iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

This year’s herb harvest is my biggest yet! I’m so excited to cook with these dried herbs this winter! #TinyJoys #garden #GrowYourFood

Three large glass jars full of different types of basil that I harvested from my garden and dried on a large screen.

120

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A Melon of some kind has volunteered in my compost. The same compost that plants do *not* seem to grow well from when it’s finished and spread around a garden bed. 😏 #GardenSky #GrowYourFood 🌱 #TinyJoys

A little green melon sits on a pile of composting sawdust, shaded by wide green melon leaves and a few grass seed heads. A vine attaches to the melon and winds away again to climb up the compost bin or something.

070

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Dogwood berries look like eyes. 👀

A branch of a gray dogwood, including glossy green leaves, red berry stems, and white berries with a small dark center in each one. It looks like the plant could observe your movements and report to the closest bog witch.

020

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

A kid with a special interest in spiders took this picture in our garden. The ”eyelashes”! 🤩 #invertebrates #InvertFest #spider #spood #nature #GardenSky 🌱 #TinyJoys

A jumping spider is crouched on a large green stem tangled in vines. The spider’s eyes and pedipalps are visible, as are longer hairs like eyelashes sticking out around its eyes.

041

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I made a jellyfish! It’s lumpy and not nearly as cute as the example, but I am proud of it for a first crochet project. #TinyJoys #knit #crochet #CraftSky 🧶

A small jellyfish made of light blue yarn. It is lumpy and the tentacles are varying lengths. I am thoroughly pleased with it.

0140

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Lemme get this straight. I plant tomatoes for years and barely get any harvest, but some small mammal “plants” a tomato seed by concrete and it just grows? #Gardening 🌱 #GrowYourFood #TinyJoys

An indeterminate tomato vine with leaves, yellow blossoms, and small green tomatoes growing near a patio and building.

081

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I finished reading Too Small Tola by Atinuke with my little kids. We broke it into smaller chunks, and I had to provide some additional information to them, but it is a great book for younger kids set in Africa. Bonus that the audiobook had a Nigerian narrator. #BookSky 📚 #Africa #ReadAloud

Book cover for Too Small Tola by Atinuke. On a yellow background is the head and shoulders of a small child with dark skin and black hair carrying a basket full of different foods, a reference to the first chapter of the book. The title and author appear in red patterned letters.

020

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

THE COSMOS ARE BLOOMING! Months ago I tore up part of the lawn and scattered #wildflower seeds. For a long time it looked like only grass and goldenrod were sprouting, but now the cosmos flowers have started blooming! #garden #BloomScrolling #TinyJoys #NativePlants #nature

A cosmos flower (Cosmos bipinnatus) is almost open with yellow petals surrounding a red center. Behind it and slightly out of focus is a fully open cosmos bloom. More buds dot the green foliage, consisting of cosmos, goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), other wildflowers, and the dreaded foxtail grass.

361

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

This fly is so green! I started following a gardener in my area, and they post lots of pictures of insects they find among the native plants. It has raised my appreciation for and ability to notice details about insects. #gardening 🌱 #insects #invertebrates #nature

A small bright green fly with translucent wings, Condylostylus sipho, landed on a pale human.

030

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

I carefully chose and purchased some Ruellia humilis for a part sun garden, only to get about a dozen volunteers in a different full sun part of the yard. 😏

Ruellia humilis, or wild petunia, volunteering in a sunny garden. The blooms are light purple, 5-pearled, and bell-shaped. The foliage is fuzzy, pointed, green leaves. These plants are growing about 8 inches high.

140

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Me in March: The hops are sprouting, and I am going to be brutal and thin them! The hops in May:

Many hops vines overflowing a trellis made of wood and clotheslines. It’s appears as a wall of leaves.

010

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

It’s an ecosystem! I removed the fencing from the native perennials and some critters nibbled a bit. But the plants sprouted different stems to compensate! #Gardening 🌱 #TinyJoys

Crowded stems of yellow coneflower (Echinacea paradoxa) growing green out of brown leaf mulch. The stems nearest the edge have been nibbled short by wildlife, likely rabbits. New stems grow around the nibbled ones.

