Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
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wardqnormal.bsky.social
Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
@wardqnormal.bsky.social
8.1K followers 1.5K following 6.2K posts
Teacher, knitter, widower, Phish head, provincial park, strategy puzzle video game, type of volcanic crater, electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, species of moth of the family Tortricidae, ...
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wardqnormal.bsky.social
Wellington update. Resting until tomorrow. (Both me and the roast.)
Beef Wellington wrapped in its pastry shell with a decorative topping of strips of pastry laid diagonally atop it, wrapping around the roast.
November 26, 2025 at 10:30 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
I'm making Beef Wellington for Thanksgiving. I wanted a project, and boy have I got a project. It's a beast.
A huge beef tenderloin slathered in Dijon mustard. A very thin blanket of prosciutto on plastic wrap on a wooden counter. The prosciutto is spread with duxelles, a paste of mushrooms and shallots cooked slowly in a boatload of butter. The beef tenderloin from the first picture, now wrapped in duxelles and prosciutto, then sealed up tightly in plastic wrap. A ruler helpfully shows it's about a foot long and 4.5 inches across. It is a huge beast.
November 25, 2025 at 10:16 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface, he looks calm and ready
Pope Leo at the mic.
November 24, 2025 at 4:10 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
Tattoo Thursday! This is the Whitman quote from Song of Myself that we had engraved inside our wedding rings. I had "every atom belonging to me," and Steve had "as good belongs to you." He was anti-tattoo, but I warned him, "within a year of you dying, I'm getting another." So here it is.
November 20, 2025 at 10:35 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
Second hydrogen bond tie. I love this one, because it shows the hexagonal structure of ice, which helps me explain to my students why ice floats in water.
Close-up photo of a man with a blond/gray beard, wearing a blue pin-striped shirt, light blue sweater vest, and a yellow tie with red and blue water molecule models in a hexagonal bee-hive arrangement.
November 14, 2025 at 6:24 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
Today's lesson: intermolecular forces. For the occasion, I have worn a bow tie showing water and its hydrogen bonds. I have two different ties that show this, in two very different styles, so stay tuned for tomorrow when I teach the same lesson to my other sections.
Close up photo of a man with blond/gray beard, wearing a light blue dress shirt and a dark blue bow tie featuring light blue and white water molecules with very thin dashed lines representing the hydrogen bonds between molecules.
November 13, 2025 at 6:40 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
It's Journalism 101. Here's a handy flowchart to remind you.
A handy flowchart to help pundits answer the question: Was that election a harbinger of things to come and sign of the political will of the masses? First question: Was the winner a Democrat? If the answer is NO, the winner was not a Democrat, then YES, that election WAS a harbinger of things to come and sign of the political will of the masses. If the answer is YES, the winner was a Democrat, then NO, that election was NOT a harbinger of things to come and sign of the political will of the masses. I hope this saves you a lot of time and unnecessary thought about the importance of whatever election results you are discussing.
November 9, 2025 at 6:32 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
Zohran for New York logo, but it says "I'm Waiting for the Man," the title of a seminal song by the Velvet Underground, off their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico.
November 9, 2025 at 7:19 AM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
Trump's pouty reaction to the medical emergency in the Oval Office placed in front of "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymous Bosch.
November 8, 2025 at 5:54 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
Student: What's on your tie?

Me: (to younger chem teacher) Do you recognize it?

Him: Is that Space Invaders?

Me: Yep. Thank god. I'd feel REALLY old if you didn't know.

Student: That's in Ready Player One!

Me: (sigh) Yes. Like everything from my adolescence, it's in Ready Player One.
Close-up photo of a man with a gray beard, wearing a white shirt with blue horizontal and vertical lines that sort of resembles graph paper. He has on a dark navy bow tie (side note: he can never decide whether it's navy or black) with red and yellow figures on it taken from the Space Invaders video game.
November 7, 2025 at 4:49 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
31 years ago tonight, I met an amazing guy named Steve Silberman, and we went on a wonderful journey together that lasted almost 30 years. Happy Anniversary, buddy. I love you, and I miss you terribly.

Photo: a sketch of us he made on an anniversary card ages ago.
A greeting card that reads "Today is a celebration of the wonderful life we share. Happy Anniversary my love." Above it are two cartoonish caricatures of us, drawn in black ink. Steve on the left with his longer hair and goatee, me on the right with short hair and bow die. Little hearts are drawn around us, although they might resemble capital Bs rather than hearts in a couple places. Steve loved to draw sketches of us on cards.
November 3, 2025 at 6:24 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
56 years old, with psoriatic arthritis, but I can still do a cartwheel. I am out of practice and will get better. How did I learn it? Every gay boy in the Midwest should have an older sister who is a cheerleader.
November 2, 2025 at 7:45 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
Shout out to my favorite Halloween costume ever. Steve Silberman at a Jerry Garcia Band Halloween show. He was so overjoyed that the shirt became a meme in the Deadhead world.
Steve Silberman in a crowd of people wearing a black t-shirt with hand-written white letters that reads "Your hallucinations are my costume."
October 31, 2025 at 7:00 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
Out today: "Dead in the Kitchen." A vegetarian cookbook for Deadheads. By Gabi Moskowitz, with a foreword by @molliekatzen.bsky.social, and a recipe dedicated to Steve Silberman (spring green minestrone). Can't wait to explore it.

