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  Since I realized that squirrels are drawn to my potted succulents to drink the water around the pots (and then knock over the pots and dig in them) I decided to offer them water in a separate dish. It seems to help and it keeps my indoor cat entertained. The thing is, insects also like to drink the water and I found some were getting stuck and drowning. So I put a little escape ladder in for the bugs.

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  I’m looking for ideas about what to do with sort of thick skinned, not super flavorful lemons. My neighbor trimmed their lemon tree and a bunch of branches with lemons still on fell over the fence into my yard. They occasionally fall on our side so that’s how I know they are just OK. I’m thinking some kind of lemon marmalade or something? The skin is fragrant but the flavor is not exciting. In short: life gave me lemons not suitable for lemonade. How should I use them? #food #lemons

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  @MelissaBearTrix@gives.hugz.online I’m nonbinary but as a kid I used to consider myself a girl and felt strongly I was a girl. I used to get mistaken for my brother after my aunt cut my hair super short and I was so upset about it I started wearing little hair bows until it grew out. I was a tomboy but was also adamant I was a girl tomboy. Then I didn’t cut my hair for 20 years.

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  Maybe (probably) it’s foolish to try to learn 2 languages at once. But it’s not like I’m trying to pass a class or get certified. I just like to talk to people.

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  Also I think it’ll be a fun qualifying and GP. Everyone is figuring out their new cars. It’ll be unpredictable. The time difference is such that the races are in the evening of the day before for me, so I’ll be able to watch live, and that’s more fun.

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  I have a lot of hobbies and I enjoy them all at different times. Watercoloring is fulfilling in a deeper way. It makes me feel human, connected, and coherent in anway that previously only writing poetry and creative nonfiction did. I didn’t expect that. When I bought my first paint set at Flax, I thought it would be a little craft supply retail therapy and hopefully another hobby to help me relax.

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  Things I’ve learned today: use nonstaining pigments for under-painting, wait until it’s totally dry before doing straight lines, swatch value not just color, and I gotta learn some technique to give the impression of buildings on hills. Thing I learned again that I keep learning: big fussy painting with tons of details that take a lot of time are rarely as good as quick, gestural painting executed spontaneously. BUT I have to do the fussy one first and then the breezy one second to somehow get...

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  Booked my flights and hotel for Write the Docs in Portland! #WriteTheDocs

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  Round two of todays plain air outing. I figured out an OK way to get the feeling of little houses. Also, the trick to avoid overworking paintings is two paint multiples at the same time. That’s what I did here. #watercolor #pleinair

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  One of these days I’m going to paint the croissant, too, I kept thinking. Today was that day. I deliberately went a bit loose and interpretive rather than trying to get the contours perfectly. Croissants are hard to paint but fun. Hard not to eat them before the painting is done. #watercolor

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  I pulled some of my recent watercolor abstractions into a blog post. #watercolor https://rinsemiddlebliss.com/posts/2026-02-27-abstracted/

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  I had a stressful week but this evening my cat let me pick her up peacefully for the first time. I’ve not tried in a year because she didn’t like it, but this time I needed to redirect her from an object on the desk, and I picked her up by the solid part of her chest and then tucked her against me like a little baby cradled on her back and she purred as I petted her little head. I gently let her back on the ground after a minute or less, and she calmly walked to one of her hangouts. I think it m...

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  Shinjuku really likes sitting inside this oversized plastic bag on top of my suitcase. I put it away when I’m not nearby because it doesn’t seem safe unattended. I wonder what I could get for her that would be safe and she’d like as much. She has a soft cat house that she never uses. Something about the tight fit but maybe also the crinkle that she likes? #CatsOfMastodon #CatAdvice #cats

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  In 4 minutes I’m going to have to disappoint the cat by getting up to join a meeting.

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  I was thinking about Georgia O'Keeffe and her huge super closeups of flowers so decided to paint one of my tiny succulent about three times its size. #watercolor

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  I looked around for something interesting to paint and found this overgrown garlic and complicated ginger and then I needed something to fill in found a shallot I forgot about. Turns out garlic is really hard to paint! Ginger is tricky, too. But that shallot I’m super happy with. Next time I might try just onions in a bowl. #watercolor

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  BART is down due to a system issue. No trains. No ETA. Just got turned away from 24th and Mission at 8:35 am #sfba #sfbayarea #SanFrancisco #oakland

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  https://rinsemiddlebliss.com/posts/2026-02-27-abstracted/