Ester-Marie

RIP Rob Base !! It Takes Two ..

People are so desperate to deny airborne transmission of pathogens. What is wrong with everyone.

The first official trailer for Practical Magic 2, starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.

People on Instagram are enjoying sunsets, vacations, destination weddings. People on X are posting like we’re in the final chapters before civilization collapses. Same world. Different timelines.

I just realized Villa’s Tacos on Figueroa Street was in the Bad Bunny Super Bowl Halftime Show iykyk

❤️🏳️‍⚧️

Please Help @jenniiferr117 @s_steffche @BigBruce1972 @soloparentuk @moretrav1 @bfrymer @CrownedPeach614 @MrsEsterMarie @dqdebra @pjfred60 @nicmal9 @jenn_cartwright @SCBeckner @trixiedoyle @OHello0 @cjayewong @smelltouchfeel @wrainbow_sky258 @sonia_chester @zedsmiles @stranger_wolves

Fun Fact: The TV network initially thought the jazz score for “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was a mistake. Kids’ animation “wasn’t supposed” to sound like cool West Coast jazz — but Guaraldi’s music became the special’s most enduring element.

𝐀𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐊𝐈 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟐𝟓𝟕𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐳𝐞𝐤𝐢 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐨 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 The promotion of the new Sekiwake Aonishiki (Ajigawa stable) to Ozeki has been virtually decided. The Judging Department, responsible for compiling the rankings, requested Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku (former Yokozuna Hokutoumi) to convene an extraordinary board meeting to deliberate the promotion, and the request was accepted. As there are no precedents of a promotion being rejected by the board, the birth of "New Ozeki Aonishiki" is now certain. Aonishiki achieved double-digit wins for five consecutive tournaments since his entry into the top Makuuchi division. While his tournament two contests ago was at the Maegashira rank, meaning he does not meet the typical Ozeki promotion benchmark of "33 total wins over the last three tournaments while holding a Sanyaku rank," he did clear the 33-win total over his last three tournaments. Historically, there have been six other cases since the establishment of the six tournaments-per-year system in 1958 where a wrestler was promoted to Ozeki despite having been at the Maegashira rank three tournaments prior: Tochihikari (Nagoya 1962), Yutakayama (Spring 1963), Asashio (Summer 1983), Kitao (New Year 1986, later Yokozuna Futahaguro), Terunofuji (Nagoya 2015), and Tochinoshin (Nagoya 2018). Terunofuji, for example, won 8 bouts while ranked East Maegashira 2, then won 13 bouts as East Sekiwake, and was promoted after winning 12 bouts and the championship in his third tournament. Aonishiki will be the first Ozeki from Ukraine. He will begin his duties as the new Ozeki from the winter regional tour starting at the end of November. Aonishiki: 'I'm happy, but there is one rank higher,' he said, looking ahead. 'I want to aim for that. I will do my best to achieve a result that is no less than this tournament.'" #italianozeki #大相撲 #sumo #相撲 #力士 #お相撲さん #grandsumo #sumoday #sumowrestling #11月場所 #十一月場所 #九州場所 #Kyushubasho #安青錦

Across the entire animal kingdom, no other species surpasses the sunfish in relative growth

My mother-in-law kept every broken earring, every loose button, every tiny trinket in an old Folgers can for forty-three years. When she passed last spring, my husband wanted to throw it all away. I stood in her kitchen, holding that rusty can while he loaded boxes into the truck. The morning light caught a piece of costume jewelry at the bottom - a butterfly pin missing one wing. I remembered her wearing it to my wedding, proudly telling everyone her late sister had given it to her. My chest got tight. "Just old junk," my husband said, reaching for the can. But I pulled it closer, feeling the weight of all those little pieces. The smell of her lavender hand cream still lingered on some of the fabric buttons. I couldn't let go. For weeks, that can sat on my dining table. I'd catch myself running my fingers through the contents while drinking coffee - finding theater ticket stubs from 1987, a child's hospital bracelet (my husband's, from when he broke his arm), single earrings from sets she'd loved. Each piece whispered a story I'd never hear. Then I remembered seeing these shadow box displays on online shop when I was browsing for vintage frames to sell some of my own crafts. This seller had turned her grandmother's sewing notions into art. Something clicked. Maybe I didn't have to let go of everything. My sister helped me sort through it all one rainy Saturday. We found her first driver's license, a locket with a photo of her as a young bride, keys to houses long sold. "Mom would've loved this," my husband said quietly when he saw us working, his voice catching. He sat down and started telling me what each piece meant - stories I'd never heard in twenty years of marriage. We ended up making three shadow boxes. The butterfly pin sits at the center of one, surrounded by all her other broken beautiful things. When we hung them in our hallway, my husband stood there for the longest time, just looking. "She would've pretended to be embarrassed," he said, wiping his eyes. "But she would've loved that we kept it all." Now when guests ask about them, we get to tell her stories. How that tarnished thimble helped sew my husband's Scout badges. How those mismatched buttons came from her father's Navy uniform. Turns out it wasn't junk at all. It was proof that she'd lived, loved, and held onto the things that mattered - even if they were broken. And now, finally, I understood why.

Monet's Pond in Japan looks like a real-life Monet painting

The youth today have no IDEA how iconic this duo is..

Put effort into your dreams….. you never know how far a little “hustle” can take you.

Why I Still Mask I still wear a mask. Not because I’m paranoid, not because I’m weak, but because I understand that the air we share carries risk. COVID-19 has not gone away. It’s still disabling people, it’s still taking lives, and it still spreads silently. Pretending otherwise doesn’t make me brave—it makes me careless. Masking is a simple act of self-respect and respect for others. I don’t know who I might be sitting next to on a bus or standing behind in a shop queue. Maybe they’re recovering from surgery, maybe they’re caring for an immunocompromised child, maybe they’re just hoping they won’t get sick before payday. I choose to do the small thing that helps protect them as well as myself. There are people who sneer, roll their eyes, or make comments. They think intimidation or mockery will get me to fall in line with their comfort zone. But I won’t. Why should I be pressured into gambling with my health—or theirs—just to fit in? The truth is, taking off the mask doesn’t make the virus go away. It just makes people feel less uncomfortable about their own choice not to protect themselves. I won’t be shamed into ignoring reality. My health matters. The health of strangers matters. Science is clear: masks reduce transmission. I’d rather stand out for doing something protective than blend in while putting myself and others at unnecessary risk. So yes, I’ll keep masking. Not out of fear, but out of responsibility. And no amount of smirks or side-comments will change that.

Polish crested chicken

After seeing so much stupidity, ignorance, denial, selfishness and cruelty during these pandemic years, I will never see people, and humanity as a whole, the same again. I cannot and will not unlearn what I've learned.