Around OakMeadows

A quilt I made several years ago. 

Wow! A line of thunderstorms moved through over night and there was a lot of thunder and lightning and strong winds. Fortunately, we didn’t have any damage. 

Speaking of damage, JMM has the roofing company that we used after Hurricane Ike coming back to look at the roof near the corner of the front porch. They did such excellent work for us before. I just hope they don’t tell us we need a whole new roof. Yikes!!

Adrian and the cleaning crew came this morning and we certainly needed it. What a blessing they have been to me through all the 15 years they have been cleaning for me. I love them like family.  

(Later) The roof does not need replacing. However, it is going to cost $3,000 to repair. With repairs, we should be able to get another 5+ years before replacement. Yay!

Around OakMeadows

My brother in law died the night of December 23. He was 86 and died peacefully at home. Bonnie said that when she woke up this morning, he was gone. He died from a long standing heart condition. He is going to be cremated and there will be a memorial after the first of the new year. 

We had a lovely celebration dinner on Christmas. DD, DSIL, and their golden doodle, Lucy, came for dinner. DD brought dessert and 2 sides JMM did the ham and rolls which left me with only the fruit salad and green beans.  It was so pleasant to walk the two dogs and then come back in and watch the kittens. 

I finished My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith. It was rather silly and not one of his best. I much prefer his Ladies Number 1 Detective Agency series. 

The lattice for my quilt top is coming along. Probably another week and I’ll be ready to sew all the strips together.  I’m not sure who I will give it to. Maybe the woman who cuts our hair.  She’s a sweetheart and we have gone to her for years. 

My DD is one of the Justice Department employees who are working without being paid.  No matter what BLOTUS says, the unpaid employees are not happy about the shutdown. 

Around OakMeadows

Kittens are exhausted from creating so much mayhem. 

Yesterday was the winter solstice so the days will ever so slowly lengthen. I always remember the old saying that “When the days begin to lengthen, the cold begins to strengthen.” So relatively warm days like today will be few. 

We went to do the grocery shopping very early this morning because I did not want to be in the shopping madness of the Saturday before Christmas. It worked out very well as there were only a few shoppers there and they were as intent on getting their shopping done and getting home before the madness prevailed as I was.  

The kittens are absolutely darling. No need to buy toys for them (although I do). Just wad up a piece of paper and toss it across the floor for them and they bat it, and chase it, and steal it from each other having a blast. Long strips of fabric are also immensely entertaining. But the sweetest thing is when they are tired and climb up in my lap to sleep. 

Perfect timing: The Saturday before Christmas both the dishwasher and garbage disposal are on the fritz. Maybe I can get someone out on Monday. Maybe. 

Around OakMeadows

My sweet Iris is out of isolation and everyone, especially Buster, is much happier. Buster and Iris play, sleep, eat, and poop together and when separated, cry until they find each other. JMM is doing a wonderful job of getting the medication into her and applying the eye antibiotic. She is almost completely well. 

We were supposed to meet P&W&C&B for lunch at Landry’s in Galveston. But Wendy called and canceled because Charles is not recovering as rapidly as we had hoped. So we will postpone until after the first of the year. So JMM and I went to the Texas Roadhouse instead. Traffic around Brazos Town Center was very congested with holiday shoppers. 

Goals for 2019

Eat good food. 

Read good books. 

Go to interesting places. 

Make nice quilts. 

Do good deeds

Nap.

Love family. 

Around OakMeadows

                                 The kittens are exhausted from creating so much mayhem. 

This morning I took my quilt top, backing, and binding to the quilt shop for machine quilting. I’ve already started on the next one which will be a very simple block quilt. 

I finished my antibiotics for the UTI. Hope never to go through that again. 

The kittens are darling and have been of some help in getting over the loss of my darling Duffy. I think what threw me was how totally unexpected his death was.  2018 was a dreadful year for the cats in my family.  First, we had to put Misty (age 13) down, then we had to put Bandit (age 15) down, and finally Duffy died so unexpectedly of an acute asthma attack. So now we have 3 cats Henry, Buster, and Iris and our dog, Angie. 

Reading: The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days by Jonathan Alter. It is excellent!! 

Tomorrow we are going to the New York Metropolitan Opera production of La Triviata which is being live streamed to our local AMC theatre. We saw Carmen last year this way and it is like having the best seats in the house. And during intermission, they show what is going on backstage. Amazing. 

Good Fiction I Read in 2018

2018 Fiction — I only have 4 and 5 star fiction because if I don’t think it’s good, I don’t finish it. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray. 

