E.J. Pryor

@ejpryor

Judaica librarian. Translator of literature for adults and children from Russian and Yiddish. Dilatory writer and dilettante baker. Portland. יונה

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Bluesky

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E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· 1d

Same, Og. Same.

Frame from a comic of a large green monster trembling while remembering falling into a hole. He says “אני זוכר את הבור הרשע”—I remember the terrible pit

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· 7d

More for the Nextdoor is weird file: This post from a few days ago. No information of public interest, no request for anything. Just “Hi, my husband drank so much he passed out and almost set the house on fire. Thought everyone should know.”

I came home after my doctor's appointment right around at 3:00 p.m. and my house was on heavy smoke and I wasn't able to breathe or barely can see anything. My husband was in front of the computer sitting completely passed out from drinking alcohol he was trying to cook something in the pan and did not turn off the stove, it could have been a big disaster! My whole house would be on fire that could kill my husband and my 2 beautiful cats! Thank God I didn't go for shopping at Safeway after my appointment. Anyway I had to call 911 and Fire truck came within 5 minutes and took care of that smoke. I am still in trauma.

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· 10d

The dry cleaner has upgraded my tallit from decor to clothing

Dry cleaning tag identifying tallit as a “Wrap”

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· 11d

In other important cat news, I met this guy at the coffee shop

Pale orange cat wearing a harness and leash curled up in the corner of a sofa

Pale orange cat wearing a harness and leash, sitting upright on a sofa and looking curiously out the window

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· 11d

Bed creature

Fluffy black cat sitting up on a floral duvet, belly up, back legs spread out in front of him, front legs lost somewhere in the floof

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· 22d

Behold the troubled conscience of a creature who has just pushed my siddur off the shelf and directly into his water bowl.

Floofy black cat lying on his side, belly out, not a care in the world

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· Jul 4

I have been sick for almost two weeks now and I’m sick of it. But at least I’ve been able to spend some quality time at home with this majestic doofus

Wide-eyed fluffy black cat swaddled in packing paper

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· May 25

Uhhh, to be clear, this was a spoken response, not typed. I can’t believe that in all my years of Russian study I never learned to speak in Cyrillic.

Pop up box in a language learning app that reads: “Great job acknowledging the greeting and expressing gratitude! To enhance your response, you could say Привет! Спасибо! using the Cyrillic script, which is more appropriate for the context.”

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· May 24

Uh, I mean, sure? I didn’t really consider enjoyment as a factor in this process at all. But I can’t help but notice that “yes” is not one of the options here, so thanks a lot for getting my hopes up, tv.

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· May 21

*anything*, really? Ok, weird, glad I’m not the one who has to clean this washroom.

A sign posted above a toilet that reads: Please do not flush anything besides the toilet paper and seat protectors

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· May 15

I went out for cocktails after dinner (fancy anniversary date night) and this tiny portrait of a very dapper good boy was on the wall behind our table. It’s maybe an inch across.

A tiny photograph in ornate gilt frame of a white puppy with black ears wearing a red bow tie

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· May 6

I’d seen pictures before, but actually being inside one of Kusama’s installations was overwhelming in a way I wasn’t expecting. Wonder? Terror? Hard to tell.

A dark, mirrored space filled with colorful spheres of light endlessly reflected

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· May 5

Something else has joined the whiteboard. One of these things is not like the others.

Sketch on a whiteboard of a dove (labeled “יונה yonah”) and a raven (labeled “עורב orev”) and…a frog? A circle with eyes and mouth and four stick legs with webbed feet, labeled “phrog צפרדע”

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· Apr 29

I’m sure this ad campaign wasn’t intended to sound threatening, but some people might have some feelings about being on a train and seeing “Next stop: Germany” over and over.

A large sign on a train platform with a photo of a German town with the words “Næste stop: Tyskland” (next stop: Germany)

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· Apr 29

Fascinated by this cover for a Swedish translation of A Wizard of Earthsea. It’s been a while since I read it, but I don’t remember any description of (presumably) Ged dressing in whatever this outfit is.

Cover for “Trollkarlen från Övärlden” by Ursula K. Le Guin:

A dark-skinned person down on one knee, holding a sparking metallic staff. The person is wearing a flowy yellow-green tunic and tights. On the tunic is some sort of sash or cross-body strap and various symbols/patches, one of which looks like a sudoku square. They are wearing shoulder pads and jeweled metallic gauntlets and a hood that looks a bit like an astronaut helmet that shrunk in the wash. There is a looming shadow behind the person that could possibly also be a palm tree. It is not entirely clear if that shadow is connected to the weird dark creature slipping out from between the persons legs looking kind of like a black cat with one (disturbingly buttholish) eye.

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· Apr 28

Second, can someone who is better at reading blackletter tell me: this is a mistake, isn’t it? In the Vulgate, the first word of Malachi—which begins on this page with the large illuminated initial—is “onus”. I’m not entirely sure what letter that is meant to be, but almost certainly not an O.

Closeup of illuminated initial from Gutenberg Bible. Two vertical bars, the left a bit rounded and the right straight, connected by a thick diagonal from bottom left to top right and by a thin horizontal line across the top.

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· Apr 28

Two things: First, did you know that many copies of the Gutenberg Bible were beautifully hand-illuminated? Look how lovely this copy at the Danish Royal Library is.

A copy of a Gutenberg Bible open to the beginning of Malachi. It is printed in a dense blackletter font with the capitals picked out in red ink. The large initial capital—maybe an A? An N?—is illuminated by hand in a rich blue with vaguely botanic motifs, including what look like vines trailing from it, and decorated with small stars of gold ink like tiny suns.

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· Apr 27

Sharing some more art from my trip: I was very taken by this painting (c. 1910) at the Kunstmuseum Brandts in Odense by the unknown-to-me Danish painter A.C. Tersløse. The title is “Jeg drømte livet var lykke” (I dreamt that life was happiness)

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· Apr 27

Look! Greenland!

Ranks of snow/ice-covered mountains stretching to the horizon, reaching the steep shore of an ice-free fjord in the foreground.

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· Apr 25

Sorry, i take back what I said about Danish being a serious language

A locked cabinet at the supermarket, filled with the fancy wines and bubbly. At the top there’s a sign that says: Ekstra gode vine

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· Apr 25

Just admiring this cat sarcophagus and not at all laughing at the Danish on the tag because Danish is a serious language

At the Glyptotek in Copenhagen, an Egyptian bronze sarcophagus in the shape of a cat sitting upright with its tail wrapped around its front legs. The tag reads: Sarkofag til kattemumie

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· Apr 24

Medieval cats going where they’re not supposed to

Clay tile from medieval ruins with cat footprints across it

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· Apr 24

Getting some decorating ideas for my library

Photo of part of the King’s Reference Library at Christianborg Palace. Books, obviously, but also gilded railings and crystal chandeliers and a massive painting of flying cranes covering most of the ceiling

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· Apr 24

Oh hey, look what I found in Copenhagen

Two round office buildings, each of which is perched atop (or built around the outside of?) a silo-like round concrete base less than half the diameter of the building. Like a roll of toilet paper on the spindle. The bottom floors of the buildings are at least 20m off the ground. The bases are labeled “Portland Towers”

A closer view of the building’s base showing the “Portland Towers” signage

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor· Apr 21

I visited the Royal Library in Copenhagen and saw this beautiful Hebrew manuscript (ca. 13??—my photo of the tag is too blurry to tell). Look at the amazing micrography for the beginning of Vayikra.