Scared of Ducks

They really are terrifying. The majority of posts are queued so I can be delighted by them again later.

[thesassyducks]

Please enjoy these ducks changing their minds 

(Source)

[fluffmugger]

#napoleon’s invasion of russia‚ 1812‚ colorized

[sergeifyodorov]

when hockey players have hobbies outside hockey it's always like, pop songs on the acoustic guitar or the same video games they've been playing since juniors or cooking something slightly fancier than eggs. learn to knit for god's sake

[bunting58]

ohhhh this is a post that allows me to talk about Jaques Plante, the knitting goalie!!

he's a HOFer so lots of people know about him obviously but still! if you don't know who he is:

he was a canadian goalie who played for 6 different NHL teams during his 20+ years in the league.

plante was the first NHL goaltender to wear a goaltender mask in regulation play on a regular basis!(!!!!!!!) he was made fun of for it and called scared (probably in a much less nice way) x

he did so many cool things during his career but the thing that's the most important because of the original post:

HE WAS A KNITTER!!

his mother taught him to knit and embroider and he did both as an adult. (he was also a painter!)

he knitted on trains going to games, in the locker room etc. he knitted his own undershirts, socks, toques & scarves and people for sure thought it was weird. he would always talk about it with pride though, he could apparently knit a pair of socks in a single day and a toque in 3,5 hours!

he used knitting as a form of relaxation but also because he said he couldn't find what he wanted in stores so he made it himself!

plante grew up very poor and was very careful with his money once he had it.

one of my fave quotes from him (about knitting) is this:

"a fellow has to have something to do when he's not tending the net."

[thejewellerybox]

Waterfall brooch by Mikimoto, 2021

Inspired by artist Hokusai’s depictions of waterfalls in his famous ukiyo-e landscapes.

18k white and rose gold with freshwater pearl, jadeite, tanzanite, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds.

[teaboot]

I will forever maintain that genuine fortune-telling and psychic medium junk is a load of bull, but as a person who owns tarot decks and regularly uses them as a tool for self-reflection I also have to admit that it does kind of work for that and it's very very funny when it does

Once I laid out some cards before I left the house and couldn't figure out an interpretation of the symbolism that made sense outside of "stop focusing and pay attention", which was of course absurd, so I was puzzling over that all the way to my bus stop and was so distracted the whole time that I walked face-first into a massive fucking spiderweb

[teaboot]

It always hits so good

[catsofyore]

The TV repairmen are here and they are useless. Photo from my collection, no date/info.

[transformativeworks]

Our TikTok Mods make excellent content (and it's usually crossposted on our YouTube)

[random-brushstrokes]

Alvar Cawén - Girl reading (1926)

[pronouncingitwang]

at some point in your life you will be boiling fruit, water, sugar, and lemon juice in a pot to make a syrup or jam. the instructions will tell you to simmer for a certain amt of time. your timer will go off and you will look at the pot and go, "hm, this doesn't look thick enough. maybe i'll let it go for another 10 minutes." this is the devil speaking. it's only so liquid right now because it is at boiling point. it will thicken when it cools down. learn from the follies of my youth and do not let this happen to you

[yokowan]

at some point in your life you will be making a sauce or a stew in which you need to add cornstarch to thicken it. and you will prepare a slurry of starch in cold water and think "this looks like way too little starch to thicken this amount of liquid." this is the devil speaking. cornstarch instantly polymerizes at 95°C and if you add too much it will turn into an impossibly thick goop.

[le-jardin-inculte]

at some point in your life you will be making some sort of cream based dessert that requires gelatin to thicken it. and you will soak some gelatin sheets in water and think "this is too few gelatin sheets for this amount of cream." this is the devil speaking. it will thicken in the fridge and if you add too much you will end up with milk jelly

[shithowdy]

at some point in your life you will be baking cookies. you will take the sheet out after twelve minutes as the recipe instructs and the cookies will still be glistening and soft. "these don't seem cooked enough," you will think to yourself, "i should place them back into the oven until their edges are nice and golden." this is the devil talking. this is how you get dry, overdone cookies. the cookies will continue to bake on the warm sheet for several more minutes and then harden up after sitting on a rack for a while. trust the process. trust the process.