021

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Marry someone who will buy you a Hobbiton tea towel that you use to line the bread basket. #LOTR #TinyJoys

A shallow bread basket lined with a yea towel and containing yeast rolls. The edges of the towel folded over the rolls shows the lower portion of Bag End, and the word Hobbiton.

051

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

The Girl Who Stole an Elephant by Nizrana Farook is an excellent book. I thought the Setting in the author’s childhood homeland of rural Sri Lanka was beautiful, and the adolescent characters were relatable, even though they do some pretty ridiculous things. Definitely recommend. 🧵1/2 #BookSky 📚💙

Cover of the book The Girl Who Stole an Elephant by Nizrana Farook. The title is at the top. Centered is an image of an adolescent in a shirt, long skirt, and a long braid of black hair riding an Asian elephant. The elephant has long tusks and a trunk raised like it is trumpeting. The pair are marching along a river through a jungle at sunset.

140

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Tribute to the matriarch! My mom eats hard boiled eggs often, but my kids don’t eat the eggs they color for #Easter. So we give #eggs to Nonnie!

A Tupperware container containing 6 colored eggs, including 2 with a patterned shrink wrap

010

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

The hops garden is productive already… a cottontail rabbit has made a nest there! #nature #wildlife #gardening

A mama cottontail rabbit in a raised bed garden. Her front legs are splayed because she is nursing kits, not visible under her. After she left, we saw 3 little furry kits.

070

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

My photo app wants to identify our pet rabbit as a dog. 😂 #TinyJoys #DogSky

A black Flemish giant rabbit lying floofed on its side in a carpeted room. There is also a scattering of hay on the floor, cardboard boxes for “bunstruction”, and a large dog crate because this sass-ball can’t be trusted at night. The photo app on my phone thinks the rabbit is either a Scottish terrier or a French bulldog, which cracks me up.

051

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Starting US history with Native Americans because native history *is* US history. #NativeAmerican 🗃️💙 #AmericanHistory

A play table, kind of like a train table but structured like a river with banks and hills rising from it. There are toys, including small brown wooden pegs representing people, a wooden campfire, cut logs, rectangular houses, and a mastodon “that is friendly and you can pet it,” according to the youthful scene creator. This river table is meant to show life in part of Illinois over the past 10,000 years.

011

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

#JustFinished reading The Naked Tree by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim. Set in Seoul during the Korean War, I liked the perspective of Korean civilians, the effects of war, and relationships. High Five to my local library, where I got this in a librarian-curated browser pack. #BookSky 💙📚 📚⏳ #LibrariesMatter

Cover of the graphic novel The Naked Tree. On a blue background, a black, leafless tree weaves branches through the yellow words of the title. To the right, a young Korean woman stands turning as if looking over her shoulder toward the other side of the tree. There is a wind-up key, like ones for a mechanical toy sticking out of her back. The author’s name, Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, is at the top of the cover in white letters.

030

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

The Song of the Winns trilogy by Frances Watt looked like a cute adventure with mouse characters to #ReadAloud to my kid. It quickly became a kid-friendly primer for resisting oppression. Highly recommend. #BookSky 📚💙 #resist

Tan cover of the first book in a trilogy. At the top, a yellowed banner displays the name of the series in script font, The Song of the Winns. Below that, the title reads The Secret of the Ginger Mice. The image is a drawing of two mice, both orangey or yellow “Ginger” colored, riding a raft down rocky rapids. One mouse wears a scarf flapping in the wind, and both hold makeshift oars that are thoroughly useless in the situation. At the bottom is the author’s name, Frances Watts.

080

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

We made seed cakes from bird seed and gelatin, and a squirrel seems to be enjoying the buffet.

A child’s playhouse with white siding, gray shingled roof, and purple porch railings. On the roof is a squirrel, apparently named Munchers, nibbling on a seed cake it brought up there. The roof is littered with seeds that have fallen in the process.

100

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

I exceeded my reading goal this year and read 84 books! Sometimes I impress myself. #BookSky 💙📚 ⏳📚 #TinyJoys

Screenshot from The Story Graph. It says that I have read 84 books, over 18,000 pages. Bars of color at the bottom indicate the different moods of the books, but the image cut off the labels. Adventurous is the biggest mood, and includes most of the Redwall series and all the Poppy and Friends series. The tracked books include chapter books I have finished. It does not include picture books I read to children, magazines or newspapers, or books I didn’t finish. Or what I read in January, as I started using Story Graph in February.

