July 24

Staying inside as much as possible. We are in the middle of another heat wave and are under a high heat advisory til 10pm tonight. Looking at the forecast that may be extended. We are more careful about planning our errands because of the heat. Tomorrow I have items to return to the library and they open at 9am. So I will be there as close to opening as I can. I think I will also stop on the way home and pick up some ice cream. Thankfully being retired we can generally hibernate.

On one of my brief visits to the What-Not-Room to put something away I found a couple of items I had totally forgotten. One was a crochet work-in-progress using soft thread (almost lace weight yarn) in a Bavarian stitch pattern. That is similar to the Catherine Wheel pattern but using the backpost treble to create an interesting texture. I brought that out to continue it. But right next to the box with the unfinished piece I found a cache of four skeins of baby yarn. I thought the four different colors would make a nice baby blanket using the Bavarian stitch. So I brought it out also.

I have almost finished a scrappy lap afghan using granny squares. Another attempt to get rid of my left over yarns. I have put quite a dent into that stash but have quite a bit more to go. After I finish the border round and weave in the ends it will be done. I also made progress on the to-be-embroidered table cloth. It is about one-third done. I picked up the other table cloth with the damaged motifs but it isn't top priority since I intend to cut the finished motifs out and incorporate them into something else. I found another table cloth stamped for cross stitch but I limited space for WIPs so it is where I will remember it and start it when a couple of other works are done. I have never been a member of the Church of One Project At A time.

ON to reading.

First up this post on Tomdispatch by Juan Cole. He makes a good case that Trump and his minions are well along a path to "Middle-Easternize" the U.S. I remember when the right wing went bat s%^t crazy over "sharia law" being imposed on the U.S. However, they don't seem to notice that whatever Trump is doing has the same effect as the actions of the Middle Eastern autocrats and dictators.