Field Notes: June 2026
2026 June 27
You can find the original newsletter here.
Life Updates
Well, I have something fun to share! At the start of the month, I had the opportunity to go to Iceland for a conference. It was workshop-style, so the first week was spent very occupied basically working nonstop from 8-5, but we did get to spend some time in Reykjavík (which is a very cool city, but wow, lot of walking and uphill walking at that!). The sun doesn't really set there, at best it becomes a "blue hour" from midnight to 3AM, and then it rises again, so very intriguing things have happened to my circadian rhythm. I haven't been to a conference to present my own research in a few years now, so it was also a nice confidence boost to talk to people that were interested in what I was doing. After the conference ended, my partner came to visit for a few days, so we rented a car and got to see some more of the countryside and wildlife.
(Something unique for the website readers... I installed a lightbox feature on site, you can now click certain images to see them larger!)
Some highlights included seeing the largest Atlantic Puffin colony in the world at Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands), walking the rift between two tectonic plates at Þingvellir National Park, and discovering a new favorite fish (Arctic Char)! Which, ironically, I had learned about from Animal Crossing in a strategy guide as a child because it's one of those niche ones you can only catch at a specific waterfall at the top of the map. It is like a milder buttery salmon, and will always be the weird Animal Crossing fish to me. Other food highlights included skyr (Icelandic yogurt), to which is so delicious and precious there's a dedicated refrigerated room in some grocery stores for it. Coffee was also excellent and strong. They were not lying about the food prices though (if you were getting a meal for 30 USD or less, that's a bargain 🥲), I had a great time but my wallet is very happy I am home... I won't be complaining about the grocery prices for a bit now, that's for sure.
There's a few selected pictures below, but I actually put together a full gallery on my site that includes scenery, wildlife, and plants. Check it out, I spent a bit on it and I'm happy with it!
The site gallery also has pictures of birds and plants I took. Coded this by hand so I could be picky about displays, and I'm happy with how it turned out. I'll probably go back and retroactively make galleries for other trips I've taken using this format.
Where we were working at the conference was adjacent to a bird sanctuary, but I was the only person who was interested in birds there, so there was a lot of wistful staring out the window for about a week until the work was done and I could bring out the camera. Interestingly, a lot of shorebirds are "lawn birds" in Iceland, oystercatchers just walk around outside the window and Arctic Tern is everywhere. Even fulmars float right up to you in the harbor. These are birds that I'm used to having to take a boat out into the ocean to have a chance of seeing. It was also excellent to see some high tundra/arctic plants in bloom, like moss campion! Some of these we have in North America, but I'd have to go to a higher latitude or elevation to see them.
Creative Updates
Still in the coding mines! The main project I worked on was that gallery you see above for my site. The side adventures that I didn't intend to go on were coding HTML templates for Art Fight, instead of doing literally anything else to prepare for Art Fight.
(Speaking of which, I am on Team Tragedy this year on Art Fight! Come get me!)
Art Fight allows HTML this year instead of just BBCode, but a lot of the premade templates are complex and a bit too maximalist for me. I made some really pared down (but mobile responsive and light/dark mode friendly) layouts that some friends asked if I'd release the code, so I cleaned them up and posted them for use. I've never released anything I've coded myself, and had to clean things up quite a bit (my code is quite duct taped together, no one can know how I live) but I'm satisfied with them and other people seem to be enjoying them. I will say, the syntax for Art Fight is different than Toyhouse despite both using Bootstrap, so it took a bit of finagling to get these to behave the way I wanted.
Between working on my own site and figuring out these templates (I built these myself, tag by tag, from the ground up so I'd understand fully how they worked) I'm feeling a lot more confident with my codes. Bootstrap can be kind of annoying but it does make it incredibly easy to make clean, mobile-friendly, container-based themes, I would consider installing it on a personal site in the future.
You can check out my folder with the codes and previews here.
I have not drawn anything in a few months, which feels quite strange! I am hoping Art Fight gets me back in the habit. One thing I did manage to draw though, I'm still simmering that short comic/story I want to work on in my cauldron. It won't be ready for AF this year, much to the dismay of the bird anthro artists who followed me that'd probably love her, but working on designs for my petrel woman OC.
I can share a bit of the early ideas I have stewing so far, as a reward if you've read this far... she's working for a shady organization on a project in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. In this setting, drought is exacerbated globally and funding is directed towards some of the driest places on Earth to see how life there is adapted and making it work. And also, there is a flea. Just (1) one flea, that accidentally hitched a ride into the valley and is now actively guilt tripping her into letting it stay and not be left behind where it will die. They talk to each other throughout the story.
If anyone cares about this sort of thing like I do, the flea is in the family Ceratophyllidae, which have some cold-tolerant members including Glaciopsyllus antarcticus, which holds the world record for most southerly insect. One of my dissertation chapters also involved identifying one singular flea, so I did want to decide on a type of flea. Even if the flea is more of a narrative device so the protagonist has someone to talk to in a lonely valley.
I think that's all! Long one but hopefully interesting. July will be for Art Fight lockdown, with some (less-exciting) work travel at the very end of the month. I anticipate a busy month, but somehow I always end up making time for AF, so we'll see how that all goes. (If you're reading this and I don't already have you on Art Fight, here's my account again 😉)