January 16

Cloudy now and we had a bit of snow over night--enough to give a light dusting on the sidewalks. The street looks good even though it is a lower priority side street. We don't have to go out and may not have to next week. I did some work on both the doilies this morning. I put the fillet piece away after I had to take out the last two rows because something went wrong. I took it back to a row I am pretty sure was right. The other went well but my hands are stiff this morning so I didn't push it. I decided to take a look at a quilt top I have had on hold for about a year. It is time to get going on it again. Not today. Today is a cooking day--meat loaf with Mac&cheese and a veggie. I also want to try out a recipe I found for oatmeal/applesauce muffins. That should give us breakfast (muffin) and dinner (left overs) tomorrow.

I turned off the U.S. news after the reporter lead off with the "news" that Biden is claiming credit for the Israel/Hamas cease fire and prisoner/hostage release plan and Trump came back claiming everything came about because of his coming administration. I fail to see how this is news and I had no patience for this nonsense. Trump is like the rooster who thinks the dawn comes BECAUSE he crows. It is going to be a long four years.

I did watch the BBC news which gave more realistic coverage of the plan which hasn't yet been approved by the Israeli cabinet where two ultra conservative members are strenuously opposed. Netanyahu is also claiming that Hamas is trying to insist on new conditions. They might get the first phase of the cease fire in place but after it ends they have to deal with far more contentious issues. We'll see what happens.

The BBC also mentioned the scheduled testimony of Trump's Treasury Secretary. They noted that nominee is respected and is in agreement with Trump's tariff policy. As the reporter put it the question is no longer whether the tariffs will be imposed but how. Buckle up.

Andrew Bacevich posted a good piece on TomDispatch this morning. A number of people have commented that Trump's notion of "Make America Great Again" assumes that America is no longer great. Some have said that Trump is the first "declinest" President. Decline, like progress, assumes that there was a point from which one has fallen or to which one is going. But each depends entirely on how one defines the parameters of declension or progress. A second assumption wrapped up in Trump's notion that he could lead us to our greatness again is that sometime in the past there was really an American Eden. Those aren't ideas I subscribe to any more.

I always listen to or read anything about agreements Hamas and Israel supposedly sign because too often they are, as Chris Hedges points out, only temporary--giving each side what they want immediately with no intention to follow through on the later phases. I don't expect the cease fire to last beyond the initial phase when 33 of the hostages are supposed to be returned. If it even gets off the ground.

January 14, 15

 Oh, my!! Almost half past January. I picked up the damaged tablecloth and started on a couple of the small motifs. I decided to put them into a log cabin quilt. I thought that would kill two birds--use the parts of the quilt I can rescue and use some of my stash of fabric.

15*********************************************************************************

Sunny but cold today. The weather people say the temperature won't break 20F. I finished the last lap blanket this morning and got a couple or so rows on the fillet crochet doily. We turned off the broadcast TV VERY early. I caught a few minutes of the sickening "hearing" concerning Hegseth's nomination. Sickening on two counts: the mewling, nonsensical questions from the Republican side and Hegseth's ridiculous non-answers. I decided I didn't want exposure to anything similar today and put the TV on mute so Mom could see the picture and put Pandora on my laptop for the music. Right now we have our own DVD reruns on. 

Stray thought: as I watched the bit of the hearing yesterday and suffered through the replays on the (s)news I vaguely remembered a scene I once read and its source finally surfaced this morning. It was from Rumor Godden's IN THIS HOUSE OF BREDE. The nuns are faced with an economic catastrophe because their recently deceased Abbess embarked on an expensive "renovation" project.  The only nun who knew about the project was the one in charge of the finances was the cellarer, equivalent of a corporate CFO, who had said nothing to anyone. She was a vain, petty, sycophantic person who basked in the confidences of the stronger personality--her abbess. As several sisters wondered why the usually sensible abbess who was a good judge of character would choose that nun to handle finances one said aloud what no one else would: so she could be cellarer herself. Listening to Hegseth it occurred to me that appointing him Secretary of Defense would allow Trump to be his own Secretary of Defense. The same might be said of Bondi as Attorney General, Rubio as Secretary of State, Patel as head of the FBI, and Gabbard for the Director of National Intelligence. They are all yes "men" who will do as their master wishes.