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. 

To Die but Once (Maisie Dobbs #14) by Jacqueline Winspear. 

A Rising Man (Sam Wyndham #1) by Abir Mukherjee. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

When We Found Home by Susan Mallery 

The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

The Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon (Commisario Brunetti #27)

Fall from Grace by Danielle Steele (My one per year DS)

Year One by Nora Roberts

Powerless: The Year the Lights Went Out by Suzanne Goldring 

Beartown by Frederick Backman 

Around OakMeadows

My darling Duffy 

Around OakMeadows 

Well, December has certainly had some unpleasant surprises. First, my darling cat, Duffy, died unexpectedly of an acute asthma attack. I knew his asthma was getting worse and we had just that morning taken him to the vet and gotten his medication. But shortly after we came home from the vet, he had an acute attack and could not move air in or out of his lungs. We were with him when it happened.  I will miss his sweet head rubs for the rest of my life.  

Then yesterday I suddenly developed a urinary tract infection. I was fine in the morning but by 2pm, I was in the ER with horrible bladder spasms and urine bright red with blood. It has been at least 20 years since I had a UTI and I certainly hope it is 20 more before I have another. I got an antibiotic injection, ceftriaxone, a prescription for 7 days of cephalexin, and 2 days of phenazopyridine. I am feeling much better today. People are crazy for longing for the good old days; I would have died a miserable death from this without antibiotics.  

Wednesday was my 71st birthday. Let’s hope the rest of 71 is less stressful.  

We have 2 new kittens from the shelter. The male, Buster, is 2 weeks older than the female, Iris. They play together and cuddle up to sleep together which is so sweet. They are both orange tabbies. I couldn’t bear to get a black kitten because I would see my sweet Duffy every time I would look at him. The new kittens are a balm to my grief. 

We are in for a weekend of rainy, stormy weather.  I am glad JMM and I don’t have to be out in it but am worried about DD and DSIL who have to be out on the road this weekend. 

The 10 Best Books I Read in 2018

The 10 Best Books I Read in 2018

Of the 53 books I read this year, these are the best:

Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams by Joseph Ellis. 

My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray. 

Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship by Jon Meacham 

The Newcomers: Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in An American Classroom by Helen Thorpe. 

Saving Tarboo Creek: One Family’s Quest to Save the Land by Scott Freeman. 

Eisenhower: Soldier and Statesman by Stephen Ambrose. 

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass. 

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. 

Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Plan for America by Nancy MacLean. 

A Higher Loyalty by James Comey. 

To Die but Once (Maisie Dobbs #14) by Jacqueline Winspear. 

The Man Who Climbs Trees by James Alfred. 

A Rising Man (Sam Wyndham #1) by Abir Mukherjee. 

Grant by Ron Chernow. 

FDR by Jean Edward Smith. 

You didn’t really think I could get it down to just 10, did you???

🔥Resistance. Every. Day.🔥

🔥Resistance. Every. Day.🔥

Sent postcards to Rep. Pete Olson and Senators Cornyn and Cruz:

I am concerned the recent report by Amnesty International which found that the current administration has separated more children from their parents than previously reported. To date, at least 200 children are still separated from their families. Our government is concentrating unaccompanied teens into expanding tent camps in Texas. As a taxpayer, I’m furious. As a human being, I’m horrified. I expect you to work to end these policies and show basic human decency in our immigration process.

🔥Resistance. Every. Day.🔥

Submitted to Regularions.gov

I oppose a policy refusing citizenship to families who use or have used public assistance.

The “public charge” rule would prevent people from working and supporting their families.

The “public charge” rule would deny people over age 61 a future.

This regulation would violate my state’s right to provide benefits to families in short-term crisis and increase federal intrusion into local issues.

Immigrants strengthen our communities and our economy, contributing billions in taxes.

I want my tax dollar to support and show decency toward aspiring Americans.

Even the Department of Homeland Security found the rule change could have serious public health and other consequences.

The proposal itself lists many negative consequences to the country as a whole, including several related to public health.

I do not want this rule to be implemented.

🔥Resistance. Every. Day.🔥

Thank note to Fr. Ruskin Piedra:

Thank you for your spirit in action to provide immigration legal services in Brooklyn since 2003. Your persistence in the face of the current administration is admirable and courageous. Thank you for your work. 

