Something sane at last

I admit I spilled a few big blue tears watching Kamala at the Atlanta rally last night. I was pretty devastated when someone called to tell me about Biden days ago... I was busy watching my silly disaster movies on YouTube ... I think it was some crocodile swamp movie and had completely missed his announcement. But by that afternoon, I felt pretty good about the road the dems were about to turn onto. And in two days, I was positively gleeful. 

I have not felt so lifted since Obama ... I feel some hope. Bri told me the other day that I might regret kicking all of my trump-cult family and friends to the curb. And I explained this was NOT about politics ... I never questioned that try voted for Bush, or that they were republicans before. I question their ability to spot an immoral, lying, psychopath trying to sell them a hat, T-shirt or gold shoes made in China! If you can't see that this snake oil salesman is as bad as a human can get ... then I would prefer not to be friends or family with you. That is how I tried to explain it to Bri.  

Anyhoo ... I am uplifted. 

The grandkids and I have been a couple of shopping sprees of late and I think they are going to have to end. But, what fun we had. The house is a wreck. Matt has been demolishing the old deck getting ready to build a new one. It goes from hot to rain here lately. I can't decide which on I like more. I am sitting in the sun more often and getting some color back in my face and arms.

I have been having these intense remembrances of smells. Today I had one ... Mom in the driver's side of the car, opening the window to talk to me on a very hot Texas summer day ... and the smell of cigarettes and her lovely Ralph Lauren perfume. I could almost smell it all over again! Why would they discontinue this? I have only been wearing Banana Republic W cologne for a couple of years. If I could, I would just go smear a bunch of freshly cut grass as my cologne!

Oh My ... I was just looking up Ralph Lauren perfume and it looks like my favorite has been discontinued! Luckily, I still have a full bottle. On eBay is selling for $300-450!

And when I walk out the front door, smelling Texas Privet blooming! Somewhere in my childhood these were prominent because this scent really stays with me. Which is why I have it planted all over my yard!(Texanum Japanese Privet features showy panicles of lightly-scented white flowers at the ends of the branches in mid spring. It has dark green foliage. The glossy pointy leaves remain dark green throughout the winter. The fruit is not ornamentally significant.)

Haven't really been watching the Olympics but did manage to catch this silly right-wing outrage about the Last Supper mix-up.

Something a friend from msnbc.com days, Bobbi Nodell wrote for the Seattle Times ... JD Vance is wrong: Childless people have a lot to contribute. JD Vance is the gift that keeps on giving. I think his comments on childless women is the worst. I know many, many women who would have liked to have children but it just did not work out that way.

I’m single without kids. Not by choice, but through a series of events involving my marriage, health and career. 

According to U.S. Sen. JD Vance, I’m miserable and have no stake in the country. 

Vance’s interview with Tucker Carlson in July 2021 resurfaced when he was announced as former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick. 

“We are effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too,” Vance told Carlson when he was running for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat. “It’s just a basic fact: If you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.” 

Vance went on to say that those who “actually have kids” are “the people who have a more direct stake in the future of this country.” 

Vance’s comments struck a raw nerve with all us childless women. So many people have expressed outrage, and rightfully so. Of all the comments I have heard from candidates, this makes my Top 10 of most insensitive.

I helped my friend, Robin at her booth at the Seattle Art Fair last Friday. That was fun to see art and people, all in one building. 

Andrew Zimmerman is fitting it all together and it delights me.

"I fondly remember working with my dad in his wood shop as a young child. Cutting the parts and assembling the pieces into a bench or a table revealed to me a magical journey from a slab of wood to a finished product. More importantly, I experienced the joy and endless possibilities of making things by hand.
 
In 1980, when I was twelve years old, my parents took me to see the Picasso retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art. I was deeply moved by Picasso’s unique vision and specifically how he constructed his paintings out of a distinct visual language of individual passages or parts. That was the moment when I decided to become an artist."

A place to rant

I promise I am not trying to post political nonsense, but where is a girl to rant??

So a couple of rants ... 

Ronny Jackson (yes, that one-man-pill-distribution center in the trump admin) signed a letter about trump's little ear mystery. I would love to hear from the attending physicians instead of this sycophant.