Second stray thought: In 27 BCE Augustus Caesar became ruler of the Roman Empire though he never claimed as royal title--Romans detested the notion of a king by any name. Instead as Princeps he consolidated all the levers of power into his own hands and thoroughly dominated the Senate. The Senate was gradually reduced to an impotent, sycophantic body with prestige but no power. Are we seeing the beginning of a similar process here? Right now our legislative bodies are tied in knots because they are 1) very evenly divided and 2) whose members have lost both civility and the ability to cooperate. A related thought--in the 150 years before August consolidated power the Senate was equally split in antagonist factions. Several cycles of political violence rocked Roman society. That set Rome up to accept an absolute ruler.

January 13

 I was rather discombobulated over the weekend. I think it was partly the hangover from the ruination of the table cloth that my cat helped me erase part of the pattern. I crocheted a bit on a doily off and on but didn't do any sustained work. Then, on Saturday night, I had trouble sleeping and the cats were no help at all being the furry little pests they are. Sunday I spent in a lethargic fog reading, crocheting and weaving without much enthusiasm. Today feels a bit better, I finished several woven squares and put a crochet edge on one that will be a coaster. As a result of my lethargy over the weekend I have a large backlog of e-mails to go through. I might as sell get to it.

I don't spend much time on Facebook but first thing I saw this morning was a post on the Slow Stitch groups: I MIGHT use all my crafting stash in 2025/I MIGHT win the lottery./ The chance for each are about the same.

Stray thought: a lot of commentators have spent a lot of time criticizing Zuckerberg's decision to, for all intents and purposes, end content moderation on Facebook. Most decry the move as opening up the site to "misinformation."I have read and listened to pundits hysterical over the levels of misinformation for years now. What exactly constitutes "misinformation" depends entirely on your political orientation. I think the argument a futile one--on both sides. I don't depend on any social media for information. I mentioned I checked in on Facebook earlier but I am very selective in what I do on the site. I play some of the games although that has declined as the ads have become more time consuming and intrusive. I see what family and friends are posting though I don't repost or follow posts they link to. And I look in on several groups that reflect my interests in needlework and fiber/fabric arts. That Facebook (I don't follow other sites) won't moderate its political content doesn't affect me. I make my own decisions on what is reliable and accurate--even in the mainstream media.

Another stray thought: a history professor, many of whose classes I took, once often said that we Americans often "honored our values (which ever value was under discussion) in the breach than in the observance." It seems to me that is very obvious in our controversies. We honor the "freedom of speech" as long as that speech reflects our own beliefs--otherwise it becomes "misinformation," "lies," etc.

Yet another stray thought: I saw one interview on TV this morning concerning how (and if which) neighborhoods should be rebuilt. The person responding to the questions mentioned 1)new fire resistant building materials and 2)fire resistant landscaping. I remember the news stories about the droughts of the 1980s which were among the most severe in memory and residents were urged to convert their lawns to drought/fire resistant xeriscapes. Experts also recommended a wide area surrounding the house without vegetation to serve as a fire break. Fast forward to about 10 years ago when I read a little book "OFF THE GRID AND FREE" by Ron Melchior. He and his wife moved to the Canadian wilderness and built a home there. They did several things to meet the very real threat of forest fire: 1) fire resistant building materials, 2) a broad band of ground cleared of trees and shrubs (their extensive gardens were planted beyond that band, and 3) an extensive system of fire suppressing sprinklers runs by pumps run on their own generator and tapped into the nearby lake. Melchior recounted one time in their several decades living there when their home was threatened by a forest fire and he spent several days in a boat on the lake watching the fire and making sure the generator remained fueled. Point here: the fires came close but their home was untouched. Most of us don't really consider what might happen if things go threateningly. We never think that such a catastrophe could happen to us or our town. I have been just as myopic often enough in my life. I keep trying to be more forethoughtful.

January 10

 It is still dark here and will be for about another hour. It has been a busy week with appointments and shopping. We don't put all our errands into a single day any more--much too exhausting. I did a couple of the New Year's chores on my long list. 

