Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Goldfinch in the Crabapple

 





14 comments:

  1. The Republican DT supporter running in WVA will win his primary. (Condolences, puddle.)
    The Republican DT supporter running in Nebraska will NOT win his primary. 👍

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  2. Vermont will stop updating its Covid case dashboard next week

    While counts are on the rise!
    Am I cynical if my first thought my was “It’s an election year, and I suspect Gov. Scott plans to seek re-election”?

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    1. As you may have guessed, that was posted by listener in Vermont.

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    2. Right on both guesses, I think.
      ---Alan

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  3. So, I tried the linky thing, but failed. Will try again another day.
    Meanwhile, I am really getting irritable in my old age. Robert Reich is irksome. Neither the first nor a second will address the fact that between the Declaration and the Constitution a decade passed and, though Mrs. Adams said not to forget the ladiss, the Constitution was rstricted to property and civil rights and women along with juveniles received no consideration. Along with slaves, they were considered the property of males. Although the heritability of the slave status was contested in the courts early on, the ownership of humans was never challenged and, to this day, all native-born person in the USA start out as chattel until their emancipation at age eighteen. During the war between the states, it made sense to emancipate the males who had taken up arms on behalf of the Union.
    The U.S. is organized to respond to demand. Women demanded a vote. But what does the Constitution say? Gender cannot be used to deny access to the ballot.
    I think women were taught to assume that "man" is a gnric term and refers to all humans. But that is not how it works in real life. Disfemism thrives in the U.S.and the sheriff is sent after run-away children as if they were streers.
    Animals have more rights under the law than human children. So, why are women agitating for equal rights when the human being has none?
    It is no wonder adults are squabbling over their property righs in the children. Does ownership start with the egg and the sperm or does the mass of cells have to have the form of the chattel to be?
    Of course, if the Senate were to sign on to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. much would be settled. But then the U.S. would have to surrender some of its xcptionakism.

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  4. Hannah, Thank you for your note on the last thread, in response to my question about using a sheet for the backing. I did tear a piece off, but that wasn't going to affect the shape of what was left. It's more the question of whether the original shape of the sheet is truly square...whether the bottom and top hemmings are actually parallel to begin with. I may know soon. LOL.

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  5. If you have a rectangle, then when you fold the right corner to the left side to make a triangle, you should have a rectangle left over. If it is warped, you could try dampening it and then ironing what you pull straight. If you can easily tear straight across, it may be because the fibers are worn and you may not want to use that on your nice quilt. I have a couple of patchwork quilts made from fabric donated by sil and some of the patches are just tearing where they lie. A patchwork is, of course, easy to patch with a new over the old.

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    1. It's a brand new, high-quality cotton sheet. I'm not worried about it holding up. And I have enough of it that I can simply sew the seam I want to sew and cut off the remainder. But I am just so curious as to why the top of the quilt was straight and the bottom does not APPEAR to be. It could simply be that *I* goofed when I pieced the top. It isn't from a pattern; I made it up as I went. Art doesn't always follow the rules. Anyway, a friend reminded me today that when the Amish make a quilt they always create an imperfection on purpose. I'll have to look into the why of that, but I rather like it!

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    2. Hmmm...

      One of the first bits of wisdom imparted to a novice quilter is that the Amish, who make some of the most simple but exquisite quilts in the world, purposely plan a mistake into each of their projects because they believe attempts at human perfection mock God. Of course, any quilter knows that you don’t have to plan for imperfections in your work; they come quite naturally on their own, so I don’t know if this bit of Amish folklore rings true or not, but the idea does ... We’ve heard that many years ago sometimes a scrap of fabric that didn’t quite match was used inconspicuously in a patchwork quilt to give it “identity.” We question whether this is true. We don’t know of any quilters who would do that today. Amish quilts are all band quilted; stitches are very small and uniform. But, no matter how hard one tries, the stitches are not all identical and perfect. A quilt may have an imperfection, but it wasn’t on purpose.”

      ~ Marie Bostwick in her book A Single Thread

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  6. I received my ballot for the "June 7th" statewide primary election this afternoon; it's the longest ballot I've seen in a long time. Hmmmm..... how long? Counting. . . 128 candidates for 22 offices, plus one local bond issue. Surprisingly, I figured out all my votes already. Now to actually mark my ballot, and pop it into the mail box tomorrow morning.

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    1. Above from Alan. And nowadays I get e-mail notices as my ballot proceeds from the county clerk's office to my home and back again. Neat.

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    2. Excellent! You get an A+ in citizenship!!! California deserves some kudos, too, for coming up with a trackable system.

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    3. My father failed to vote once--November 5th, 1940, the day his first child (my brother) was born. I have voted in every election since I turned 21 (75 now); it's a matter of social responsibility. I used to try to be the first to vote in my precinct, but our current precinct has been voting by mail since before we moved here, about 25 years ago--easy-peasy. I simplify my decisions by not voting for anyone running unopposed, and it has been quite some time since I voted for a Republican. This time I voted [again] for the Green Party candidate for Controller; I think she is qualified, and she has long favored a state bank, like that of North Dakota--an idea I like. I didn't like either of the candidates for Sheriff. Our new jungle primary system stinks, IMO; the Democratic and Republican parties set it up to squeeze out third party candidates in the general election, figuring we would be forced to vote Democratic or Republican, but that has limited effectiveness with me. It doesn't apply to presidential elections, so we can still cast obvious protest votes there.
      ---Alan

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