Ordinary Time

Having finished the last volume that is published of the Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, I am bereft. I feel as though I have lost a group of good friends and it's going to be far too long until I reconnect with them. Pity the book I just read after them because they were a hard act to follow. The world feels fairly flat without Emma and Pierce and the Duke of Islington and Young Hawks. Why can't authors write faster and books be published sooner?  To add to my woe, I don't have anything to write. I'm not even sure who my audience is these days. I don't really mind no one commenting, but it also means I have no idea who is reading. So my comment-shy readers, what are you interested in? I'm happy to continue my nightly blathering, but am not completely sure where I should aim. Help a blogger out. (With actual topics, it also means you avoid having to read posts such as this.)

It's been a while since I had a Fiber Monday post. This is mainly because I didn't have anything to talk about as I wasn't really working on anything. I've mentioned my interests tend to have seasons and early summer didn't seem to be a season for making things. I'm thinking about it, I realized that contributing to my lack of interest was that my studio was rather chaotic and I had too many projects started and left lying about. I needed order and clarity.  Much of the 4th, I spent organizing the studio... filing things, tackling piles of projects that needed organizing, doing some reorganizing, and then being able to clean because I could find the surfaces. I gave up on a couple of projects, put some others away for another season, and finished up a couple of things that were 95% finished it felt good. I now enjoy being in my studio again.  The newly clean studio: It had been a very long time since I spent consistent time spinning. So I put away the fleece tha...

Illinois has had a tough go of it these past few months. Most notably we have broken all sorts of records for tornadoes. As of June 21, there were 196 documented tornadoes (I'm sure the number is higher now) which is more than twice the next state in the list has seen. So that's fun.  Then, over the weekend, Iowa decided to share its torrential rain with us. There was over 4 inches of rain on Saturday and yesterday was an enormous storm. (No tornadoes this time though.) Flash flood warnings were going off all over. This was the prelude to showing you this video of our "driveway" yesterday. J. went out to see what the state of things was. He stopped walking when the water level was going to top his boots.  The creek in front of our house had definitely overflowed its banks. Today things are nearly back tomorrow, but definitely damp. Duck has enjoyed it immensely.  Having put in that nice seque to poultry, the other thing that happened yesterday was that L. deemed Chick...

I have mixed feelings about the holiday. The current state of our country is horrendous and terrifying. The hand basket we are all traveling in seems to be getting closer to its destination every single day. I am beyond angry that those who could turn things around refuse to do so. I am baffled that there are still people who support the evil that is being done. And on days when I can manage to read the news I despair for our country.  My family and J.'s family have very long histories here in the US, with family from both sides arriving before 1776. If family lore is correct, one of my ancestors was part of the group who dumped tea into Boston Harber. Both of our families have ancestors who fought for the North in the Civil War. I am in possession of my great-great-grandfather's fife. My ancestors fought for freedom and for their country who was on the side of freedom. Freedom from tyranny, freedom from slavery, freedom to speak openly, freedom from abuse. They would not recog...

Buddy would like me to tell you he is tired of the weather and that it is hard being a pony.  First it was miserably hot so he and Vienna had to be inside the barn so the big horses could have access to the shelter of the stalls. Then when the weather was slightly better and everyone was out, storms started coming through so the ponies had to move back into the barn. Again. It's not fair and the big horses get all the cool stuff.  Having delivered Buddy's message, I'm going back to my book. I brought the last three Emma M. Lion books home from the library yesterday. I finished volume 6 before bed last night, I'm well into volume 7, and fully expect to read volume 8 before the weekend is over. I suppose if I were really nice I would go out to the barn and read them to the bored ponies. 

It is too hot to think. If I could just stay holed up in the air conditioning, it wouldn't be so bad, but having outside animals means you have to go outside to care for them. I dislike sweating through multiple outfits in a day.  Since I can't think, I thought I would link to some of my more... opinionated... posts. Some newer readers might have missed them. And what's a little more heat when it's already so hot? In no particular order and certainly not all of them, just what I could easily find.  On disabled people as community service projects More unpopular opinions, the thin-skinned may want to move along On parenting trans children  Another episode of very unpopular opinions  A parent's worst nightmare  On homeschooling  A kvetchy list dealing with homeschooling misinformation  Let's talk homeschooling curriculum  I may have lost my temper a bit today Things NOT to say to a homeschooled child  Take it slow... warning great kvetchyness a...