[whitachi]

at some point in your life you will be adding a small pasta to a soup and you will think "that is not enough small pasta." this is the devil talking. the pasta will absorb the stock and expand. this is how you end up with a soup that is a solid mass of soggy ditalini.

[araceil]

At some point in your life you will be adding garlic to a dish and you will think "that is not enough garlic." These are angels speaking. They are correct. Add more garlic.

[nolaplantdaddy]

I love when people ask "how did you learn this skill?" I just started, there's no secret. that's it. a vast majority of the time the only thing holding you back is your trepidation to start.

[noegrets]

[rosslynpaladin]

90% of being good at ANYTHING

is the ability to not quit when you're not instantly good at it. And the ability to be BAD at something where other people might SEE.

Talent counts for jack all if you're attacking yourself the moment you start for not being perfect and then quitting to punish yourself.

[tanadrin]

So one of the things that can apparently contribute to kidney issues in cats is if they eat too much dry food and don't drink enough water; cats are adapted to get a lot of their water from their food since they're originally desert animals, and might not get enough water if they don't eat wet food. Unfortunately, Dozy won't eat wet food no matter what; she categorically refuses to touch the stuff. So a few months ago, we were looking for ways to get Dozy more fluids, and my wife noticed at the pet store a cat drink--basically meat broth with some floaty bits in--that was low-protein and meant for cats with kidney issues. So we figured, worth a try, right?

Great news: she loved it. Super tasty apparently. Great success. Along with the kidney-sensitive treats we found, it was a nice way to supplement her diet. Unforseen long-term consequence though: she loved it so much she began demanding it throughout the day. Like, would come up to us and meow, and meow, and meow, and not stop, until we got up, went to the kitchen, and got her some cat drink.

And by doing so on demand, we have unfortunately created a monster: no matter what we are doing at home, Dozy knows that if she sits next to you and meows, 1) you know what she wants, and 2) you know that she will not stop until you get it for her now. And when you do get it, she gets extremely excited. She will bum rush the kitchen door as you enter. She will run around your feet as you open the can. She will let out the creakiest, crunchiest, most nails-on-the-chalkboard meow you've ever heard if she thinks you're not going fast enough.

I do not begrudge her this. It is gratifying to care for a creature whose most ardent desires are so simple that it is this easy to fulfill them. But I am a little sad, because I know in my heart that I have never loved any comestible as much as she loves this cat drink. She has a pleasure of a purity and intensity that I will never know.

[the creacher in question]

[thefugitivesaint]

John D. Batten (1860-1932), ''Europa's Fairy Book'' by Joseph Jacobs, 1919

[importantpics]

[bgginger]

I don't remember this part of Gideon the Ninth

[thatsbelievable]

[bring-your-own-water]

Commission quilt finished and ready to go to its home. Roughly 45"x45". FPP center with 137 pieces.

[hyenaswine]

i googled "why is my embroidery floss fuzzy" & unlocked some advanced knowledge (there's alt text if the image is too small to read)

by "right end of the skein," i assume they mean "right" as in "correct," not "right" as in the direction, because that wouldn't make sense since you can hold it in any direction. but the "correct" end on DMC floss is going to be the end closest to the number band.

i'm going to try using this advice to see if it helps me achieve smoother results, because usually it's fine but sometimes my thread is just tore up & my lines end up all fuzzy. (my mink stole piece was like this & it made me so upset because it was a gift!) others in the reddit thread mentioned that this can also be caused by using a needle that's too small or has an eye that's too small for your floss, which causes it to fray when it interacts with the friction of either the cloth or the eye, or both. they also suggest using shorter lengths of floss or using a product like thread magic, though the latter seems like an annoying extra step to me because i thought that's what mercerization was for.

[chicorystart]

Extreme beginner attempt at embroidery on an old shirt that I never really wore. I'm not sure how I feel about the result, but the process was fun.

[philosophyinateacup]

Fatcatart.