September 16

 Good morning, everyone. It is a nice sunny day predicted to be dry and warm (mid 80s). I spent a nice morning working with my Zoom Loom. I thought I would try using two yarns together but found that too bulky to work easily so I took out the first square only about 4 strands into the last pass. I managed to pull out the weaving and instead made two squares with each of the strands. It was a bit lighter than I like but not bad. And it tightened up a bit after I removed it from the loom. After that I played with using a light worsted yarn as the base and a fingering weight for the last past. That actually made an interesting block. I still have to get back (sometime) to edging and blocking the crib sized blanket I have almost finished. House work? As a joke I saw on Facebook says house work is what you do when you run out of fabric, thread, or yarn. I have managed to not reach that dire condition so far.

Now I am looking at my e-mails. First thing I looked at was the message from Amazon telling me that the iron-on pattern packs I ordered have been shipped. When I receive them I will actually have to do some housework and clear my work space upstairs in the What-Not room so I can prepare a piece for Mom to work.

Bill Astore, writing at Tomdispatch, has some interesting thoughts about the (what's old is new again) Department of War. I wonder when the administration will change the slogan of the Strategic Air Command because "Peace is our Profession" seems out of step with the ethos of a Trumpian America.

Evidently "cancel culture" is alive and well. Jennifer Rubin notes, on CONTRARIAN, that many who whined about cancel culture when it was people they liked being called to account for attacking people they don't like are very happy with it when people are "punished" for criticizing them. I don't approve of any one rejoicing in anyone's pain or death. But tit for tat doesn't sound like a very constructive policy.

Stray thought: when I was (much!) younger and still attended church, somewhat, regularly I often heard a certain phrase: hate the sin, lover the sinner. It appears to me that many have jettisoned the last part of the phrase and decided to hate the (perceived) sinner as well. And they have expanded the definition of what is a sin.

I just saw reports (see here) that the judge in the trial of Luigi Mangione has dismissed the murder charges linked to terrorism. The judge ruled that the evidence the prosecution produced to support the linking of the murder to terrorism. Terrorism, like so many other words, has been thrown about indiscriminately and I agree with the judge.