Address: 545 60th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11220

🔥Resistance. Every. Day.🔥

Thank you note to State Senator Nikema Williams (D-GA):

Thank you for standing with your constituents to insist their votes be counted, and for enduring arrest. Your principled bravery in the face of injustice is a beacon for all who believe in equality.

Around OakMeadows

I love PBS and one of my favorite shows is Nature. The most recent program was on Squirrels. Did you know that there are over 300 species of squirrels? Tree squirrels, ground squirrels, flying squirrels. A squirrel’s teeth never stop growing to counter the wear and tear of their diet. A red squirrel’s teeth grow about 8 inches each year. Chipmunks can stash up to 7 nuts in their flexible cheek pouches.  Fox squirrels can bury up to 9000 nuts per year.  Flying squirrels can glide up to 150 feet which is half the length of a football field!!

I spent a good bit of time today straightening out of electrical and water accounts.  We have them on autopay to our credit card. For some unknown reason this month’s charge went to a previous card number and not to the current card. No idea why. The water bill was easy to correct and pay online. But the electric bill was complicated because the company is updating their website. I had to completely reregister but once that was done, I was able to pay and get that cleared up. Tomorrow I have to contact the septic system company because I was notified that the disinfecting mechanism needs repair. No idea what this will cost.  Last of all I got the bill for our property taxes. I’ve got the money and it will be good to have it paid for the next year. 

Angie is just about completely over her bout of kennel cough. She only coughs when she is excited which is every time the walker from Awesome Paws comes. She needs a bath. I need to make an appointment for her to be groomed; it will probably be after Thanksgiving.  

Not much progress on the quilt top. 

Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams by Joseph Ellis

Passionate Sage

Commitment to principle somehow necessitated unpopularity for John Adams, and the fullest expression of his best energies occurred in singular acts of passionate defiance.  For Adams, virtue demanded a level of disinterestedness and a purity of public spiritedness that derived its compulsion from psychological imperative which seemed to require isolation and unpopularity as evidence of its authenticity. 

Adams believed that there is no one principle which predominates in human nature so much in every stage of life as the passion for superiority. Every human being compares itself with every other around it and will find some superiority over every other. 

Adams was obsessed with interior integrity, not with the external rewards that mastery of appearance could bring. Humility, piety, self-denial, and other habits were not just means to an end for him, but the ends themselves. 

Adams suggested that most enduring political, social, and economic transformations were evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Successful revolutions such as the one he helped lead in America, were merely the final and most visible stages of what was a long process of preparation. The only kind of progress Adams truly trusted came gradually, moving at an evolutionary pace that allowed institutions to adjust and expectations to remain under some modicum of control. 

In his political thinking, Adams did embrace two of the central tenets of the liberal tradition: the doctrine of popular sovereignty, that is, the notion that political power ultimately derives from the people; and the principle of equality before the law, the view that justice is blind to the class, race, or gender of the accused. In these two areas, Adams was a liberal. 

Adams warned Jefferson that individual freedom and social equality were incompatible ideas, that ignoring their conflict only assured the triumph of the privileged. Adams insisted that government needed to play an active role in managing national priorities; that it was not, as Jefferson seemed to believe, only and always, a source of oppression. 

An excellent book which explores the principles of government which two hundred years later we are still debating. 

🔥Resistance. Every. Day🔥

🔥Resistance. Every. Day.🔥

Thank you note to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and/or Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore 

Thank you for your commitment to addressing and preventing hate crimes in the U.S. The DOJ’s new website, trainings, and data-gathering efforts can make a positive difference in our communities. Thank you.

Address: U.S. Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20530-0001

🔥Resistance. Every. Day.🔥

Thank you note to Sean Combs for committing $1 million to the Capital Preparatory Schools network to help kids in underserved communities gain access to high-quality education. 

Address: ℅ Violator Management & Records, 36 West 25th Street, New York, NY 10010-2706

🔥Resistance. Every. Day.🔥

Notes of Congratulations to:

Josh Bendor, Vianey Hurtado, and Ron Kilgard 

Congratulations for receiving recognition as Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project pro bono attorneys of the year. I share your dismay at the militarization of the southern border and the attempts to restrict migrants from seeking asylum. Thank you for your work. 

Addresses:

JB, 2929 North Central Avenue, Twenty-First Floor, Phoenix, AZ 85012-2793

VH, 3830 North 19th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85015

RK, 3101 North Central Avenue, Suite 1400, Phoenix, AZ 85012-2600

🔥Resistance. Every. Day.🔥

Thank you note to Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D-CA):

Thank you for working to protect the promises made to Dreamers. I appreciate your insistence that the rule of law prevail, and that public policy must be vetted and centered in human decency.

