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mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
@mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
310 followers 170 following 370 posts
International nomad.
Travel, collecting museums, photography, volunteering, writing, and researching family history. 🇨🇦🇬🇧
Happily married to the same man for 36 years.

All photos are my own unless otherwise indicated (eg. reposts), and copyrighted.
Posts Replies Media Videos
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
If tear gas is too dangerous for a battlefield, there is no justification for using it against people in our cities. Sign the petition. sign.moveon.org/petitions/te...
Tell Congress: Don’t silence dissent with tear gas
If tear gas is too dangerous for a battlefield, there is no justification for using it against people in our cities. Sign the petition.
sign.moveon.org
February 3, 2026 at 11:19 PM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
Just anthropomorphizing for the moment . . . I wonder if nature ever sweats, has angst or turmoil creating her works of art?

Beautiful capture by @misheleneous.bsky.social
misheleneous.bsky.social misheleneous Handmade Gifts | Home & Hound @misheleneous.bsky.social · 5d
Last one for #WeekDforDramatic

Thanks Sheena its been another great week of the #AlphabetChallenge

Nature is a dramatic artist given the right weather conditions and Jack Frost leaves his beautiful marks on our glass overnight sometimes

#EastCoastKin #StunDay #Photography #Nature #Weather #Winter
A pattern of frost on our conservatory roof panel in Prestwich, Manchester. Taken as the sun is coming up in the morning in winter. The sky gives a blue and pink cast to the design
February 2, 2026 at 8:20 AM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
An installation outside the #MinneapolisInstituteofArt always makes it a #Stunday for me.
Large enough to climb inside - weighing in at nearly 4,000 lbs, the 12’ by 7’ mammoth head is hard to miss.

#artimpersonatingart #snowscape #blueskyart #EastCoastKin #photographersofbluesky

See ALT for info
The lower third of this image, taken on a sunny, winter day, is of pristine snow in shadow. In the background are the oat-colored walls and tall window of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The mid-section of a large tree trunk frames the left edge of the photo. The rest of the middle third is taken by a huge bronze, sculptured head laying on its side. The bronze has taken on a green patina, and the eye sockets are empty. A slipped, and damaged bronze blindfold rests across the middle of the face. Due to the recent weather at the time of taking this photo, the upper half of the face is covered with snow with the exception of the opening where the left eye would be, and in this way it reminds me a little of the mask worn by ‘Erik’ in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production of Gaston Leroux’s ‘Phantom of the Opera’ - in effect it looks like Eros wears two masks [the blindfold and the snow]. ************** This large scale installation, ‘Eros’ is the work of the Polish artist Igor Mitoraj, who passed away in 2014. The God of Love - known as Eros to the Greeks, and Cupid to the Romans, we typically see him depicted in various art forms as a cherub with a bow and arrow to wound his victims with love; the blindfold he’s usually wearing is a symbol of how random the target of love may be. In Mitoraj’s creation, ’Eros’ has become an aging man–worn and, indeed, cracking. The artist’s message is complex, exploring several themes including love, beauty, fragility, vulnerability, decay, and suffering.
February 1, 2026 at 11:54 PM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
#JanuArty2026 and #ending, tying things up.

Decorative landscape post at Tsuru Island - in the #GreshamJapaneseGarden in #Oregon

#woven #BlueSkyArt #EastCoastKin #photographersofbluesky #traditional #Japanese #landscape #gardens #Willamette_Valley
Against a background of lush garden greenery, the upper part of a worn, warm brown wooden garden post is wrapped with a traditional tubular-woven cord that marks the ending of the edge of a path. The cord circles the post four times before ending in a knot. First begun in the 1970s by members of the Japanese-American Citizens League, they hand-built a beautiful space for the townspeople, in the historic downtown. Over many years later, it fell into disrepair. In the mid 2010s, a massive project to restore it, powered by local funding and an army of dedicated volunteers, it blossomed into one of the most popular gardens to visit in the Willamette-Valley.
January 31, 2026 at 11:25 PM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
. . . aaaaand it’s #BlueSkyArtShow #clouds - and I finally have a place to share the freakiest sky I ever saw!
Over #Portland #Oregon some years ago.

