Because we are horrible people
And because the corgi appears to have blown out her knee
Because the vet told us she is too fat
And because we’re saying with friends who have a pool
We figured we’d see how she’d like swimming
Because she needs a low-impact form of exercise.
The pictures really speak for themselves.
"This is how things begin to tilt into change,
how coalitions are knit from strands of hair,
of barbed wire, twine, knitting wool and gut,
how people ease into action arguing each inch,
but the tedium of it is watching granite erode.
Let us meet to debate meeting, the day, the time,
the length. Let us discuss whether we will sit
or stand or hang from the ceiling or take it lying
down. Let us argue about the chair and the table and
the chairperson and the motion to table the chair...."
Read all of Marge Piercy's "Report of the Fourteenth Subcommittee on Convening a Discussion Group" here.
"But for Stephen Bannon, Donald Trump’s chief strategist and leading impresario of the alt-right, the video and its furry hero [the honey badger] were something else: inspiration. The animal is the mascot of Breitbart News, the truth-optional publication Bannon took over following Andrew Breitbart’s sudden death in 2012 and with which he can maintain communication thanks to a White House waiver."
-- from Bret Stephens' review of Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump and the Storming of the Presidency.
On taking the time to enjoy things, over at Another Mother Runner.
When you live in this part of the Northeast, winter is always coming. So we knit hats (and scarves and cowls and gloves) throughout the year because they are always needed. Especially when you have children with a knack for forgetting where they’ve left them. Which is all children.
The pattern is Caramel Brûlée. The yarn is “spectral” from Spirit Trails Fiberworks and is all that. Seriously. The pompom came with the yarn and is really the main reason I wanted to make the hat. I love a good pompom.
Hat is now in the strategic hat reserve, where it will wait to be deployed.
I still knit, btw.
Way back in November, shortly before I was planning to run the New York City marathon, my Best Running (and Knitting) Pal Lisa gave me a skein of yarn for luck. It was Manos del Uruguay Algeria, a mostly wool blend, in a gorgeous blue, which she was trying to match to the race’s colors.
I hemmed and hawed to do my best to match yarn to pattern. Eventually, I did.
The pattern is Louise Zass-Bangham’s Song of the Sea. I had to adapt it a little bit -- only one row of the tiny waves -- because I ran out of yarn. No matter, it is still big enough to wear doubled as a cowl.
Thanks again, Lisa! Yarn is always the best gift.
Apologies for the relative silence. We've been traveling, as one does in the summer when one has kids to amuse. More about that later. First, tho, today's quote:
"Lately, things have been trending crapshow."
This is from Al Franken's Giant of the Senate, which we've been listening to in the car. It's narrated by Franken himself and is, by turns, touching, hilarious, and maddening. All three simultaneously sometimes, too. I highly recommend it, btw.
On a similar tip, the most recent Pod Save America features an interview with Cory Booker that restored my faith in humans and in the political process. No, none of those things are perfect (far from it, frankly) but the potential for goodness has long been in both. Also highly recommended. It's the episode titled "Tweet Your Feelings."