Address: 1300 “I” Street, Sacramento, CA 95814-2919

Thank you note to Jeff Flake (R-AZ):

Thank you for publicly supporting the Mueller investigation, opposing conflicts of interest, and urging the Senate to bring to a vote the bipartisan Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act (S. 2644) passed in committee last April. I trust you’ll support it when it comes up for a vote. Thank you for putting integrity over party.

Address: 6840 North Oracle Road, Suite 150, Tucson, AZ 85704

🔥Resistance. Every. Day.🔥

I’m concerned about the president’s plan to restrict asylum and deprive legal asylum seekers of their right to due process granted in the 1980 Refugee Act. Our nation has an international responsibility and a moral obligation to receive people whose lives are in danger. I would like you to defend the rights of people seeking asylum in the US.

Around OakMeadows

Winter has arrived. Cold, gray, windy. 

The dog is slowly recovering. She only coughs when she is excited.  She’s back to eating her regular food in regular amounts.  And best of all she is back to her happy bouncy self. 

I’ve been watching Designated Survivor and it is very good. 

Around OakMeadows- Sick Dog Edition

My sweet Angie

Last night around midnight our sweet little dog, Angie, started coughing. She coughed and coughed.  It sounded like something was stuck in her throat but she coughed up nothing. She coughed off and on for the rest of the night. This morning I called the vet and made an appointment to see the vet this morning. When I described the symptoms, the receptionist asked if Angie had been boarded recently. I said yes that she had been overnight at Camp Bow Wow.  She then said it was probably kennel cough. This means that she would not be able to be boarded while JMM is in Italy. Since JMM leaves in 3 days, I am in a scramble to figure out how to take care of her here at home. Arrgghh!!!

Update: Angie does have Kennel Cough. She gets doxycycline twice a day and cough medicine 4 times a day. I can get her medicine in her by mixing it with various things she likes, scrambled eggs, Fancy Feast, buttered chicken, etc. Awesome Paws is coming once a day to take her for a walk and I will take her out for a driveway p&p 3 more times. The main problem to be solved is what kind of leash will work with my hand weakness. We have 2 days to get that figured out. 

My sweet dog really doesn’t feel well. She has periods where she just lays on her bed and snoozes and then she has coughing spells that last 2-3 minutes. She eats very little but she does eat and doesn’t throw up when she coughs. This is supposed to last about 10 days.  So I guess, 1 day down, 9 to go. 

Around OakMeadows

Butterflies on the blooming Crucita

Twice a year I rail against changing the time to or from Dqylight Savings time. Arrgghh!  I don’t know anyone who thinks this is a good idea. One way or the other all year round please!! Rant over for this 6 months. 

Yesterday my daughter came over and showed me how she makes roast chicken and gravy. Oh my, was it ever good. I’ve never been able to make good gravy and this onion gravy was wonderful.  We had such a nice visit. We walked the dogs and watched the new Netflix documentary, Salt Fat Acid Heat. JMM baked a Schwan’s Apple Pie. Just a lovely afternoon. 

Today I had my manicure/pedicure that I get every 6 weeks. Such luxury. 

We have had a dismal summer for butterflies but the last two weeks have made up for it. We have had literally hundreds of Queens and at least a hundred Monarchs plus skippers and several Common Buckeyes. (I don’t know why they are called Common Buckeyes because they are not common and they are spectacularly beautiful.  Maybe they should be called the Spectacular Buckeye instead. 

Quilt top is going slowly. I have ate 6 strips ready to sew together. Maybe tomorrow. I have the blocks ready for the following quilt top. I hope to get it together before the end of the year.  

Thank goodness the Election is tomorrow. I hope Beto wins the Senate seat and Sri wins our House seat. I just want it over! (But OTOH, they will immediately start the 2020 Presidential campaign. Ack!!!)

