iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

When is bins? Thought I. Blue this week. Bring it out. Everyone else has green out. Why? Cos council cocked up their printable calendar.

141

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Another day, another cat drawing. This time it's a more difficultly coloured cat on a more difficult background. 😬

A drawing of a Cabby cat, partially rendered, against a backdrop of a black and white botanical duvet cover. The drawing sits atop the same duvet cover, illustrating the massive job I've given myself.

040

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This article is fine, but FGS are we not allowed anything "nice" in case of emergency? (Tinned meats and instant noodles are too high in salt! Avoid fruit tinned in syrup! Sugar salt fat baaaad when world falling apart.) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

What food items should you stock up on in case of an emergency?

Extreme weather may be changing the way we need to shop, with the UK government urging people to stock up on canned goods.

220

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Not on my bingo card for today: learning to patch whatever happens when a 17+ year old set of hooks pulls out of the wall. Apparently Rawl plugs were for numpties.when the last owner installed it.

A wall with two rather gaping holes in it.

030

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Boba the derpcat in the sun.

A posca pen drawing of a brown cat on greenish and bluish bedding. He is sleeping on us back, slightly twisted, with all four paws in the air.

040

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Oh yeah, went to Ireland/NI in August. Pretty. Wayy to much driving but I needed to get B away from home for a bit and she wanted to see the last bit of the UK she hadn't.

A person in a yellow raincoat takes a photo of the seaside at sunset

A pool of water in the Marble Arch caves which reflects the tiny stalactites above. It looks like an underwater city

A photo of the angular rock formations at The Giant's Causeway

140

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Also I never posted this sketch I did of a lifeboat on the ferry to Ireland.

020

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Having a bit of a meh day so cheered myself up by finally covering the cover of my sketchbook with a garden posca portrait.

A black sketchbook cover with a lot of scribbles on it including some things that look like leaves and others that look like sunflowers at the very bottom there is a tiny bit written that says "how does your garden grow?"

130

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

If I could *choose* to not have ADHD I would. In a heartbeat.

000

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

How my day is going: accidentally fused pop tart innards to the elements of the toaster at work.

Toaster with a post it that says Do Not Use Pop Tart Catastrophe

030

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Rejoice! For I have made it through the first week of school and produced timetables for 1700 students. *exits persued by a bear"

270

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

In an odd set of twists, teen and I are staying at my in-laws without my husband. I have already managed to set off the booby trapped toilet.

020

Reposted by Ellen

Katie (the other one) @kayfabegamergirl.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Thinking, as I often do, about this tumblr post

1354861889

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Last night's dream had almost fever dream intensity and persistence and I don't want tonight to be also pestered by the compulsion that I must meet a man in a graveyard in Ireland on Thursday to exchange a mysterious parcel. (Why brain, why?)

030

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Current mood: I have eclipse glasses floating around somewhere after last year's flop attempt to see the solar eclipse over my parents' house. (Total cloud-out.) I can't be arsed to find them. Maybe tomorrow.

000

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Not what I was expecting and put a proper non-cynical smile on my face. :D

030

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Done with work. Brain is toast. Need to catch up on my Hobby Homework before Hobby Weekend. (Also had a Hobby Weekend last weekend. Brain full. Send caffeine.)

020

Reposted by Ellen

Alasdair Beckett-King @misterabk.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

The great thing about Britain is you're free to think whatever you want to think and say whatever J. K. Rowling's lawyers permit you to say.

4057731730

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I have finally gotten B to read one of my favourite series (the Scholomance by Naomi Novik) and our discussions about what's going on halfway through the first book have made me remember what a finely crafted trilogy it is. 📚 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Deadl...

en.wikipedia.org

A Deadly Education - Wikipedia

050

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Its absolutely wild to me that one of my teen's history topics is King Richard and King John, and we are both descended from King John. So when discussing the history topic it's all about grandad and the great-uncles*. (*But actually saying grunkles, if you know the reference.)

130

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I've just remembered that I met some guy at a party in Seattle. He really wanted to do a collaborative writing project with me where it was told through the email exchanges of a guy and a girl. 1/

100

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I put a shelf in our random cupboard! The cupboard was missing the rear set of shelf holes as it's got a false back to go around a support beam. Now the sauces and squashes don't have to live on the worktop! I've only been meaning to put a shelf in there for *checks calendar* 16 years or so...

It's a new wooden shelf in a cupboard. It's got stuff on it that did not otherwise have a home.

130

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Elder cat has whatever the back version of a Mohican/Mohawk hairstyle is.

A black cat with two shaved sides and a strip of hair down the spine

150

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

This little bean came home after 8 days in the animal hospital. She went in for a CAT scan and a lavage procedure and had a hypoxia episode during that. She subsequently stopped breathing, had to be intubated and put on a ventilator, came off the ventilator, had two collapsed lungs...

A black cat. She's got a red bandage on one leg and is clearly grumpy.

160

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Our elder cat is in dire straits and we visited her in kitty ICU today, but she's breathing on her own so we're holding our breath for her another day...

030

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Love how GreenWay make it sound here like golf courses are the same as "outdoor open space".