 

WASHINGTON, July 20 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's former physician Ronny Jackson said on Saturday that the former president is recovering as expected from a gunshot wound to his ear that he suffered last week, but noted intermittent bleeding and said Trump may require a hearing exam. 

The bullet fired by a would-be assassin at a July 13 Trump rally in Pennsylvania came "less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head" before striking the top of Trump's right ear, said Jackson, a Republican congressman from Texas who served as physician to Presidents Trump and Barack Obama. 

Meanwhile, in blacked-out Texas where everyone has a gun strapped to their thigh ... is having a problem with lineman being threatened! Houston ... we have a problem ... with gun-toting idiots. 

 

I know Joanne! I didn't watch news for the last couple of days ... but I just can't help myself. 

 

I have seen lots of post of FB about getting along with others that have a different opinion than yours. Of course ... I agree. I never cared if someone is a Republican, I didn't rant when Bush (or any other Republican because I did not think they were a danger to this country) was president except when he deceitfully got us into the war accusing Iraq of 9-11 attack when it was Saudi Arabia. When you listened to the Bush propaganda on the news over and over ... it convinced many people that this was the right path. David and I just sat, stunned at the gullibility of Americans. But I did not rant too much about that. Of course, there are different political factions but this is NOT where we are right now. We have an immoral, lying criminal running for president and half of the country wearing a God damn maxi-pad on their ear in solidation of this psychopath. He has probably all ready sold secrets to China and Russian from his stash of secret documents that he refused to give up and now they will not even hold him to account for that! He has been a criminal and bully his entire life. And he is NOT an appropriate person to lead out country. 

For some lighter news: The Instagram account of Sheikha Mahra bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the daughter of UAE Prime Minister and Dubai ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, announced her intention to leave her husband, a fellow royal.  

“I hereby declare our divorce,” 30-year-old Sheikha Mahra’s account posted on Instagram on Wednesday. “I divorce you, I divorce you, and I Divorce You. Take care. Your ex-wife.”

This about that

The kids went on vacation for a couple of days and I enjoyed peace and quiet and lots of cleaning. 

I have been trying to avoid RNC but find myself catching up the only way I can for my mental health. I think Stephen as a good grasp on what's going on there. Watch with a sense of humor is always the best. Because my sense of humor has faded and I am becoming a raving lunatic. Trying on to rage too much on FB but it is difficult. My fingers start typing some insult before my brain can stop them.

 

  

This morning I think I started another FB fight with an ex-military, gun toting, deer killing, model military airplane maker. Looks like he lives in a double-wide (nothing wrong with that) filled with military plastic models, single male. I honestly feel sorry for these trump-lovers. 

About Biden dropping out. I am  staying out of the FB fray of discussions about this. I am so confused about who they think will replace him. I love Kamala but do they think people will vote for her? It seems very risky for such an important election. I felt he was old before but the decision seemed to have been made to run with him. I mean, it seems a little late in the game to be making big chances. Plus, if something were to happen to Biden, well then, we will have Kamala ... The complaining and whining is dividing the Democrats at a time we need to be strong and united.

About the ear bandage ... I hate the idea that there was an assassination attempt on trump (although I have read some pretty funny comments about how the bullet went in one ear and out the other without doing any harm). I must admit the entire thing feels a little fishy. I mean a gunman lay perched on a rooftop with no one noticing him? The rifle bullet didn't blow the top of trump's ear off? I think the reason he is wearing that maxi-pad on his ear is because there is only a nick on the top of ear ... 

 

And the assassination has turned him into a martyr. His cult and even trump giving God the credit for saving him ... I knew the minute I saw him go to the ground with his shoe-lifts flying, they were going to martyr him and this would help him. Main media has forgotten what a psychopath he is an bought into the "gentler" "kinder" trump. BULLSHIT.

At Lou isn't here anymore to drool all over him.

JD Vance is a joke. 

So I am not happy. I miss David to keep me sane in these insane times. 