Life Around OakMeadows - October, 2018

Life Around OakMeadows - October, 2018

Birds

Great Blue Heron 

Cardinals 

Red-winged Blackbirds 

Hummingbirds 

Killdeer

Mockingbirds 

Grackles 

Crow

Cattle Egrets

Caracara

Black Vulture 

Barn Swallows 

White-winged Doves

Insects

Giant Swallowtail 

Monarchs 

Fiery Sachem

Little Sulphur

Cloudless Sulphur 

Gulf Fritillaries 

Long-tailed Skipper 

Grey Hairstreak 

Clouded Skipper

Blue Darter

Eastern Pondhawk 

Other

Raccoons 

Western Ribbon Snake

Squirrels 

Crayfish

Deer

Armadillo 

Opossum 

Other

Around OakMeadows

Sunrise

Yesterday we met with our Fidelity representative to go over our retirement and investments accounts. I wanted to see what our Minimum Required Distribution will be for the coming year. I was really surprised that JMM was agreeable to becoming much more conservative with his funds. I have always been slightly more conservative than him. I think he is looking at this long bull market and thinking that “all good things must come to an end” and moving toward less market exposure. The really great thing was a graph the representative showed us that if we live to 94 and 96, with our current rate of withdrawals and even assuming an underperforming market, we will not outlive our money.  (I know, Man plans, God laughs.) Anyway, it was rather reassuring. 

Cooler weather has finally arrived! Lows in mid 50s, highs in mid 60s. It is overcast and cool. Perfect. 

I am so pleased with the way my quilt top is coming along. I have all 36 blocks finished and pressed. Now I need to trim them and then I can begin stitching them together.  I joined a Facebook group of ScrapQuilters.  I have gotten so many good ideas. Actually, I have pulled out the fabric for the quilt after this one.  I think I need to have JMM take my sewing machine in for cleaning and servicing before I start on another top. 

Now for the awful news. One of my long time blog world friends was treated for pancreatic cancer with surgery and chemotherapy.  For the last 6 months we have thought that she had beaten it. But the last tests show an elevation of tumor markers and metastasis to the lungs. I am so very sorry because I have known her and her blog for at least 12 years. She is a really special person. I am still missing Marianne Schiefer from Hattie’s Web. 

Damn, just damn

http://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2018/10/into-the-great-unknown.html

Around OakMeadows

Angie, mighty sock killer. 

I’ve been thinking about my animal companions.  I started this year with 4 cats and 1 dog. We had to put 2 of the cats down. They were old and sick and would never be well again so I have no qualms about having them euthanized. The two remaining cats are 4 years old so I will probably have them for another 10 years. The dog is 6 years old and will probably live another six years. Since I am 70 now, I will be 76 when the dog dies and 80 when the cats go. We are in the fortunate position that feeding and veterinary care for them poses no financial hardship for us. I love animals and they are a source of great enjoyment to me. So I hope I will always have the their companionship. The question, of course, is whether to replace them as they die. I am leaning currently against more animals as I am finding 2 cats much easier to care for than 4 and with my neuromuscular condition, if I didn’t have JMM to help with the dog, I couldn’t take care of her at all. I do understand the pull of getting a new kitten or puppy but this is like other things in life, there is a time in life for somethings and not for others.  These are just my thoughts right now and I know how quickly I melt when faced with an abandoned kitten. 

Around OakMeadows

Beautiful clouds at sunrise. 

No mosquitoes this morning! I really take mosquitoes seriously since Bonnie had West Nile virus and spent two weeks in intensive care.  She has recovered but it was nearly fatal. 

JMM and I got the Slow Cooker going with Chicken with White Beans and Sausage this morning. It is one of my favorite Slow Cooker recipes. All I have left to do on it is add the cannellini Beans and Spinach about an hour before dinner. So good. And leftovers for several meals. The house smells wonderful. 

JMM is going to the Woodlands BBQ Festival. He is leaving here about 10:15. Chris runs two of these a year. 

A month from now we will know the results of the Midterm Elections. On one hand, I will be so glad to know which way the US is going, but on the other hand, I am worried that the ultraright is too firmly entrenched. I hope Beto and Sri can pull off a miracle and win. We shall see. 

I have my fabric ready to cut for the center strips for my new quilt which I am calling One Way. I bought some new fabric to bind the worn out edges of the Sampler quilt that TSMR has. I hope I can pay Karen Shively to do the binding. 

We did our quarterly financials and our retirement accounts are doing just great. I went against my own rule and put the new Heating and Air Conditioning on an interest free loan. I have the money in savings to pay it off but I have several big bills that come due before the end of the year—Property Taxes, Homeowners Insurance, and the HOA fees. So I will wait until after the first of the year and pay it off then. 

Around OakMeadows

Yesterday we met DD and DSIL at Brenner’s for dinner. The food was wonderful and it is always such a pleasure to be with them.  

I more or less took today off. I stayed in pajamas and took both a morning nap and an afternoon nap. I read quite a bit in FDR by Jean Edward Smith. Today I read right up to the edges of Hitler and WW II. 

