Shana tovah, y'all! Here's to a sweet, safe, and all-round better 5785. Meanwhile, please enjoy this reminder that AI remains fairly garbage (expand to se3 "answer")

On balance a pretty good day for American democracy (and decency and patriotism). Good night, fellow CoSonauts.

Can someone help me figure out how to distill this screen capture and inject it directly into my veins? Please and thank you #France #FrenchElections #VivaLaFrance #FascistTears #CryMoreLosers

A blessed Solstice from Seattle

Pretty sure this is peak North Seattle

Thank you, spaceweather.com -- I love this for us. #AIfreezone

Not to be one of those crazy plant ladies, but I would like to find the person who opened this flytrap's sale container and shoved a grape into its "mouth." I wish to return the favor. #PlantsOfCoSo

Alfred has a slightly unnerving idea of the results of parachuting

TFW you notice one of your plants is biting itself... and screaming. Definitely a metaphor for 2024 so far.

And Santa is up and away. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

So, two things...

1) Yay! Finally! (I have been meaning to be this person, but 2022-23 is when I finally got right with this bucket-list item.)

2) Is there a #CoSoNauts team for such donations? I'm on the Grateful Dead team now, but there's a CoSo-celebrating option I'm down.

.

I was today years old the first time I made myself a whole-ass, from-scratch grownup meal requiring timing multiple dishes to finish at once. (Not the bread, though, because I am not a maniac.) Not shown: The rest of the bread (with butter and honey, for dessert); the beer I richly earned tonight. This stuff is hard!

Baby jade plants are the real inspiration for Little Shop of Horrors' Audrey II and nothing you can say will change my mind.

The most beautiful loaf of bread I have ever baked. Possibly the most beautiful loaf of bread anyone has ever baked. One hour until I absolutely house this thing or some substantial portion thereof.

...meanwhile, on Kalahaku, the world's tallest dandelion is hanging out among the silver sword and nēnē. Because it can.

Pele's best gift really is arable soil -- intensely, intensely arable soil

Saying goodbye this weekend to a beloved vehicle. Thanks for everything, Faith. You done good, real real good, literally to the last mile. 🙌

Food Experiments #3 and #4, from yesterday: The best butter thumbprint cookie base I've found yet (would you believe it was on the back of the Bob's Red Mill bag?); made variations with banana jam, huckleberry preserves, and strawberry-violet jelly. Also used it to finally get the Danger Cookie right, which counts as its own #4.

Food Experiment #2, from Tuesday: Tamarind mandecadito cookies, which ... it's good that I held off reviewing that recipe for a day, because the icing improves wildly after about eight hours to cure. Great new shortbread recipe under there, BTW -- purists be damned, everything's better with a little nutmeg.