Yesterday was generally frustrating. I started working on the cross-stitch table cloth which quickly became a catastrophic mess. As I picked up my coffee one of my cats decided to jump onto my lap sloshing some onto the cloth. Anyone who does printed embroidery pieces knows what happens when liquid hits water soluble ink--the ink goes away. After I finished yelling at the cat and throwing the cloth across the room, I put it on the washing machine to dry and started thinking about what to do with it. One corner, the corner on the hoop, is unworkable--the pattern is simply gone. A couple of small motifs are also damaged. However, the other three corners and the center motif are still untouched. So I will work them and then cut them apart to work into other pieces. I might look for another cross-stitch project AND I will keep my water/coffee/tea and the cat far away from my work. One of the bloggers I read regularly does quilting and embroider with three cats "helping." Her cats appear MUCH better behaved.

Then I switched to one of the crochet doilies I found a serious mistake and had to take out almost two rounds. Swearing the whole while I pulled those rounds out and then got the pattern going again properly.

While I was doing all that we watched the Carter funeral and the coverage of the LA urban wildfire. The funeral was a very dignified affair and as simple as a state funeral for a former president could be. I loved the eulogies read by the sons of Walter Mondale and former President Gerald Ford. Those along with the eulogies by the Carter kin really humanized Carter. Throughout I was surprised by how much of what happened during his administration or which was set up by his administration I really didn't remember. Recently I decided I needed to read more history. That really puts current events into perspective and context.

I noticed more frequent references on the news segments/interviews to "climate change." Lawrence O'Donnell made an eloquent point last night about the power of wind. As he noted a heavy rain storm is simply a heavy rain until you get a driving wind. A hurricane provides prodigious precipitation but add in the rain and you get Helene or Milton, or Katrina. Those caused damage people will be or have been dealing with for a long time. Without the wind the fires in LA would have been easily contained. With the Santa Anna winds it became an inferno. I noticed a come pundits casting blame on politicians for their failure to be clairvoyant. People on the ground made the points that their water infrastructure was more than adequate for the usual urban fire that engulfs a building or a block. NO ONE ANYWHERE is prepared to fight an urban wildfire whipped by high winds. Already the politicians are making plans to try to rebuild what has been lost and, as a few commentators have said, are not questioning whether it should be rebuilt or how. Bill McKibben posted this article which touches on some of this and a good bit more. Brian Merchant at BLOOD IN THE MACHINE posted his first hand account of the fire from his home nearby.

A stray thought: Listening to some of the interviews and news segments from the LA fire I recalled a couple of controversies that bears a bit on some of the comments. We prepare, as individuals and as groups, to meet "normal" circumstances and normal is defined by the recent past. Everyone has said that the fire was, to use a word that has appeared frequently of late, unprecedented. So the firefighting systems and infrastructure was developed to handle "normal," expected possibilities. Changing the infrastructure and systems is expensive. What is the likelihood of another fire (or another Katrina, or another Texas ice storm) and would the expenditure really be cost effective. I am reminded of a cartoon a couple years ago which showed a climate change meeting outlining what action (expensive action) the participants thought would be needed. A person at the back of the room asked "What if you do spend all this money and create your better world and nothing happens?" The insanity of the comment is that making nothing happen is exactly what the proposals are supposed to ensure. But what if a different catastrophe arises and you don't have the resources to counter it? 

January 7

 Well the winter storm missed us to the south and the one coming in will set up even further south. We did get some snow but most of it is gone already. The cold isn't as cold as predicted but cold enough to make me get out my winter coat which I really don't like wearing. I avoid bringing it out for as long as I can. We had doctors' appointments yesterday and shopping today. I will finish our shopping tomorrow.

Bill Astore has an interesting post this morning which applies Darwin's theories to warfare. Reading it I realize that my exposure to Darwin has been rather fragmentary. I got pieces during my classes while I pursued degrees in biology and history. I have moved his works into my "to read" column for this year.

January 5

 First weekend of the new year and it finally feels like the holidays are over. Speaker Johnson did manage to "win" a continuation of his speakership into this new Congress but I wonder what Trump promised the holdouts in the Republican caucus to switch their votes and how much Johnson promised.

My agenda for the new year involves a good cleaning and rearranging in the kitchen. Not all at once because I don't have the stamina for that any more. We also plan to watch less of the crap on TV--too much nonsensical repetition, too much programing that we either don't want to see at all or have seen all too much, too damned many commercials. I plan to tune into Pandora much more often.