It is blessedly cooler and the hordes of mosquitoes are gone. I was actually able to read for a bit under the trees. 

I am very unhappy that we have had almost no butterflies in our butterfly garden this year. I have no idea why the numbers have plummeted.  

🔥Resistance. Every. Day.🔥

🔥Resistance. Every. Day.🔥

Called Senators Cornyn and Cruz:

I’m calling from to oppose Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. I value equal opportunity for disabled people. Kavanaugh could undermine the federal regulations and programs, including health-care, that have advanced prospects and access for our neighbors with disabilities. America needs a fair and moderate Supreme Court judge who truly supports “equal justice under the law.” I urge you to vote against his confirmation.

🔥Resistance. Every. Day.🔥

Postcard to Rep. Pete Olson:

I support reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act before Sept. 30. Since its passage in 1994, this law has increased accountability for perpetrators and received bipartisan support for three previous renewals. I want you to co-sponsor and vote for passage of H.R. 6545.Thank you. 

🔥Resistance. Every. Day.🔥

Sent emails to Rep. Pete Olson and Senators Cornyn and Cruz:

I am concerned about the Farm Bill. The Senate version strengthened SNAP to provide critical nutrition to elders, people with disabilities, and low-income families. When it comes out of conference committee, I’m asking that youonly support a bill that maintains the Senate provisions without work requirements. I want my tax dollar to help feed hungry families.

Sent Thank You notes to Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM:

Thank you for continuing to demand this administration comply with a court order to reunify more than 500 children and their parents. We haven’t forgotten separated families. Thank you for ensuring this administration doesn’t either.

Addresses:

SH: 6500 Cherrywood Lane, Suite 310, Greenbelt, MD 20770

MLG: 400 Gold Avenue SW, Suite 680, Albuquerque, NM 87102

Around OakMeadows

Cleaning out and organizing my fabric scraps with help from Duffy. 

Around OakMeadows 

We really need rain. We’ve been watering trees just about every evening.  So I was happy to get a little rain yesterday and today. Not enough to do the trees any good but enough to perk up the lawn. The irony is that this time last year this whole area had been inundated by Hurricane Harvey with 40+ inches of rain. I’ll take needing to water the trees over 40+ inches of rain any time. 

Our daughter came over yesterday and brought her dog Lucy. That is the happiest most eager to please dog ever. Daughter also brought a Costco Lasagna and salad for lunch. Good, minimal fuss lunch. We took the dogs out for a couple of runs and I just love to watch Lucy with her bounding lope. After lunch everyone was stuffed and so we all took a nap. We watched an episode of The Great British Baking Show which is always pleasant.  So nice to live close enough to visit. 

I spent $2500 to get an electric lift chair.  My legs have weakened so much in the past six months that I really had trouble getting up from a regular chair. I’m going to have to remodel the bathrooms: 1.) the shower will need to be redone so that I can roll up to it and not have to deal with getting over the edge of the pan or deal with the door. 2.) on the small bathroom I need to take out a wall and install a pocket door so that I can get to the toilet. I am so fortunate to have the money to make these modifications.  I don’t know how I would cope without my scooter, van, and lift and now with these bathroom modifications. 

The next quilt is going to be a bit different. It is more Abstract in design, blues and yellows with cream background. I cut out 660 pieces 1 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches, now I need to cut 36 3 1/2 by 9 1/2 inches. I have this picture in my mind now we will see how it goes together. Sometimes things turn out as planned and sometimes they seem to have a mind of their own and come out rather different. 

JMM and I are reading aloud to each other London 1945: Life in the Ruins of War by Maureen Waller. It is so interesting. I had no idea how devastating the V1 and V2 rockets were in the last months of the war. The book tells how the people and the government dealt with the housing shortage caused by thousands of houses destroyed and the food shortages. Excellent so far. 

I’ve got a yard sign for my Democratic Candidate for Congress, Sri Preston Kulkarni. I’m trying to get a sign for Beto but the local office is out and I’ll have to wait until next week.  I’ve never put out political signs before because I thought the HOA wouldn’t allow it. Well, it turns out that it is illegal to forbid reasonable political yard signs in Texas. 

I listened to Barack Obama’s eulogy of John McCain and nearly wept with pleasure at hearing him speak in coherent sentences at a post kindergarten level. I really think the funeral was overdone but I think it was nice to focus on an honorable life rather than the vulgarity that resides in the White House today. 

That’s about all the news from OakMeadows for now.