#classicmono #greyskies #eastcoastkin #photographersofbluesky #cloudscape #ominous
Hard to describe this grey and white image, with the bare tops of trees at the bottom edge. In the sky there is a really low level of clouds that have formed in a blanket with risen pockets of thinner coverage as evidenced by lighter color from above the cloud layer. Between these pockets are darker grey rounded ridges, all forming an organic cell tracery. To me it looks like an upside down polystyrene fruit layer separator with a lightbulb shining on the other side. I don’t know the proper name, but it looks like one of those pre-formed sheets with indentations that farmers put in the big boxes of fruit - spacing-out individual pieces to protect them from damage. I hope that makes sense. Alternatively - think of the batting inside a quilt that has been through too many washes and now it’s bunched up in ridges around threadbare pockets. Sorry if this doesn’t really help form a picture.
January 31, 2026 at 1:15 AM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
A little bit of #tranquility for #FishyFriday. A #stunning #koi at the #PortlandJapaneseGarden

#photographersofbluesky #nature #Oregon #ripples #reflections #blueskyart #eastcoastkin
An overhead, close-up of a large white, black and orange koi gracefully swimming in dark shaded waters. Green plants overhang the water from the left side of the image casting even darker ferny reflections. The slow movement of the fish forms ripples as it glides through the surface of the water.
January 30, 2026 at 11:55 PM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
#PortlandArtMuseum exhibited the American artist, Kate Hunt’s, ‘Floor’ piece nearly a decade ago.

#JanuArty2026 #connection #ArtYear #steel #paper #impermanence #patina #Abstractia #industrial #Abstract #photographersofbluesky #eastcoastkin #blueskyart
Across the light-colored wooden floor of the exhibit space, lay two approximately 10’ columns, crossed at one end - as one might imagine a giant to lay down his chopsticks. Each column is made of towering stacks of square pieces of newspaper, about 6” x 6”, which have been soaked to activate a natural adhesion. Then they are skewered at the four corners - the whole length of the column - and connected by steel rods, nuts and washers. The artist leaves these pieces outside in the harsh Montana winter, in snow and subzero temperatures, to take on the patina of faded wood and, according to the installation signage, “. . . the impermanence of its source material (current events in the newspapers) and, like our bodies, is subject to inevitable deterioration.” *********** Why? I’m continually attracted by patina and patterns in nature, art, and the world around me - observed in the wearing-down and transformation of surfaces by nature and human contact. Hunt’s creative work ‘Floor’ also included an element of fascination for me: that transition from the size overkill of four steel rods and nuts through a single 6” x 6” piece of newspaper at one end of the column, to becoming absolutely appropriate connectors at the other end of the column. Out of the thousands of installations I’ve seen, for some reason, this is one of those that’s stayed with me. This photo from above the installation on the wood floor in the corner of the gallery with white walls, gives a better perspective of the two columns, and a small 10” by 10” satchel bag placed in proximity is provided for scale.
January 30, 2026 at 11:33 PM
Reposted
roabrams.bsky.social
Watching a sunset at the town dock, taken through metal cables securing a boat to dock. For today’s #JanuArty2026 #connection #AlphabetChallenge #WeekDforDramatic #EastCoastKin #photograph #Scape
Looking at a dramatic sunset through metal cables
January 30, 2026 at 10:30 AM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
substack.com/@jennifercan...
Jennifer Canter (@jennifercanter)
Turns out, Lady Gaga singing "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" is exactly what we needed right now. 🥹⁠ ⁠⁠ (🎥 Rocket and Redfin, Lady Gaga)
substack.com
January 30, 2026 at 5:23 PM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
#scape day! A sunny, cold #winter day at #Flatford, #Suffolk.

#reflections make it twice as good!
#blueskyart #photographersofbluesky #waterscape #JohnConstable #constablecountry #thatch #barnconversion #eastcoastkin #Englishcountryside #artistscountry
While visiting the hamlet of Flatford in East Bergholt, Suffolk, to see the famous mill - once owned by, and the subject of more than one of John Constable’s works of art - this nearby building, and it’s doppelgänger in the water, caught my attention. Across a mirror-like river, a large converted, thatched barn and other buildings stand in a row in the upper third of the photo, such as to provide a perfect mirror image in the lake below. Buildings and reflected winter trees lend a warming feel in the late afternoon winter sun.
January 29, 2026 at 11:57 PM
Reposted
brucespringsteen.net
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
January 28, 2026 at 5:02 PM
Reposted
mullicannot.bsky.social
Post-sunset glow. Crystal Pier, Pacific Beach, San Diego, California

#sandiego #pacificbeach #sunset #ocean #crystalpier #photography
Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach at dusk, viewed from wet sand at low tide. The pier extends diagonally across the frame on dark wooden pilings, with small lights glowing along the deck and over the cottages. Reflections of the pier and lights stretch across the smooth, reflective sand as low waves move beneath a deep blue sky that fades to warm orange near the horizon.
January 28, 2026 at 4:43 PM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
#humansofbluesky #centenarian #freedomfighter #democracy #father #veteran #photographersofbluesky #RN #royalnavy #royalcanadiannavy #eastcoastkin #blueskyart #WWII #Korea #HMCoastguard