On sale here: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Dead-i...
Middle-aged (why do I always start my description with that?) man with short blond/gray hair and beard, wearing a yellow shirt and navy bow tie, holding up a copy of the book "Dead in the Kitchen," the Official Grateful Dead Cookbook, by Gabi Moskovwitz.
October 21, 2025 at 7:02 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
"Women don't like the vehicle."
Homer unveiling his awful car design, from the Simpsons episode "Oh Brother Where Art Thou."
October 16, 2025 at 5:52 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
10th Anniversary Edition of NeuroTribes. To say that seeing the first copy of this was bittersweet is an immense understatement.
A man with blond/gray short hair and beard, wearing glasses and a pink shirt, holding up a copy of the book NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman.
October 9, 2025 at 3:32 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
Browned butter, sour cream, and chocolate chunk. With special homemade muffin tin liners, so they rise high. Super duper fiddly to make and fill the liners, but they look and smell pretty darn good. From ATK.
A batch of muffins fresh from the oven, in the muffin tin and cooling on a rack.
September 30, 2025 at 1:23 AM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
Recommended "Dexter" to a colleague. Here's their take:
A series of text msgs: Watching the season of Dexter with John Lithgow's character And the most unrealistic part of this whole show is that the killer is a TEACHER When does a teacher have time to kill prior?!
September 18, 2025 at 2:56 AM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
"Cream of Oatmeal Bread" from the Fannie Farmer Baking Book. It had been far too long since I'd made bread, and this is much more fun than grading labs.
Two pale golden loaves of bread cooling on a wire rack.
September 14, 2025 at 8:45 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
Birdsky, help me out. Should I be worried that I have inadvertently pissed off the crows in my neighborhood? This happens every time I park on the street where they hang out, and no other car on the block has even a fraction of this much shit on it.
A black car absolutely covered in bird shit. As if all the birds for miles around decided to congregate over my car and shit for hours. Like it's a game to them.
September 8, 2025 at 5:07 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
133. "You Showed Me" by the Turtles.

Dreamy flower pop.

And for anyone out there thinking this thread isn't nerdy enough, this is the perfect time for some stats about the commute playlist: songs beginning with subject personal pronouns.
A bar graph. Title: Songs Beginning with Subject Pronouns on My Alphabetical Order Commute Playlist Subtitle: Blue represents songs beggining with the pronoun (e.g. "I Wanna Be Sedated"). Orange represents songs beginning with a contraction (e.g. "I'm Waiting for the Man"). "I" has by far the most, 330 blue and 139 orange, or 469 total. "We" has 47 blue, 22 orange, 69 total. "You" has 106 blue, 40 orange, 146 total. "He" has 5 blue, 8 orange, 13 total. "She" has 39 blue, 28 orange, 67 total. "They" has 8 blue, 2 orange, 10 total. Lotta songwriters only write about themselves. Sad.
September 6, 2025 at 8:13 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
Birthday plans. Buddies coming over for the afternoon. Been playing a couple of these games with the same guys since the 90s.
A stack of card games, including Chez Geek, Chrononauts, Sushi Go!, Cat in the Box, Coloretto, Grass, and No Thanks! (in a knit bag.
September 1, 2025 at 6:04 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
September 1, 1973.
Me, blowing out 4 candles on a birthday cake, surrounded by my siblings. The tabletop of green, aqua, and brown, as well as the wood panelling, place this photo in the late-60s, early-70s era of American home decor. One of my brothers is wearing a batik shirt, further driving home the point. Happy birthday to me. Hurrah.
September 1, 2025 at 3:25 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
The art dept at my school is putting on a faculty art show. I'm contributing some of my favorite Xmas cards through the years, as well as the knit dolls of me & Steve that I made for one of them. They've never been out of our apartment, so this is a big thing. Steve LOVED these dolls.
Two knit dolls. One has blond hair, blue button eyes, a beard, and a red bow tie. The other has black hair, brown eyes, a little goatee, and a green sweater vest. They were knit without a pattern, just making it up as I went along.
August 29, 2025 at 2:40 PM
wardqnormal.bsky.social
That ceiling!!!!! I loved that they had a mirrored surface you could use to take pictures straight up to capture it.
The crazy ceiling of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. It looks like insect parts, or a giant incomprehensible cogwork machine of interlocking jagged pieces.
August 27, 2025 at 1:27 AM