Alice Sheppard

@penguingalaxy

Citizen scientist, Brit in Sweden, endless maker of soup for babies. Galaxy Zoo turned me into a penguin. Always looking for more galaxies.

788 Folgt1.833 Follower8.001 Posts

Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir penguingalaxy.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· 14d

@chrislintott.bsky.social took kid swimming today and guess what they're selling. Does Oxford need some more?

An enormous display of 12 x 6 rubber ducks of various ridiculousness. Loads of different colours and costumes. One duck even has antlers.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· 15d

Went on a boat in Stockholm today. This is the kind of picture you send back to your Brexit voting acquaintances in the UK, right? 😀

Taken from the back of a boat on an extremely sunny day. The wake of the boat and the sunlight are both very bright on the water. The water and sky are both fiercely blue. On all horizons there are islands and dark trees. Hanging off the boat is a very big Swedish flag.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· 18d

Something I love about Stockholm: Look. It's a brygga (jetty) but it looks just like a bus stop ... because it IS a bus stop. There's a boat coming and you can use your SL (local transport) app or card just the same as any bus or train. Husband is out for a walk and hopping to the next island.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· 18d

A small tabby cat named Callisto lying on my laptop, which is on a laptop tray on a couple of messy blankets on a sofa. Callisto has magnificent whiskers and far-apart thin black stripes on a slightly orangey tabby background and a rather sad expression on her face.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· 19d

I've already found the place names Täby, Tibble and Gribbylund in a north Stockholm district, and now look. Stockholm is clearly having a cute names contest. (Ugglebo means owl's nest - a bo is a place to live; a sambo is someone you live with. But still.)

A black sign pointing to Lilla Ugglebo and Villa Ugglebo leftwards, and Stora Skuggan rightwards. It is by a narrow road empty except for a jogger, and it runs through fields with tall grass under a hot blue sky and some trees.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Jul 8

The cats inform me that this does not concern any humans, thank you

Two tabby cats on a sofa with messy blankets. One cat is on top of the other. The underneath cat is upside down and has a particularly bewildered expression. The on top cat, who was licking the underneath cat, has looked up with an indignant face.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Jun 30

Facebook just reminded me of this phone call I had 10 years ago.

A Facebook memory from 30 June 2016.

"Hello, good evening madam, how are you?"
"Fine thanks, how are you?"
"I am calling about the accident you had, in a car, some time back?"
".... Oh, that! It wasn't a car. It was a rocket."
"Sorry madam?"
"Yes, it was a space rocket. We crashlanded over Africa."
".... and how long ago was this?"
"Ooooh ... maybe 10 years?"
"And how many people were in the vehicle?"
"Three. There are always three astronauts in a Soyuz capsule."
"And who was driving?"
"Probably NASA."
"Your boyfriend?"
"No, astronauts don't need boyfriends."
".... Thank you madam."
"Byeeeeeeeeee!"

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Jun 30

Good morning Callisto

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Jun 21

Oh my gosh, it smells absolutely magic 🤤

A saucepan with yellow dal, and a frying pan with red and green bhindi bhaji

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· May 17

Husband got kid one of those magnetic drawing thingies. So I drew our kid's personality. Sunbeam smiles and lots of legs.

A green and white magnetic drawing board with three buttons on the side. I've drawn a big, very smiley emoji with crinkly eyes and triangular sunbeams coming off it, arms coming out at the top as if cheering or getting ready for a hug, and six legs with socks on the feet coming out of the rest of it.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· May 14

Every so often I crochet stripy hats. I made one for my baby when I was 7 months pregnant with her. I let it rest on my belly while half made and she kicked it so hard it shot up in the air. Here is her hat and a grown-up hat.

Two crocheted hats trying to sit up by themselves on a white desk. They have the same pattern - yellow, light blue and dark blue. One hat is much bigger than the other - the small one is for a small child. (She's now two and it just about still fits her, but she pulls it off and throws it on the floor immediately.)

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· May 12

@canopyrobin.com it's my birthday and look what I got 😊🍁🥬🍂 (sorry about the awful quality photo)

Me, looking a bit sleepy, holding a leaf mug and leaning back on a leaf-patterned cushion both designed by CanopyRobin

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· May 7

Good morning BlueSky, have a tree with white blossom right next to a spiney piney tree. They look so adorable next to each other. Actual names of these trees I would be very grateful to know.

A close-up of some white blossom, yellow centres, 5 petals - my sister has said this is apple blossom but I'm not sure. Looking as if it's on the same branch - but isn't, of course - are twigs out of which are growing long, long pine needles. I'm not sure what kind of pine it is either. In the background is a blurred muddy/grassy bank, some more coniferous trees and very blue sky.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· May 2

Good afternoon BlueSky, have a wood anemone from a forest in Sweden

A wood anemone: a small white flower with a hairy yellow-green centre, six petals and long leaves with many curving tips. It's on the shaded forest floor, but the sunlight comes through it perfectly, accentuating all the details. Wood anemones are called vitsippor in Swedish and are kind of a national icon.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Apr 29

Good morning BlueSky, have some pink

A close-up of a branch of pink blossom (I think it's cherry, but I'm not sure) on the end of a tree branch. Blurred in the background is a path and a bank of grass and yellow cowslips.

Another blossoming pink tree, also I think cherry, sunlit against a blue sky. A low brick building with white doors and windows stands in its shadow.

A close-up of the same tree as before, a picture taken straight into the branches so all we can really see is blossom and blue sky and some darker orangey bits that I guess are leaves.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Apr 24

@joannechocolat.bsky.social This post came up as a Facebook memory today and I knew I recognised him. He's exactly how I picture Guillaume with his dear old dog. I'm probably very wrong, but still!

