Harmony Cottage, Protesting, Knitting

LIFE

Life has been pretty calm around Harmony Cottage. Old Husband occupied himself yesterday by going through a church cookbook we purchased in 1962, the year we married. He wanted to reminisce about recipes we used to cook and some of the people that had submitted recipes. Who would have thought that cookbook would still be around 55 years later?

Food pretty much consumes Old Husband's thoughts. He had kitchen duty in the boys home where he grew up and it's never left him. As soon as he's had his morning coffee he begins thinking about lunch. He's still holding forth in the kitchen. I suggest what he should cook and help with the shopping. I only get involved when I'm called. No kitchen is big enough for the two of us to work together. About 4:00 p.m. every afternoon he begins saying "What's for supper?"

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Daughter flies in tomorrow for a week. I'm suffering cabin fever so it will be good to get out some.

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POLITICAL

I have a bit of a quarrel with this protest. My daughter is a nurse. What if all women nurses stayed home from work one day? I think teachers would be in that same category. Think how much confusion that would cause in classrooms across America if all women teachers failed to show up to teach.

I strongly believe there is a place in democracy for peaceful protests. I believe protests have made a difference in the situation regarding the repeal of Obamacare. 

Perhaps it's just me, but I feel like some of the protests are beginning to exhibit anger. Nobody wins when that happens.

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Why Republicans Can't Do Health Care

This was an interesting article, a bit different than the usual. I suggest you read it.
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Obama Has A Bite-Your-Tongue Policy On Trump. It's Proving Harder To Keep.
President Trump is like a buzzing mosquito getting under people's skin.
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Pete Buttigieg

Pete Buttigieg Is The Future Of The Democratic Party. But What Kind Of Future?

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KNITTING

Since the election I've found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on much of anything.  Add to that my tremors and some nerve pain and my knitting is limited.

I seldom knit anything but socks but I found this long ago started shawl the other day and decided to do a little work on it. The pattern is "January Scarf" on Ravelry.

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I lost patience with the bright colored socks of thicker yarn and changed to a yarn much easier to use, "Felici" from KnitPicks.

Not the best quality yarn but oh so soft. After I've struggled with a difficult yarn I go back to "Felici" to recover. This will be short ribbed socks for spring and summer.

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Then I decided to try my hand with colored pencils and coloring books.

That was okay but I soon realized I was gripping the colored pencils as hard as I gripped knitting needles. Besides, I've never figured out how to sharpen colored pencils to a good point.

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Then I tried Crossword Puzzles

I've never had the patience to do very well with crossword puzzles. Then I read you should stick with one puzzle creator. I found these very simple books by Stanley Newman. I started with the super simple ones and thought I might work my way to more difficult books. 

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Somewhere along the way I decided it was time for some new shoes.

How do you like these for sedate old lady shoes? Actually there are only two companies that make athletic shoes in my size so I don't have a big selection to choose from. When I was a child I was wearing adult size shoes and could never have shoes like my friends wore. As an adult I was obsessed with pretty shoes. Anything unusual in my size and I quickly bought it. Looks like I'm still that way.

The "F" Word

I well remember the day Vice President Cheney walked up behind Senator Leahy on the floor of the Senate and said "Fuck yourself."

Well, that was 2004 and this is 2017, a lot has changed. In 2004 I was outraged, and disgusted. In 2017 I'm more likely to say "Meh."

Unless you live under a rock you hear it often these days. I particularly notice its use by millennials. I suppose it will forever be used in conversation like the word "pussy" most recently introduced in the 2016 campaign season. Thanks Washington, we could have lived without those words.

In April I have tickets to see Marc Maron with my son. (One of those mother/son bonding experiences.) This character has a podcast called "WTF with Marc Maron." If you're highly offended by the "F" word it would be better if you skipped this event.

In 2015 the millennials working in the White House decided another venue to get the word out to other millennials would be to have Obama appear on the "WTF" podcast with Marc Maron. They contacted Marc and the rest is history.

Son listens to Marc Maron sometimes and told me this was going to happen. Being a devoted Obama fan I didn't want to miss it and it was great.

It's another world out there! This old woman has come a long way from her days as a Baptist in Texas. Sometimes it's a shock to my system but I don't want to miss anything.
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Yes, the protests turned violent this week at UC Berkeley. What did you expect, it's a university campus.  Book a radical right speaker on a radical left campus and you can expect trouble.

Reminds me of the time son as a teenager, took offense to me asking him to change shirts before going to church. I didn't consider the shirt he was wearing to be appropriate for church. He puffed up and tried to say he had the right to wear his rock band shirt to church if he wanted to and I was wrong to condemn it. I informed him I was not condemning his shirt, that bathing suits were perfectly appropriate, but not in church.

That's how I feel about the situation at Berkeley. There's a whole world out there in which to practice free speech but not all places or situations are appropriate.
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Wow, this is a great article, How to Build a Winning Progressive Infrastructure. I hope you'll read it.

Housekeeping and Protesting

It was crisis time at our house this morning. I haven't done a lot of housework since the election and almost nothing since the inauguration. This morning we had a choice, clean up or move out. I decided it was easier to clean up.  Living in 1,125 sq ft of space, if both of us work at it, it takes maybe one hour to clean house.

We have a wonderful light weight cordless vacuum. I kicked off the morning by vacuuming my bath, bedroom, the kitchen, and half the living room. Bob met me and finished the living room, moving on then to his bedroom. While he finished vacuuming I mopped my bathroom and the kitchen. He finished by mopping his bathroom. Wheeee, it's done! Less than an hour!

Well not exactly, there's that matter of cleaning the bathrooms and dusting. I'd much rather clean a bathroom than dust. I have the duster laid out to remind me and will make an effort to complete that task when I finish here, if I'm not distracted. (I feel a distraction coming on.)
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Daughter and I missed the Women's March and now we're sorry. A little late we're each knitting a  'pussyhat,' knowing there'll probably never be a chance to use them. I'm now calling mine a 'protesthat.' Every stitch I knit is a protest against the actions of our current President.  I realize that's not going to do anybody any good so, while I'm knitting, I'm thinking about actions I can take to let Congress know this situation in Washington is not acceptable. I refuse to normalize the actions of this White House.

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"There is a body that can modify, correct or overrule foolish or overly broad executive orders. It's called the United States Congress." -Bill Kristol on Twitter 1/28/17

Have you wondered if contacting your Senator and Representative makes a difference? The answer is in this Washington Post article on repealing Obamacare. I really like this article. I urge you to read it.

I'm now seeing senators saying their phone systems cannot handle the volume of calls they're receiving and suggesting constituents not give up but switch to email if they're unable to get their calls answered.

Letters are the least effective method, with phone calls being the most effective and then emails. Guess I''ll start emailing. We can all do that. It's also suggested you contact their offices in their home states and districts as that's more effective than contacting Washington. There's also a better chance of getting your call answered.
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In his last interview from the White House, Former President Obama mentioned Jason Kander as a possibility for a 2020 presidential candidate. The Washington Post has published an article written by Jason on the topic of voter fraud. You might find it interesting.