Life Is A Lot Like Jazz

It's best when you improvise.
-George Gershwin , American composer


I have two OLFA self-healing cutting mats used for sewing (one 24" by 36" and one 18" by 36") and I just found out they should be cleaned. The way you do it is by placing the mats in a bathtub and adding  one gallon of cool water to 1/4 cup of white vinegar and soaking them 15-20 minutes.  Then you squirt some dish soap on a mushroom brush and gently scrub to remove any fibers that have gotten into the cut marks. Having fabric fibers in the cut lines prevents the mats from repairing themselves.  Also the mats need moisture to work correctly so soaking them extends their life.

This sounded pretty simple to me until I tried to put the mats in each one of the three bathtubs I have in my house.  The mats are too big and could not be laid flat so I had to improvise.  I asked my husband to make me a frame out of pieces of lumber so I could line it with a plastic garbage bag and he came up with this:

I like the way he used hand weights to keep the boards from shifting.  I then filled the tiny swimming pool with water and vinegar and slid the mats in.  After 20 minutes I removed the weight and the piece of wood from the top side of the pool and let the water drain.  Then I picked up my mushroom brush, squirted on some dish soap and scrubbed the mats clean.   I rinsed each one with the garden hose and wiped them dry with some old bath towels.  The mats are in better shape than before their bath but some of the cuts didn't heal and I think that is because I haven't been rotating the mats enough and I waited too long before giving them a vinegar bath and a mushroom brush scrub.  Now that I know cleaning them extends their life, I will be doing so regularly.

I've Been Coloring Again

A bit of the top feathers were cut off because I could not get the whole page into the scanner.  From Animal Kingdom:Color Me, Draw Me by Millie Marotta.

And Another House Project Done

Front porch rail before.

Front porch rail after.

Man Suprised His Vote Mattered In Brexit EU Referendum

BBC interviewed a man named Adam after Brits voted to leave the European Union and this was what he said:

Man: I’m a bit shocked, you understand. And...

Interviewer: What about?

Man: I'm shocked about both- I’m shocked that we actually have voted to Leave, I didn’t think that was going to happen. My vote, I didn’t think was going to matter too much because I thought we were just going to Remain, and the David Cameron resignation has blown me away to be honest. I think the period of uncertainty that we’re going to have for the next couple of months, that’s just been magnified now. So yeah, quite worried.

What worries me is that this could happen here:

Man: I’m a bit shocked, you understand. And...

Interviewer: What about?

Man: I'm shocked about both- I’m shocked that we actually have voted to have Donald Trump as our next president, I didn’t think that was going to happen. My not voting, I didn’t think was going to matter too much because I thought we were just going to have Hillary Clinton, and Trump winning has blown me away to be honest. I think the period of uncertainty that we’re going to have for the next four years, that’s just been magnified now. So yeah, quite worried.

(Video of BBC interview here.)

I Too Believe Enough Is Enough

House Democrats stage a sit-in after Republican House leaders refuse to schedule votes on gun control bills before adjourning Congress until after the 4th of July.

Club News

Earlier this month I went to Starbucks for a hot chocolate. I am proud to state I am now a member of the Starbucks Can't Spell My Name Club.  I don't mine it being spelled with one L or one E since some people misspell it that way but this is ridiculous. So ridiculous the barista who was making the drinks didn't even try to pronounce it.
"Grande Hot Chocolate!," she shouted, as she placed it on the counter.

The Greatest Show On Earth

It's been a hell of an election year so far and you can't deny that watching the Republican Party Circus has been can't-look-away-from-it entertaining. Of course, as with all circuses, the orange-faced clown is the scariest part.

Happy Summer Solstice!

End of the spring and here she comes back
Hi, hi, hi, hi, there
Them summer days, those summer days

That's when I had most of my fun back
High, high, high, high there
Them summer days, those summer days

I cloud nine when I want to
Out of school, yeah
County fair in the country sun
And everything, it's true, ooh, yeah

Hot fun in the summertime
Hot fun in the summertime
Hot fun in the summertime
Hot fun in the summertime

First of the fall and then she goes back
Bye, bye, bye, bye there
Them summer days, those summer days

Boop, boop, ba, boop, boop when I want to
Out of school, yeah
County fair in the country sun
And everything it's cool, ooh yeah

Hot fun in the summertime
Hot fun in the summertime
Hot fun in the summertime

Changes In Attitudes

 Nothing remains quite the same.
-Jimmy Buffett,  Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes



Last night when the NBC Nightly News did their report on the assassination of British Member of Parliament Jo Cox by a crazed killer, they began this way:

"There are shock waves in the U.K. and across the world after a rising star member of of Parliament, a young mother of two, was brutally ambushed and killed after meeting with constituents."

"A young mother of two." When it comes to sexism it's the little things that are telling. For NBC News the important thing was not her name but the fact that she was a mother. Do you think if male MP or US Senator had been murdered NBC would put the fact that he was a father of two in the opening paragraph?

This may seem like a trivial detail to you but it brought back memories of when news stories about African-Americans were always written this way, "John Doe, Negro,.." or "Jane Doe, Colored,..." making a person's skin color the defining part of him or her. By putting "a young mother of two" in their opening paragraph NBC is implying that Jo Cox being a mother is the defining part of both her and all women just as skin color was the defining part of all African-Americans back in the dark ages before the first Civil Rights Movement.

Jo Cox was killed because of her work and because she was a member of Parliament, which in itself was a remarkable accomplishment (Right now, there are only 190 women in Parliament out of 659 members). Jo Cox was a Member of Parliament who happened to also be a mother, Jo Cox was not a Mother who also happened to be a Member of Parliament. When our society finally understands the difference between these views of women we will be closer to the gender equality women are due as human beings and American citizens. 

NBC News report here.
 

Mortal Lessons

 “A man does not know whose hands will stroke from him the last bubbles of his life. That alone should make him kinder to strangers.”
― Richard Selzer, Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery


Doctor Richard Selzer died yesterday and when I saw his obituary I recognized his name but did not know why until I realized he wrote the most fascinating book I have ever read. The book came out in the late 1970s and his writing captivated me so much I am still a prisoner of it all these years later. Beautiful book, rest in peace Doctor Selzer.

Doctor Selzer's obituary in the New York Times.

Light Shadows-29

A Summer evening's read.

Love And Mercy

I was sittin' in a crummy movie with my hands on my chin
Oh the violence that occurs seems like we never win

Love and mercy that's what you need tonight
So, love and mercy to you and your friends tonight

I was lyin' in my room and the news came on T.V.
A lotta people out there hurtin' and it really scares me

Love and mercy that's what you need tonight
So, love and mercy to you and your friends tonight

I was standin' in a bar and watchin' all the people there
Oh the lonliness in this world well it's just not fair

Hey love and mercy that's what you need tonight
So, love and mercy to you and your friends tonight

Love and mercy that's what you need tonight
Love and mercy tonight

Love and mercy