Although the House managed to elect a speaker without an overwhelming amount of drama and chaos, and will easily confirm Trump's win I don't think passing meaningful legislation will be easy. The Republicans do have a majority in the House and I doubt the Democrats will try to give the Republicans a taste of the shit they served up last time. No one is spouting spurious notions of election fraud. But the margins are very thin and neither side is all that unified.

This post by Denise Donaldson at PONDERMENTS makes a number of points neither side wants to look at. As she notes the Democrats seem to be looking at their "messaging"and how it failed to convince voters to vote for them. Their message said everything was good, inflation was down, unemployment was down, we had the best economy in the world and the best recovery from COVID. A lot of people tried to tell their advisors and pundits that, at the personal level, the stats simply didn't reflect their reality. Take a look at the statistics in the article and remember that many of those statistics didn't make it into the measures of inflation. But the Republican message going forward into their "trifecta" government doesn't really reflect reality either. The problem of rising costs is not really something Trump can cure no matter how often he assures us that only he can solve it. Or wants to solve because any solution would hit greedy corporations hard. But Donaldson also note the neither party has the will to strike at the real root cause of our discontent. I have often said that we have left and right wings of the same party--the Wall Street Party.

You don't often see anyone suggesting that we should remove highways. Progress is usually defined by how many more miles of highway are built. This article is one of the few. During the decade after the "Great Recession" a number of places started reducing some four lane highways to two lane roads and some two lane roads were put back to gravel. All of the examples I saw in articles were in rural areas that no longer carried enough traffic to justify the maintenance. I don't think we will see a massive move to remove highways in cities and their surrounding areas. Too many people who work in cities actually live well outside the cities. A catch phrase of about a decade ago advised potential home buyers to "drive till you qualify" because so many were priced out of the city and near by suburban markets. That is about when we started commenting on the "refugees from Chicago" because, for a number of years, several families or couples moved into neighboring units while they searched for a stand alone home to buy or build. We haven't seen so many of them lately but some of the developments are still under construction.

January 2, 3

Happy New Year--one day late. I spent yesterday cooking. We had the better part of a turkey breast from Christmas so I fixed two quarts of turkey soup base and a turkey/noodle casserole which are all in the freezer. When I wasn't tending what was on the stove I worked on my new doily. I didn't look at any of my e-mail or articles yesterday so I have a bit to catch up on.

There isn't much to distinguish this new year from the old one--just a change of one digit. The news yesterday (and so far today) has been dominated by the attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans that has (so far) killed 15 and injured 30+. The new year was only about three and a half hours old and we had our first mass murder attack. I told Mom yesterday that we have moved from being shocked and surprised by such events to simply being shocked. That these things happen isn't a surprise any more.

03**************************************************************

We finally got some snow and may get a bit more. It wasn't much and most of the main streets are clear. Mom had a couple of prescriptions which I went out to pick up. Other than that short errand we aren't doing anything until Monday when we have a couple of appointments. The TV content is getting more and more boring and irritating. Mom keeps asking me if there isn't ANYTHING else on there. I finally got tired of it and read her the line up from the on-line guide. Eventually we left the picture on but the volume muted while I let Pandora play on my MacBook.

Stray thought: we seem to have become a very judgmental people. The first laudatory obituaries for President Carter have elicited a number of not so kind posts picking apart his legacy. Often the writers take one action Carter took, or didn't take, they don't agree with. On the whole I think Carter is one of the more exemplary Presidents in our history and especially when compared with the once and future President Trump. I think Trump is a horrible human being. However, in future days, which given my age I probably won't see, historians might find that some of Trump's policies and actions were praiseworthy. Maybe, as a society, we should be kinder and more balanced in our appraisal of our leaders.

Stray thought #2: Evidently the Surgeon General wants the Federal government to put a cancer warning on alcoholic beverages. I think we have enough warnings, on labels or otherwise, and I think most of them are simply background noise. I don't pay much attention to them now. I don't smoke but I remember when the labels were first put on cigarettes. They didn't really have much impact. What really curtailed smoking were the fast rising cost because of the increased taxes on tobacco products and the restrictions on where a smoker could light up. While smokers had the right to light up others who shared the public spaces also had the right not to inhale their exhalations. Do we really need the Federal Nanny disapproving of another habit?