Natalie Downe

Hello followers! My name is Natalie, I'm a naturalist, ceramicist, community organizer and occasional technologist. A Brit living in coastal Northern California with my husband @simonwillison.net - My art instagram.com/natbat.art - Photography instagram.com/natbat - Mastodon @natbat@wandering.shop

Looking for a good way to spent today’s amazing weather? Come on down to the Harvest festival at “Alpacas by the sea” in Montara! There’s great music, good food trucks and lots of artisan craft vendors too! 1162 Tamarind Street, 94037, Montara, CA, United States, studio-e.us/event/alpaca...

It’s something really special when animals feel comfortable enough to sleep near you! (Just picked Lila up from the vet again because she ate dirt)

Jesus Christ. All green card interviews worldwide are paused indefinitely

Today I learned that Santa doesn’t have a “grotto” in the US?!

For UK political watchers, in honour of the Lib Dems:

There are many reasons to love Britain and this is one of them.

880 NOAA firings, plus over 1,000 deferred resignations or buyouts. “These forced the National Weather Service to halt or reduce weather balloon launches at 11 locations…And that loss of data then translates into less precise forecasts, more uncertainties in the forecast.”

Happy Solstice friends! I spent the Summer solstice much in the same way as the winter solstice, with fire! Only instead of watching Pianos burn in San Gregorio it was day 7 of a Tim See Intermediate throwing and Raku workshop 🔥

Again.

Soul grind is coming soon! Next to OPL

If anyone is at a loose end today, me and 35 other artists are exhibiting & selling our work at COCA open studios across the Coastside today till 5pm from Montara to HMB. I’m spot #12 (selling ceramics and ceramic & sterling silver jewelry) www.colonyofcoastsideartists.com/coca-open-st...

Don’t silence science!

As a Dyslexic Brit living in America, planning things on either 6/7 or 7/6 is the absolute worst! Doesn’t also help that a June and July are both 4 letter months that start with a J!

Do I know anyone in NYC who would like to join me at the theatre to see the Death Becomes Her musical (8pm 13th June at the Lunt-Fontanne theatre) www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/34895-d...

Do I know anyone who lives in NYC and wants to come to the theatre with me on the 14th or 22nd June? I’m seeing the Death Becomes Her musical at 8pm on the 14th and musical comedy act Annelise Baker at 9pm on the 22nd June at Green room 42.

“Diversity is the heartbeat of Eurovision” is a message for the times.

You may have noticed that the word for ‘night’ in many languages appears to be that language’s word for ‘eight’ with an ‘N' in front of it. English: N + eight = Night German: N + acht = Nacht French: N + huit = Nuit Spanish: N + ocho = Noche Italian: N + otto = Notte Portuguese: N + oito = Noite ⬇️

This right here. I know art is a “luxury” and when people can’t afford even the basics, it’s understandable that they aren’t spending money on art stuff. So if you still support artists in these though times, know how much we all appreciate it. (And don’t feel bad if you can’t.)

Happy Beltane!

“Executive power needs checks and balances”

Every time I see someone talk about Claude I think about how they switched from female to male names as soon as they wanted the robots to seem like experts vs personal assistants.

Call centers, please don’t call me dear, darling or Maam!

I mean it’s almost certainly damaged them permanently *and* they had to backtrack and apologize. So, you know, don’t pander to the far right, guys. It doesn’t end well. www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/p...

Do I know anyone in the Sacramento area (or nerds like us who are willing to travel to see it) who wants to come and see a very big train with me? Simon and I are going to visit the world’s largest operating steam locomotive when it visits Roseville on the 10th April. Want to meet us there?

OK this is cool. The first time humans have seen the whole Mare Orientale on the far side of the Moon with their own eyes. See flic.kr/p/2s5HA2X 🧪🔭

Cleo had her first sniff exam / Nosework ORT in Petaluma today. She did so well! She got 2/3, or rather I did… she got 3/3 but I called Birch too early. She totally nailed Anise and Clove, although got quite frustrated an thwacked the boxes when I didn’t call those last two in a timely fashion!

This image of home just came down from the Artemis II crew. Taken after their translunar injection burn, there are aurorae at top right and lower left, and zodiacal light at lower right. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

See, this is how I know that BlueSky can assume the mantle of all that was once good about Twitter

Quite a wobble!

Headed out to a No Kings protest today? Know your rights before you go and share with your friends and family attending!

Cleo has her scent test (nose work ORT) coming up on the 4th April in Petaluma. We did a practice run on site last night. Cleo has got Anise nailed, she is gonna need a lot of practice this week on Birch and Clove though!

Women are 73% more likely to be severely injured in a car crash, and 17% more likely to die than men. All because car companies have been resisting testing for women since forever. I’m not surprised on several levels, as I’ve gotten older and have larger breasts, seatbelts basically are […]

Here's another photo of the year candidate from Getty contributor Megan Varner:

Doesn’t matter where you are travelling... just be cautious?

Been saying it for a year now. And not as a guess, either: almost every single action taken by Trump since January 20, 2025 has in some way, small or large, advanced the causing of ending our democracy. He is not hiding what he plans. For some reason media has just been tepid in reporting on it.

Buying a car is a MISERABLE process!

There's a chap on TikTok who has built a custom instrument out of a hurdy-gurdy and a Singer sewing machine (plus an attached theremin) which he uses for Daft Punk covers and they are genuine bangers www.tiktok.com/@singersound...

Well, this isn’t good.

I joined the Bay Area Plein Air painting club today and did some nature journalling. Lovely group of people, and they didn’t mind that I wasn’t doing the usual kind of painting!