June 21, 22

I don't think the rain predicted for last night appeared so I will see later what plants need water. Supposed to be another hot day.

Well, I have checked the plants and watered the tower and small pots. The rest look good. Got a nice surprise--several of those old sunflower seeds have sprouted. They were just a bit slow doing so. I filled the bird feeder and, after using the remaining water in the bird bath to water the tower, filled it with fresh.

 I culled about half of the pattern books in my file cabinet. As I mentioned I am keeping the patterns I would like to do at some near time in the future. At some time soon I have to organize the keepers. For now the crochet, embroidery and quilting patterns are all mixed up together. Things get done in stages as I have the energy to do it.

22********************************************************************

I was right that the rain didn't come last night either. I got all my plants watered and found that the cosmos seeds I planted a short while ago have sprouted. With those plants and the sunflowers I noticed emerging yesterday all my spaces for summer plants are filled. I may not have any spaces for mums unless I go for small transplants for some 12 inch pots I can bring out. Decision for later.

Surprised that NBC is showing the last day of the Royal Ascot races. Interesting to watch and a wonderful respite from the so-called news. Another channel has the European soccer championships.

However, though I am really turned off by our political news over here, articles on international politics sometime do pique my interest such as this one by Simplicius. A major point made in the article is that the world has changed and the U.S. doesn't have quite the same preeminent position it once had. The bi-polar world of the Cold War ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. If we ever really had a unipolar moment it didn't last long as we have already moved into an international situation in which regional powers play a more active role. The U.S. hasn't at all adjusted its foreign policy to take that into account. I thought from the time George W. swaggered across the international scene like a John Wayne wanna be that it was long past time that we put the cowboy attitude behind us. I was hoping that would be the case after Obama won the presidency but physics isn't the only system that shows the effects of inertia. Our politics and economics also shows the same phenomenon.