Today my father would have been 100 years old.
He fought against fascism and for democracy.
My 17 year old father’s passport photo - the head and shoulders of a young man in a Royal Navy uniform. ********** The only son of a WWI army hero and London Metropolitan policeman, he was fast-tracked at 17 into the navy in 1943 as a radio operator with a forecasted life expectancy of 2 weeks. A head and shoulders photo of my dad in his twenties, in civilian clothing - white shirt, tie and light-colored jacket. *********** He survived WWII and Korea, served in HM Coastguard, and made it to his 87th birthday. The same man - my dad - in his 50s, in his HM Coastguard uniform and cap, posed for an official photograph. His smile is broad, and totally typical of his humor and friendliness. The uniform is black, with brass buttons. His medal ribbons are on his left breast, his shirt white, his tie black with a gold-colored, crested tie-pin, his cap is white-topped with crested black band, and shiny peak above his laughing eyes. ********* My first hero. Always in my heart, but missed every day. Happy 100th birthday, dad. xx
January 29, 2026 at 1:36 AM
Reposted
joegarrity.bsky.social
Good morning, Bluesky. 🌞
A sunrise on the Asian Pacific from Hualien, Taiwan.

#landscapephotography #landscape #seascapephotography #seascape #naturephotography #nature #sunrise #ocean #island #taiwan #asia #eastcoastkin #photography
January 27, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Reposted
bakerart.bsky.social
Trumpington Street, Cambridge, with the Loch Fyne restaurant, pastel (sold at a Cambridge Drawing Society exhibition. The channel that runs along the side of the road is Hobson's Conduit. I love drawing and painting chimneys.
#Cambridge #pastel
Cambridge tiled roofs along Trumpington Street. Someone has a parasol up because of the hot sun.
January 26, 2026 at 9:56 PM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
One of my family is an ER physician in the Minneapolis hot zone, laboring to treat patients in spite of cruel and unnecessary interference from rogue humans.
The initials are apt - there’s no blood running through these goons' veins.

#Minneapolis #democracy #resistance #heroes #community #strength
meidastouch.com MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 12d
Alex Pretti was an American hero. He saved lives. He protected people. He cared deeply about his community, unlike the murderous thugs who killed him.

The very last thing he did was try to help a woman who had been pepper-sprayed and violently shoved to the ground by ICE. 1/
January 27, 2026 at 12:13 AM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
Volunteering as a K-3 literacy tutor with vulnerable children in a small school in Minneapolis was one of the most joyous experiences of my life.

#humanity #Minneapolis #lightindarkness #volunteering #community #vulnerability #resistance #eastcoastkin #photographersofbluesky #strength #courage
This image is of a very dark shadowy background, pierced by six small flames glowing from small round, red candle holders bearing melted wax. They each cast a jewel-like, ruby-red glow on the surface upon which they rest. ************ My heart aches as I think of those beautiful children - nearly a dozen, and most of them learning their second language. Each of their future paths would almost certainly bring challenges - victims of biases and prejudices. Grasping an early literacy hold was imperative. I worry about where they are now, and how they and their families are surviving efforts of a hateful administration intent on destroying their lives in one way or another. How could a human harbor prejudice and malevolence toward these children? Because that’s what we’re seeing today. Even three years ago, all session records of their daily progress and achievements against the odds, were kept confidential for their own protection. I couldn’t even write their full names outside the protected database. I had no idea that the day would come when that confidentiality would perhaps help protect them from agents to destroy their democracy.. I have memories of sweet faces [no photographs], half hidden by pandemic masks, and whose names now escape me; of courage, persistence, and resistance to defeat. I remember the excitement and jubilant smiles as letters and words were recognized and conquered. Such small things became great achievements to us both, and taught me such valuable lessons. I wonder that perhaps they taught me far more than I them. I worry for their safety, and I long for the day when such concerns in a multicultural world are obsolete.
January 26, 2026 at 11:49 PM
Reposted
davesadventures.bsky.social
I have never been more proud in our Prime Minister! Wow.
youtu.be/dTvFnC-oFGw?...
FULL SPEECH: Canada’s PM Carney Says US-Led World Order Is Breaking at World Economic Forum | AC1G
YouTube video by DRM News
youtu.be
January 20, 2026 at 7:18 PM
Reposted
jillysnaps.bsky.social
N is for Novel

#AlphabetChallenge
#WeekBforBooks
#StunDay
#BookSky
#PhotographersOfBlueSky
#EastCoastKin
A close-up of three antique hardback books on a wooden shelf, their worn leather spines warmly lit, arranged to resemble the letter N, with Rob Roy upright on the left, Vanity Fair leaning diagonally in the centre, and Three Men in a Boat standing upright on the right, creating a nostalgic, literary atmosphere.
January 18, 2026 at 9:39 PM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
One of my favorite captures of a soft #summerbreeze for #WindowsOnWednesday. See ALT for description.