1172

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

I asked my youngest to get figures I could use to act out part of the Christmas story, and this is what they came up with. 😄 #TinyJoys #Christmas #AdventWreath

A photo of a selection of toys and an advent wreath arranged on a wooden table. The advent wreath in the background is from my childhood. It is made of brown clay, with various biblical symbols stamped around it, and it holds 3 purple and one pink candle. In the foreground, a group of shepherds gather to adore the baby Jesus while Mary and Joseph look on. The shepherds are played by a superhero, a couple of princesses, and a bunch of wooden peg dolls painted to look like different saints and an angel. Baby Jesus is played by a small mouse toy in a crib “manger”, Joseph is played by Fred from Scooby Doo, and Mary is played by a wooden doll representing herself. Toward the right of the photo, two My Little Ponies play angels, and in the back left, a spotted horse plays the donkey. Merry Christmas!

061

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Who’s got two thumbs and 140 handmade cards to give to nursing home residents? 👍 this guy👍 Spread some cheer, people. Your small gesture might be the only one someone gets that day. #holiday #community #TinyJoys #SeasonsGreetings

Handmade cards are scattered about a shoebox used to transport them to a local nursing home.

042

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Fashionistas are worked about outfits that go day to night, but I‘m over here going from fall to grinch. #knit 🧶 #holidays

A selfie of a white, brown-haired woman with glasses smiling and wearing an orange sweater, skirt patterned with leaves and pumpkins, and sage-green colored knitted cowl.

Selfie of a white, brown-haired woman with glasses scowling at the camera while wearing a grinch-colored cowl over her head. The cowl is the same as the lovely sage colored one in the previous picture.

050

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

Me: *mumbles giblet gravy recipe directions * Creepy Teen: and add one soul… Me: it already calls for chopping the heart and liver, and picking meat off the neck. Isn’t that goth enough? 😂 #Thanksgiving #parenting

A pale-skinned hand holding a peeled potato carved to resemble a human skull. Because no, giblet gravy is not goth enough.

030

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

I planted lettuce in…September?…and am harvesting because we have a cold front moving in with possible snow, and I want to put the gardens to bed. Behold, my harvest! 😂 #gardens #TinyJoys #GrowYourFood

A handful of tiny baby lettuce leaves, rinsed and sitting a damp white towel used to pat them dry.

181

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

I give you Pepper Thee Pepper. This bell pepper plant grew from a seed a child planted after most pepper plants are well-established in our area. Pepper sprouted, was nibbled by a rabbit, persisted, and in October set flowers. One grew to this teensy bell pepper that I love. #Gardening #TinyJoys

A small bell pepper plant with one tiny green bell pepper hanging off a low branch. Around the plant, the wooden walls of the raised bed and the red maple leaves used for mulch are visible.

071

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Who was gonna tell me that dill flowers were so pretty? Who?!? #GardenSky #BloomScrolling #MagentaMonday #TinyJoys

Flowering dill plant. A flower with magenta petals and yellow center blooms atop a thin green stem, surrounded by unopened buds. The feathery (and tasty!) leaves are below the flowers.

181

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

My LOTR dress and elf ears were much admired at the fall tea party. Happy Hobbit Day!

Photo of a white woman with dark hair wearing pointy elf ears and a green and yellow dress. The skirt portion of the dress is printed with a pattern reminiscent of the Fellowship: a wizard, a hobbit, a dwarf, and an elf all walking as a group.

010

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

Tomato #harvest! This is a portion, divided equally among siblings. #Gardening #TinyJoys #GrowWhatYouEat 🌱

Six cherry tomatoes in a plastic bowl. The tomatoes vary kn ripeness from bright red to orange with hints of green. Not pictured: the enthusiasm of the preschooler who picked them.

030

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

This rose bush was a gift in memory of our first child. It has lived at 3 houses and blooms regularly from April to October. This late bloom just makes me happy. #RoseWednesday #TinyJoys #BloomScrolling #Gardening

A small white rose in full bloom, including the yellow stamens. In the background are green rose leaves and a few rose hips ripening from green to red.