A meme that says "I'm happy, but I'm not 'old man holding a kitten on a bus' happy". A delighted elderly man in a brown jacket, spotted tie and white cap sits on a blue bus seat holding a black cat with a huge grin on his face. The cat is looking up at him and seems to be wrapped in a brown blanket.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Apr 23

Little poppet is bouncing off the walls, running around playgrounds, standing yelling on top of bookshelves and in short is absolutely fit to go back to preschool. And the flowers came out to greet us. Regretfully I didn't manage to get a picture of the bumblebee in the cherry blossom.

Sunlight shining through early spring grass blades and some little blue star-shaped flowers. Unfortunately I don't know what they are called.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Apr 12

Hahahahaha! This is Callisto! Toddler tends to just grab glasses randomly or to lick my face - she hasn't combined the two so far ...

A small tabby cat with white whiskers and an adorably sad expression lying on a messy grey blanket

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Apr 10

It's Friday and he hasn't blown up the planet yet. Have a lovely big stretch.

Four pictures of different species of cats, all stretching in the same way as cats do: head down, back arched inwards, front paws forward, bum up, tail curved, blissful expression. In order: a tiger in the snow; a lion on some sand near wire mesh (a zoo I guess); a tiger among some tropical palmy leaves; a white domestic cat with ginger and black patches on a tarmac pavement next to a wall and some weeds.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Apr 10

Random picture of a two-headed giant cat for you all

Two tabby cats curled up together on a duvet. They are lying on their sides in semicircles with their heads right next to each other and their limbs are entwined, so they look like one big cat body. They are very stripy with magnificent white whiskers.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Apr 1

Hello BlueSky, have a catpile. I came into my room and found them like that. BFFs, I believe the current term is.

My cats, Cosmo and Callisto, curled up together tightly on the end of a bed. Their heads are touching and their limbs are entangled. They are both lying in that sort of cat circular shape, but mirror images, so they can have their heads and limbs as close as possible. Awwwww. They are both dark brown tabbies with white whiskers. The bed is a bit badly made with a pale cover with birds and a grey blanket. Behind them is a slightly open window and a bookshelf.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Mar 28

Stripy boy has a side eye for you.

My cat Cosmo on a ruckled up grey blanket. He's a brown tabby with magnificent white whiskers and chin and is giving a very serious side eye indeed. I forget why.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Mar 24

Awwww, I'm in Sweden so I can't participate, but now I want to tell you all about the Swedish ducks who make absolute clusterducks (sorry, couldn't resist) on the bits of lakes where the ice melts ...

A pretty, fenced, wooden jetty at the edge of a frozen lake in a snowy park. Under the jetty is a small area of liquid water and there are about 100 ducks in it.

Lots of ducks on the snowy beach of a frozen lake. In the background is the same jetty as before, with lots of ducks clustered under it.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Mar 24

Oh, this is adorable! Duckling citizen science! (UK.) Going to repost this with alt text.

Wanted: Duckling sightings
We want to hear about the mallard broods you see this year!
All you need to record is: Location, date, number of ducklings, approximate age
Report your brood sightings to DucklingWatch to help scientists understand what is causing changes in our mallard population
Reporting the same brood more than once is particularly useful - name your brood and record the number of ducklings each day you see them to help us learn about duckling survival rates!
Sightings from anywhere in Britain welcome!
Get involved! Visit citsci.org/projects/ducklingwatch to submit your sightings and for more information, including a guide to estimating duckling age.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Mar 24

Reposting with alt text, this is a good point

Screenshot from therelatablewall

Dr Danielle Lemmon, @iLemmon

Hi, PhD researcher who studies climate and human evolution here. Please stop comparing dying from poverty to Darwin's "survival of the fittest". Poverty is a social construct caused by wealth hoarding in the post-industrial age, not by some natural resource shortage you fascist.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Mar 23

Feeling blue, but why is that supposed to be a bad thing? Blue is my favourite colour

A long concrete jetty with black railings and two old-fashioned lamp posts over an extremely blue lake which sparkles fiercely in very bright sunlight. Overhead is a hot, intensely blue sky with a few thin, spread-out aeroplane trails and a hint of a glowing sun. At the end of the jetty is my husband and a pram; on the right there is a silhouetted tall tree, whose branches are still bare; across the lake is a distant town and trees. The picture is EXTREMELY blue. Maybe my camera saturated it a bit, but it suits it.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Mar 21

Happy #WorldDownSyndromeDay! This day is on the 21st of March, the 3rd month, to celebrate the 3 copies of the 21st chromosome. It's a day when lots of people wear odd socks to celebrate difference, because chromosomes can look a bit like socks :) It's called Rocka Sockorna in Sweden.

My feet and my two-year-old daughter's feet at right angles on a wooden floor. We are wearing odd socks - her one with a bumblebee and another with a dolphin, me one with bright stripes and trees and reindeer, the other black with multicoloured stars. She is holding a plastic toy that you push buttons and it makes noises. There is a soft toy leopard on the right.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Mar 17

I remember the day after I lost this squeaky fluffball, I cried all day and I can go for many years at a time without crying at all. A cat-shaped hole opens up.

An extremely fluffy tortie and white cat. She has a pink nose, big round green eyes, and one side of her face is black while the other is orange. She is lying on her side with her paws sticking out on a large piece of hardwood (on which there is also newspaper, a crate of apples and a handsaw).

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Feb 28

Post a pic you took, no context, to bring some Zen to the feed

An iced-over lake in a snowy winter, seen from a snowy hilltop. There's a black fence and thin bare trees in the foreground. A setting sun is shining on the water, and there's a clearer darker patch where the ice is thinner. Across the lake are houses and a park and a blue and yellow sky streaked with clouds and aeroplane trails.

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy· Feb 25

Look at this cuddle pile 🥰