#BlueSkyArt #photography #Photographersofbsky #windows #Surrey #ParhamHouse #breeze #EastCoastKin #summer #architecture #Elizabethan
An adjacent view of tall leaded windows at Parham House in Surrey, on a sunny day. From this angle, we see outside a sun-bleached lawn, surrounded by darker green trees, and a bright blue sky with cottony-bands of white clouds. Inside, we see the 10-light windows, each made up of leaded panes, in stone casements, and a wooden window seat set below - honeyed by the sun rays projecting silhouettes of the window panes on the seat. There are white curtains - at two levels - a set for the upper smaller windows, and a set for the lower longer ones; the curtains are drawn back allowing the summer view. Two of the upper windows are open, and at the farthest end the upper curtain softly billows - capturing a moment of something invisible we all know and feel, but only see it’s affects.
January 8, 2026 at 12:02 AM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
I really like this more unusual viewpoint of a city that gets a lot of repetitive coverage.
billmontei.bsky.social Bill Montei @billmontei.bsky.social · Jan 6
Venice, Italy 🇮🇹
#photography
January 6, 2026 at 9:05 AM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
Best wishes to you all.
May 2026 bring back sanity.
AgainstA dark background, this is a very tall blue flame from a block of sugar melting into a saucepan of alcoholic mulled wine. A German new year’s traditional drink.
January 1, 2026 at 12:03 AM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
It’s #boxingday and for #Scape day, I’m sharing a #cityscape #urbanscape #architecture image from #Dresden.

#BlueSkyPhotography #eastcoastkin #churches #cobblestones #nightsky #Germany #photographersofbluesky

See ALT for description
This is a photo taken, on a clear, blue-sky-evening from the cobblestoned square, looking up at the Frauenkirche [meaning Church of Our Lady] in Dresden, Germany. There are a few stars in the sky and a trace of clouds high on the right edge of the photo. The ombre night sky is a navy blue at the top edge of the photo, lightening to a mid blue towards the horizon which is obscured in this urbanscape by other multistoried buildings that flank the church. On the square, and around the ground floor of the church are bright lampposts that uplight the church and pick out people chatting in groups, walking in pairs or alone; the lights within the church offer a soft glowing welcome. There are two wooden entry doors visible at ground level. In each side of the octagonal church there is a tall arched window with many panes, and above that, a round, pained window. On the side facing the camera, above the round window there is a clock in a gabled tower. This tower stands at the perimeter of a dome which rises above it to a smaller, open-sided cupola with a dark roof at the very top. Originally built in the early to mid 18th century, the mainly sandstone Baroque church has four bell towers, in addition to the tall dome. However, the church was destroyed near the end of WWII. Rebuilding took place between 1994 and 2005, and in the reconstruction, some of the smoke-stained stones from the previous building were reused, and can be seen in random places in the otherwise light-colored walls. They are symbolic of resilience in the rebuilding of Dresden after the war.
December 26, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted
womensartbluesky.bsky.social
Emma Haworth, contemporary UK painter #WomensArt #BoxingDay
Painting with a view to a winter park landscape with small figures and trees under a blue.sky
December 26, 2025 at 6:32 AM
mandy-m-andersen.bsky.social
Bright light will always banish the dark ... pass it on 🤍

#meaninglesshashtag #mhclub

A dark path in need of #illumination

#lightandshadow #lightinthedark #lamppost #pathway #EastCoastKin #photographersofbluesky #hope

See ALT for more
A dark night view under the starburst glow of a lamppost. A leading line of a handrail along a paved path to the right, and late Autumn foliage and fallen leaves of dark oranges and browns on the left. The handrail stretches into the distance and curves gently to the right following the path, down a slope, before it disappears into the dark. While the lamp light is really bright in the near vicinity, a tiny speck of light - the other side of a dark stretch of path downhill - is visible as the next lamp in the distance. The gravity of this light in the dark becomes stark when you learn this path is part of a 200-step switchback climb up/down a cliff face in Saxony, Germany - a frequented ‘shortcut’ from the train station below to the hotel on the cliff-top.
December 25, 2025 at 11:23 PM