070

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

#Painting with kids today using cotton swabs to dot paint, a la Yayoi Kusama. I question some of my design choices, but #art doesn’t have to be perfect to be enjoyed. #ArtSky #GardenSky #BloomScrolling #Japan

A homemade painting depicting yellow coneflowers and orange butterfly weed, rendered in dots of tempera paint on white paper in a style inspired by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.

150

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Success! After accidentally recycling several pasta sauce jars, I finally cleaned and kept one for home dried herbs. #GardenSky #gardens #herbs #neurodivergence #homemade #TinyJoys

Glass jar maybe 1/8 full of basil I grew and dried myself. It’s labeled “Dr. Basil” on yellow tape on the side of the jar, but it would rather you just call it Basil.

3142

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

The local jail is having a #book drive, so I am filling a box. #BookSky #donate #community

Cardboard box stacked with books that fit the requirements for the mail book drive: paperback, novels, religious/inspirational, health and parent guides.

040

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Making sugar paintings with the kids for #art this week. We’re not as good as street vendors in #China, LOL, but it’s a fun and tasty project. #TinyJoys #AAPI

On a wooden table, a square of wax paper bears a brown silhouette of a cat. At the top left corner of the image is a white pot and spoon which were used to heat the sugar solution and then drizzle it on the wax paper in the cat design. The child artist is quite proud of this sweet work of art.

191

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

The big kids and I made tonghulu! This Chinese street treat is traditionally made of candy-coated hawthorn berries, but we used red grapes. #cooking #China #AAPI #kids #TinyJoys

A blue plate bearing a homemade version of tonghulu, red candy-coated grapes speared with toothpicks. There are also pools of the candy coating that dripped off while it was cooling. The candy coating is clear, sweet, and crunchy, while the grapes are crisp and fruity.

040

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

I decided on a quote from Thorin’s last words to Bilbo for the baby shower card. I think it turned out pretty well.

Inside of a white card. At the bottom of the left half is the quote from The Hobbit, “There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure.” - JRR Tolkien
The right half reads, “We are excited to welcome your new little hobbit!” Both are handwritten in black pen.

Front of a handmade baby shower card. In the center is a frame of gold/tan paper printed with leaf impressions, and a smaller mat of forest green paper, surrounding a white square depicting a drawn image of a baby. The baby is colored with light brown face and hands, and a single curl for hair, and lying on their back. The smiling baby is wearing a green sleeper with yellow polka dots. Below the baby image, white letters in green bubbles spell out “congrats”.

000

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

The #NativePlants #perennials I planted last year in the front #garden are creeping! (Reference to the growth pattern of perennials: first year sleep, second year creep, third year leap) 🌱 🌿 #TinyJoys

A garden bed, with three green plants poking through the brown leaf mulch. Two plants near the top of the photo with silvery green leaves are yellow coneflowers (Echinacea paradoxa) and a larger plant with lighter green leaves is purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea).

031

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History by David F Walker was a good, hard read. I learned a lot about the Panthers, and also about how much systems have *not* changed in the US. 5 stars, highly recommend. #books #BlackHistory 💙📚 ⏳ #GraphicNovel

The cover of The Black Panther Party by David F Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson.

000

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

It seems a bit early to #harvest anything, but the sorrel in the #garden had plenty of leaves, so into my salad it goes! 🌱 🌿 #TinyJoys

A few bright green sorrel leaves rest in a blue bowl. They are oval-shaped and smooth-edged, with a sharp lemony flavor that is not obvious in the photo but will be when I crunch it up for lunch.

0101

Amanda W @amwesselmann.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Under the Sea Wind by Rachel Carson was a lovely read. Mostly descriptive, it conveyed information about marine and shore life with a rhythmic prose that echoed the movement of the sea. This landlubber liked it more than expected. 💙📚 #WomensHistoryMonth #ocean #birds #environment #books

Cover of the book Under the Sea Wind by Rachel Carson. From the lower right corner, the golden sand of the beach ends in waves breaking over rocks in white foam. The waves continue rolling in from the middle of the picture. The light blue sky peppered with cottonball clouds looks like a perfect day for a baby cod to hunt shrimp, or a young gull to find a mate. Lines of text read from top to bottom: New York Times Bestseller, Rachel Carson, Author of The Silent Spring, Under the Sea Wind.

010