I’ve been watching Born to Be Wild, a wildlife documentary series about raising wild animal babies to be released back into the wild.Photo licensed from Depositphotos. Copyright Davide Antoniani.It reminds me of a beloved television series from my childhood, Born Free.And it’s triggered in me the same dream. That of running away to the wilderness …

Hands are weird. And they’re tricky to draw.  People like to complain that the generative AI programs often screw up people’s hands. And it’s true. I’ve seen some truly horrific renderings of hands.  But you know what’s also true? The actual human hand is weird. Sometimes, I see my hand at a certain angle and have to do …

I’m heartily sick of winter. Probably as sick as you are of my “woe is winter” blog posts. So today I bring you a few of my favorite photos from my trip to Hawaii in 2011. Enjoy. And stay warm!Photo copyright 2011 by Vanessa KierYes, this is the typical photo everyone takes in Hawaii! Photo copyright 2011 …

Welcome back to Vanessa’s winter weather weather report. 😉 Winter Storm Fern dumped about two feet of snow on us on Sunday, but didn’t quite let go on Monday. Instead, we got intermittent snow today. Mostly light snow, but a few stretches of heavier snow for maybe a couple of inches of additional accumulation.Photo copyright 2026 …

So yeah, our little winter thaw didn’t last long. First came the snow.Photo copyright 2026 by Vanessa Kier.Now we’ve got below-freezing temps again. I’ve been playing around with writing speculative fiction. Have I considered building worlds with warmer, more hospitable climates? Maybe ones that don’t experience winter at all? Bet your bottom dollar, I have! 😀

It amazes me how quickly I adjust to the reality of winter. Back in the fall, I’d have considered temperatures in the low 40s to be cold. Today, however, after a period where temperatures struggled to get out of the 20s, 42F feels like spring. Temperatures have been above freezing for enough days that a lot of …