I Am Learning To Sew

I have reached the point where I need more space for my sewing supplies so I bought this storage cabinet.

 Then I realized I could use up some of my fabric scrapes by gluing them to the back of the cabinet. Looks even better in person.

My Most Favorite Image This Week

Father's Day 2015

My father late 1950s. This is how I remember him looking- crew-cut, ears that stuck out a bit, and blue eyes.

-My sister's beautiful story about searching for a connection to our father.

Moving forward,  Father's Day When You Have A Bad Dad

Happy Summer Solstice

The Jamies "Summertime, Summertime" is one of those songs you only have to hear once for it to live rent-free in your mind forever.
-ALLMUSIC



-The Jamies

It's summertime summertime sum sum summertime
Summertime summertime sum sum summertime
Summertime summertime sum sum summertime
Summertime summertime sum sum summertime summertime...

Well shut them books and throw em away
Say goodbye to dull school days
So come on and change your ways
It's summertime...

Well no more studying history
And no more reading geography
And no more dull geometry
Because it's summertime

It's time to head straight for them hills
It's time to live and have some thrills
Come along and have a ball
A regular free-for-all

Well are you comin or are you ain't
You slow-pokes are my one complaint
Hurry up before I faint
It's summertime

Well I'm so happy that I could flip
Oh how I'd love to take a trip
I'm sorry teacher but zip your lip
Because it's summertime

It's time to head straight for them hills
It's time to live and have some thrills
Come along and have a ball
A regular free for all

Well we'll go swimmin every day
No time to work just time to play
If your folks complain just say,
It's summertime

And every night we'll have a dance
Cause what's a vacation without romance
Oh man this jive has me in a trance
Because it's summertime

It's time to head straight for them hills
It's time to live and have some thrills
Come along and have a ball A regular free for all
It's summertime

It's summertime summertime sum sum summertime
Summertime summertime sum sum summertime
Summertime summertime sum sum summertime
Summertime summertime sum sum summertime
Summertime

It's summertime

How Long, O Lord, How Long?

I honestly have nothing other than just sadness once again that we have to peer into the abyss of the depraved violence that we do to each other and the nexus of a just gaping racial wound that will not heal, yet we pretend doesn’t exist. And I’m confident, though, that by acknowledging it, by staring into that and seeing it for what it is, we still won’t do jack-shit.Yeah. That’s us.

And that’s the part that blows my mind. I don’t want to get into the political argument of the guns and things. But what blows my mind is the disparity of response between when we think people that are foreign are going to kill us, and us killing ourselves.

If this had been what we thought was Islamic terrorism, it would fit into our — we invaded two countries and spent trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives and now fly unmanned death machines over five or six different countries, all to keep Americans safe. We got to do whatever we can. We’ll torture people. We gotta do whatever we can to keep Americans safe.

Nine people shot in a church. What about that? “Hey, what are you gonna do? Crazy is as crazy is, right?"
That’s the part that I cannot, for the life of me, wrap my head around, and you know it. You know that it’s going to go down the same path. “This is a terrible tragedy.”

They’re already using the nuanced language of lack of effort for this. This is a terrorist attack. This is a violent attack on the Emanuel Church in South Carolina, which is a symbol for the black community. It has stood in that part of Charleston for 100 and some years and has been attacked viciously many times, as many black churches have.

I heard someone on the news say, “Tragedy has visited this church.”
This wasn’t a tornado. This was a racist. This was a guy with a Rhodesia badge on his sweater. You know, so the idea that — you know, I hate to even use this pun, but this one is black and white. There’s no nuance here.

And we’re going to keep pretending like, “I don’t get it. What happened? This one guy lost his mind.”
But we are steeped in that culture in this country and we refuse to recognize it, and I cannot believe how hard people are working to discount it. In South Carolina, the roads that black people drive on are named for Confederate generals who fought to keep black people from being able to drive freely on that road. That’s insanity. That’s racial wallpaper. That’s — that’s — you can’t allow that, you know.

Nine people were shot in a black church by a white guy who hated them, who wanted to start some kind of civil war. The Confederate flag flies over South Carolina, and the roads are named for Confederate generals, and the white guy’s the one who feels like his country is being taken away from him. We’re bringing it on ourselves.And that’s the thing. Al-Qaeda, all those guys, ISIS,they’re not shit compared to the damage that we can apparently do to ourselves on a regular basis.

So our guest tonight is an incredible person who suffered unspeakable violence by extremists, and her perseverance and determination through that to continue on is an incredible inspiration. And to be quite honest with you, I don’t think there’s anyone else in the world I would rather talk to tonight than Malala (Yousafzai). So that’s what we’re going to do. And sorry about no jokes.
-Jon Stewart

Guess Where I Went This Weekend?

The Wiener Races!

Contestants at the starting line.

Beans takes the lead.

Go, Beans!

Beans wins his division!

It's Miller Time

We are being inundated with Miller moths right now.  Every morning when I open either the patio screen or the front door screen at least four Millers go for my face.  Mid-morning I stepped on the front porch and found this little guy huddled in the corner of the left sidelight.

This is a Sphinx Moth (aka Hawk moth) and looks huge compared to a Miller moth. Its kind of cool.

"I kept a diary right after I was born...

Day 1: Tired from the move.
Day 2: Everyone thinks I'm an idiot."
-Steven Wright

Best Performance From The Tony Awards Last Night

Eleven-year-old Tony Award nominee for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Fun Home), Sydney Lucas.

Redo Part Two

Today we replaced the old petroleum product carpet with wool carpet and I cannot believe the difference it has made. I feel as if there is now more oxygen in my house. I am now a big fan of wool.

Old carpet.

New carpet.

Do Over

We removed the unsafe carpet on the basement stairs and replaced it with rubber stair treads.

Bob getting ready to put down the first two treads after the carpet was removed and the steps painted white.

 

A third of the way done.

Last three steps to do.

Treads done. Next, the wooden wall skirts.

All done.

Your Government: Pretending The Constitution Is only a High School Term Paper And Ignoring It

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
-The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution

* FBI demands new powers to hack into computers and carry out surveillance.

* FBI operating fleet of surveillance aircraft flying over US cites.

* US government planes mimic cellphone towers to collect user data- report.

The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.
-Milton Friedman, American economist, statistician and writer (1912- 2006)

Tis' A Privilege To Live In Colorado

-Frederick G Bonfils