling on soft needles branches. Bickford Centre is a blur behind it. Turkey tail mushrooms on fallen wood with yellow willow leaves.
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 2d
Two gorgeous trees I met recently here: a youngish sweetgum, starting to drop leaves in a range of colours, and a still-green tulip poplar.
A sweetgum tree standing alone in grass next to the path leading through a park, a school building at the northern edge showing above bright red maples further up the path. A tall but still slender tulip poplar stands near other trees in a grassy bowl of a park in a small ravine. A weeping willow grows behind it, at left.
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 2d
I love Bickford Park. Christie Pits is just across Bloor, with playground structures for ages, baseball amd pool and more. But Bickford has trees around a grassy bowl, secret stairs and magnificent trees. It’s also one place you can get down to the grate in the grass & hear buried Garrison Creek.
The same scene as the last post, zoomed out: a red maple has lost a lot of leaves, resulting in a large red skirt u see it on the otherwise green hill. A few trees are showing early changes, orange and gold against green. The path has puddles from earlier rain. A massive maple, leaves still green, forms a wide canopy over the fenced in dog run area at the bottom of the hill. The tree boughs reach out far from the trunk, many horizontally. The red maple from the last photo shows at the left. A stacked handful of bright red, yellow and burgundy sugar maple and ash leaves held in my hand in focus while the tree-lined path beyond is a soft blur. A few trees show orange or yellow amidst the green. Houses, garages and cars are seen at left in the laneway.
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laurelfynes.bsky.social
Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 2d
Boom, bust, echo.
A park scene after rain. Benches are set off to the left, a restroom building at right, and a paved path curving up the hill to the left past a red maple tree with a skirt of fallen red leaves beneath it. Near me, a puddle on the path reflects the red maple branches and sky.
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