iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Always match your cats to your china. #catsofbluesky (Sadly the vase was broken and mended long before kintsugi was widely known in New England, so instead of veins of gold it shows veins of brown glue. But they match the cat's markings.)

A chunky white cat with blue eyes and some cream/tan markings sits next to a pot-bellied blue and white Chinese vase that has tan marks where it was mended with glue.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

I'll take Heartwarming Media Posts for $1000, Alex. Remember how everyone screamed when the New York Times turned its sports department into something called the Athletic? Well, the Athletic has just hired the cream of the Washington Post sports department, who were fired earlier this month.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Good morning! I'm reading HAPPINESS by Aminatta Forna and savoring BEETHOVEN VARIATIONS by Ruth Padel in the interstices. #BookSky #MondayReads

A wintry landscape with tree trunks and a small red fox: the cover of the book HAPPINESS l, by Aminatta Forna

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

In the mail today: a card from my friend in Germany -- dated December 10. Today is February 13. When people say the mail is slow these days, they aren't kidding.

A German Christmas card with the words "Frohes Fest" over a Santa and a Christmas tree -- which took two months to arrive.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

I used to focus on what classical music the #olympics figure skaters chose for their programs - but this year they appear to have entered Wagner's Siegfried himself in competition. (I kid, I kid. I know this is Ilia Malinin, the top American man. The visuals, though.)

Blond-haired, blue-eyed American figure skater Ilia Malinin in the warrior costume he wears for his short program, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Wagner's Siegfried.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

I was intensely annoyed by this sentence in a book review. One woman produced brilliant work in a tiny room; therefore we shouldn't complain that women's lives have historically been circumscribed? Wow. (The book is "One Aladdin Two Lamps" and he does like it, but jeez.) @hamiltoncain.bsky.social

A print quote from a Washington Post book review

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Wrapping presents is going fine, thanks for asking. Happy Christmas to all who celebrate, and peace and love to everyone in this holiday season. #catsofbluesky #christmascat #christmaspresent #happyholidays

Black cat sitting in an Amazon box looking uncertain.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

I was looking for images of 18th-century silver online as reference for my book-in-progress, and now there's an excited eBay seller out there who thinks I'm about to make an offer on a mustard-pot.

An ornate 18th-century silver mustard-pot with a cobalt-blue glass insert from Augsburg, Germany, for sale on eBay - it's under $600; should I consider it?

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Turns out I was right about the Kennedy Center trees (see last Skeet). It was the last administration that decided to take them down, because they were old and the root systems were affecting the structural integrity of the building. Let's see what the current administration does to replace them.

Night view of a now-empty stretch of the Kennedy Center terrace, where the willow trees were felled due to their age

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

When I heard the @kennedycenter.bsky.social had cut down half the trees on the terrace, I was prepared to be upset - until I looked for myself after a concert on Saturday and saw how sickly the remaining trees are looking. 54 is old for a willow. Maybe it was just their time.

The Kennedy Center terrace at night, with four remaining trees, three with significant dead limbs reaching up into the darkness.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

I raised a windowblind that we usually keep closed, and the cat thinks I got him a new streaming service. #catsofbluesky #cats #easilyamused

Black cat sitting intently staring out the window at the side of the neighbor's house.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

Peak August, unlocked. (No, I didn't bake it, but I bought it at the local orchard, which has its own virtues.)

A piece of peach-blueberry-cherry pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a ceramic plate

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Possibly my favorite AI mis-call ever.

An AI overview that says the name "Midgette" is most commonly associated with a low-maintenance ornamental shrub.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

"What have you done with the sun?!"

Two cats, one black and one white, sit just inside an open door looking out at the rain.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

If I were still a critic, I would be at this (free!) concert to check in with the National Symphony Orchestra's morale and vibe in the midst of the Kennedy Center upheaval. Sadly, I'm traveling today, but I hope someone checks in, and that the concert is packed.

Web ad for a concert by the National Symphony Orchestra on Thurs, Feb 13, as part of the "NSO in your Neighborhood" outreach program.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

I wonder it the maps draw on some central data base and auto-refresh ...

Another map showing the Gulf of America - Apple Maps has gone over

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

We are officially living in crazy land. (h/t @joshuafoust.com)

A screenshot of Google Maps from Feb, 2025 that labels the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America."