042

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Where does one even begin to find a reputable ADHD friendly tutor for GCSE maths?

101

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

I am a UNISON member and I love this from my union.

030

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Apparently the way to get me to learn coding* in the end was so that I could have a really cool prop for sci-fi larping. 😁 *That's a bit of a stretch because I once knew html and rudimentary CSS and I do some query at work. But this is circuit python so it's all new to me.

An Adafruit Clue board showing a live graph of decibel range only I spelt decibel wrong.

030

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

* Internal screaming * My hobby has homework and I just don't wanna.

110

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

I have a black robe with a burgundy lining that now feels like a cursed item to get rid of, but I made it well and want it to be used, even if that's for it's original purpose. (I took the badge off long ago.)

Black robe with a burgundy lining. May resemble those from a famous book/movie series.

110

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Talking about The Media That Made Us: one of earliest ones (age 12?) would be The Green-Sky trilogy* by Zilpha Keatly Snyder. It's fantasy with a sci-fi twist set in a utopic society — or is it a dystopia...?

All three Green-Sky books. Their covers make a large triptych when placed next to each other.

310

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Watching this bit of rain basically not moving for an hour. Aaaaargh. (It is inching towards us but with our luck it will fizzle out...)

110

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Currently cuddling icepacks so I can eventually hopefully fall asleep.

020

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

It's so weird to see the re-skeets of someone that was once my childhood best friend and they'll probably never talk to you again. It's not surprising, there's a lot of history of stuff from our teenage years on both sides. I'm glad they're as successful as they are.

100

Reposted by Ellen

Anon Opin @anonopin.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

You can't blame anyone else for the "loss of British culture" when you don't listen to British music created this millennium, don't go to gigs, don't watch British films, don't support arts funding, don't order eels when you have a takeaway and insist you don't watch the BBC.

1620017

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

I have a postal vote, I have never actually managed to post it and normally walk round to the polling station with it. Very glad I do though as I managed to get coach-sick badly enough that I couldn't move without vertigo and husband took both of our round last night. 💕

020

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

It's been over 20 years since I came to Oxford, had my first kiss with my now-husband, and went to hear the chorus sing in May Morning.

120

Reposted by Ellen

The Iris Project @theirisproject.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Competition! Do you recognise this English woodland? It is the wood which inspired new novel Hamadryad, and we are offering free copies to anyone who is able to identify where these photos were taken - there are a couple of clues! Details at tinyurl.com/4mdvtctp

tinyurl.com

Hamadryad: Competition Challenge!

Dr Lorna Robinson’s latest novel Hamadryad is set in a near future UK where there is a national programme which pairs everyone with a tree. She recently revisited the English woodland which i…

016

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Jetlag (or some other form of insomnia) is kicking my butt this week. I'm reminiscing about how I used to be able to nap, pre-child. Like, I'd rock up to the local park in my urban Seattle neighborhood and have a kip on a bench in the Spring sunshine.

110

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Met up with a couple of friends from High School who I haven't seen in 10 years and apparently I "haven't changed a bit". Hashtag winning at looking younger genetics. (Both my parents are the same.)

020

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Just finished a whirling 24 hours of friends-sleep-sightseeing-travel-sleep in which I wasn't keeping up on world news and I think this is appropriate.

media.tenor.com

a man in a suit is carrying a stack of pizza boxes .

Alt: It's the Community "coming in to everything being on fire" gif

031

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

My mom still owns iron of my youth, and I am using my vacay to get some sewing done at their house. Look at this gem!

A 1980s iron in a delightful shade of butter yellow, with orange and avocado coloured instructions and buttons.

250

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

What a day. Morning 2 in America, the one in which you usually can sleep off the jetlag, got woken up at 4:45. Dozed a bit but up at 7. So tired. Made big pot of coffee. Still so very tired. Took a nap. Woke up still so tired. Finally realised at 11am I'd made decaf.😴

010

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Who has two thumbs and didn't realise her US passport expired last year? And is travelling to the US on Saturday? 🙃 Bless the embassy for picking up their emails so quickly, I have an appointment on Friday at 8am. (One crisis averted, so I'm ok as long as I don't catch the 'rona from A.)

210

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

It's timetabling time again, and I'm putting this little laptop they've given me through it's paces whilst I have my day off (logged as about an hour flexitime cumulatively). The spoon keeps the screen awake. :)

This laptop looks a bit silly cos it's got a very useful spoon on the trackpad. The timetable software is running on the screen.

030

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

The road's WhatsApp group, founded at the start of lockdown, has become a Is It Down For Everyone Or Just For Me forum. (Teh internet, it is down for everyone.)

001

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

It's timetabling time again. This year I have a work laptop which can handle the software, which is great. I can let it run for the hours and hours (!) it needs without being at the office.

110

Ellen @gershamabob.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

I saw a video set in Jamaica Plain (Boston) and so I had to look up the (basically) mansion where I lived my last year of university. Me, my boyfriend, and our friend Kate shared the attic floor (clearly the servants' quarters of this house. I barely recognised it from the current photo... 1/

A big square American Victorian house, no trees around it.

Same house except you can't see it, it's all trees

100