Donald Trump is not a well man. His cult have some horrible syndrome going on in their brains which most of us don't understand or can explain. I am trying to steel myself for what happens if he wins. Reading a lot about Project 2025 to get an idea so I will not have a heart attack when they dismantled the government.

For your viewing pleasure

I binged watched as much of House of Dragons as I could. I did not realize they were rolling out episodes weekly, so I have to wait to see what happens in S2 E5. I hate it when they do that. 

I am not sure why I resisted watching House of Dragons. Maybe I thought it would not be as perfect as Game of Thrones, but I was wrong. 

Still has the same amazing theme song. The two versions of opening credits on Season 1 and Season 2 are incredible. Costuming to die for. 

 

  

  

I was thinking about my hesitation today and maybe it was because David is not here to share it with me. We were so in love with Game of Thrones, would cozy up to excitingly tune in weekly. Would discuss and wag on about Game of Thrones every week. I would go on and on about the theme song and costuming. This thought popped in my head about how I should have appreciated David's big brains more, but honestly, I was always in awe and inspired by him. He was simply the smartest person I knew. It seemed like he knew everything, historical facts, all about every sport you can imagine, there was not a song he did not know the creator or the year ... it was almost a novelty and unfortunately, I think (we, the family) started to take his genius for storing everything in a memory bank for granted.

I miss being able to  turn around from my computer and asked him an historical fact and know it will be true. Or talk about the instruments  used in a theme song and the significance of the choice. I know nothing about music or instruments but I know what I love and  what I emotionally respond to. It was fun to have someone to discuss that with who understood what I was talking about. 

I started re-watching Game of Thrones ... do you know to binge watch it will take 74+ hours? Good thing I have nothing else pressing except to catch the next episode of House of Dragons on Sunday.

Oh, BTW ... it is super hot here so in the afternoon I have been shutting the house down, i.e., closing blinds to hot sun seeping in and not really doing anything. I think today is going to be in the mid-80's which is a heatwave for us. We don't have AC ... although the kids have a portable AC unit in their living area and bedroom, because they are wimps. It cools off nicely when the sun goes down.

We all have been doing yard work getting ready for Matt to install a new deck in a couple of weeks. We ordered and paid for most of the material ... but where to store it all. Matt has to demo the existing deck, and haul that mess away. Then we have to figure out what to do about the stairs to let the dogs out. I can't manage to haul them from the front to the back myself. I have only attempted to walk with of them once and being pulled down the street by an enthusiastic 200lb mastiff is not fun.

A handy 'House of the Dragon' glossary: places, powers and people you need to know

Mirror, mirror, in a frame

So I think someone hacked into my main email account, f*cking hackers. Still trying to figure it out and also what other damage they might have done.

Improvements in English domestic glass production in the second half of the century coincided with the fashion for raised-work embroidery and resulted in the production of some of the most spectacular examples of embroidered household furnishings of the seventeenth century. 

The three-dimensionality of the embroidery and the creative use of materials on this example are very impressive. The tail feathers of the peacock are created from fragments of actual bird feathers, there are tiny shells and bits of coral in the grotto surrounding the fish pond, and the costumes of the courting couple include details such as real lace trimmings and seed pearls.

 Mirror frame at the The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The biblical characters Jael and Barak, flanking the mirror glass, appear in the book of Judges. The frame is surmounted by a figure of Charity; animals, mythic and actual, symbolizing the Four Continents, occupy the corners (from upper left): a griffin representing Africa, a basilisk representing America, a stag representing Europe, and a camel for Asia.

Raised work embroidery was very popular during the middle of the 17th century.

A CHARLES II EMBROIDERED AND STUMPWORK MIRROR FRAME, LATE 17TH CENTURY

Folk Art Glass Beaded Mirror, probably northern Europe, probably late 18th century, the central mirror framed in beaded mosaic set onto canvas (probably linen) depicting animals in a forest of trees and flowers in a faux tortoiseshell lacquered frame. Sold for:$7,995

In the Great Parlour, this mirror is surrounded by three dimensional embroidery called stumpwork. The colourful stumpwork is made up of five components of varying age. The top and side panels were completed by Sir Walter Jenner’s sister-in-law when she stayed here in the 1920s.