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

In which AI states that a 9x12 pan is bigger than 2 8x8 pans, and then shows its work and proves that 2 8x8 pans are, in fact, bigger. C'mon, AI, this should be easy for you. (For the record, I didn't ask AI; it just helpfully put in its two cents, not even answering the question I DID ask.)

A screenshot from a Google search, repeating what I said in the skeet.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

"SNOW! SNOW! Snowsnowsnowsnow -- shoes? Shoes! SHOES!" Or, learning impulse control at 13: a short story in one picture.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

My son took that same shot of ME a couple of years ago.

A woman with her long gray-blond hair brushed completely over her face, with glasses over the hair.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

I got the perfect mother-son selfie with the 13-year-old.

Woman with glasses posing next to someone in a hoodie whose face is entirely obscured by his long dark hair.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

To my utter enchantment, I have just (re)discovered that my long-ago typewriter, which got so much use in high school and college, actually came with an emoji key.

A box labeled "Smith-Corona changeable type" containing a single typewriter key with a smiley-face and a sad-face emoji (obviously long before they were actually called emojis)

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

I have a scaredy cat. He runs from his own shadow and hides from groups of people even when those people are just family members whom he likes individually.

Black cat sitting on his perch by a window, looking alert, prepared to flee in panic if you do anything scary like move your hand slightly or cough or something.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

This may have been making the rounds already, but I saw it this morning and it made me cackle. H/t @rbendig.bsky.social

A sequence of humorous mistranslations of the German titles of Bach cantatas (examples: Valet will ich dir geben, "I will give a deer to the valet;" Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, "My dear seal, you are such a schmuck").

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Yes, I enthusiastically second this skeet. Also, tangentially, there is a cafe in Kathleen Ferrier's home town on the Solway Firth in the UK that's named after her ("Mrs. Wilson's") and full of memorabilia, and I got a huge kick out of it.

A cafe wall in northern England collaged with drawings, photos and newspaper clippings of the great contralto Kathleen Ferrier

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

For once, i can answer that without having to think.

Cover of the 1967 EMI recording of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, with Otto Klemperer conducting Christa Ludwig and Fritz Wunderlich.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

TFW you get a festive birthday candle/cake topper that lights up and spins and plays "Happy Birthday," and continues beeping high-pitched "Happy Birthday" fragments for the next 24 hours. It shows no signs of stopping. We've locked it in the garage.

A birthday cake topper shaped like a flower with candles mounted on each plastic "petal." Not pictured: it spins while emitting high-pitched beeps.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

Hello, I am so cute I bumped the cat photo she was going to post.

A kangaroo with soft grey fur gazes into the camera, hoping very much for a treat.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

Oh my, Bluesky is waking up. I haven't been that active on social media lately, but let me see if I can pick up the thread. Here's a picture of my son and two friends and a capybara, being photobombed by a passing kangaroo. They are wearing red, white, and blue, so extra points for patriotism.

Three boys, aged 12 and 13, pose smiling while patting a capybara, while a kangaroo standing on a ledge behind them does its best to steal the show.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 25/12/2023

I had so much help with the Christmas wrapping.

A large shape covered with a big piece of wrapping paper, from which a gray tail protrudes, elegantly curled.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 11/11/2023

Post any photo from your camera roll without explanation

A boy's recumbent head emerges from a sea of white.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 28/10/2023

Happy Black Cat Day. Also, Happy Halloween. And yes, I will be reusing this picture.

A black cat lounging inside a cat bed shaped like a pumpkin, purchased a year ago by his owners in hopes of getting just this shot.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 24/10/2023

Avi and Beluga send good wishes and purrs and a pre-warmed bed.

A black cat and a white cat lying on a dog bed made up with a pillow and tiger-print duvet, with a sticker that says "I escaped" on the wall behind it. (Subtext: tell me you live with a 12-year-old without telling me you live with a 12-year-old.)

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 06/10/2023

DIY of the day: Reproducing Target's Halloween decor at home. Nailed it.

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Anne Midgette @classicalbeat.bsky.social · 30/09/2023

This sweet little boy has the endearing habit of coming up and tapping you inquisitively with one paw -- "Mom? Can you pat me?" -- and then crawling into your lap and playing stuffed-animal-cuddle-cat while purring himself to sleep. Though it's less endearing at 4 in the morning. #catsofbluesky

A black cat cuddled up against my arm in my lap, sound asleep, with one paw extended imperiously into the void

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