Where do we go from here?

Not much to talk about today.  My heart is heavy. 

I've been enjoying the beauty of flowers in my yard, along with a little quilting on the arc quilt and some more granny squares.  But, I've also been watching the news and working hard to keep my head up. 

Like the turtle racing the hare, I've been slowly and steadily quilting arcs.  There are only 2.5 left.  I've kept up with milestones like that, just to keep my sanity, counting off the sections as I knocked them out.  Soon enough, I hope to be on to the free motion part of the process.  That's where the fun begins for me, working outside the lines.  I have a better feel for what I plan to quilt in the open spaces.  A lot of it will be emphasizing the circular shape of the arcs with curves and circles and accents. 

I've spent as much time as possible in the garden, getting ready for the heat of summer and making some changes to the hard scape, like the pillars and pots that I feature along the front of the garden. 

I think this daylily may have come from my friend Lyn.  I don't recognize it.  She gave me several a few years ago that have taken time to grow and bloom.  This may be one of them. 

This one is Charlene's Patio, named for my Aunt.

This grouping includes the garden phlox, just starting to open and a pink daylily that looks familiar, but I don't know the name, and another "green" daylily. 

This beauty is Linda's Angelwing begonia.  I've never had much luck with begonias, but this one has certainly found a happy spot.  I love the yellow centers in the pink blossoms.

I've also been working on the afghan.  I've finished 144 squares and have started to assemble.  I moved blocks around the other day to try to give the afghan color interest.  mixing in the light and bright blocks to give the eye a chance to wander across the surface.  I hope.  This has gone so fast.  When the assembly is finished, I'll add a border and this will be another successful finish.  I'm still fighting with the pink baby afghan I made, so no pics of it yet.  The yarn is "slick" and I can't get the ends to stay buried.  That's likely because I didn't assemble the blocks correctly.  I looked on the internet and found out how I should be joining them before I started joining the squares in the afghan below and it's going much, much better.

Syd's been sick.  A bad case of tonsillitis.  She gets an infection about once a year, but refuses to have her tonsils removed.  I guess I should have insisted when she was younger, but we had so many other things to work on as parents that her tonsils never really made the priority list.  She's been texting us and after the first couple of days, when we realized she didn't likely have coronavirus, we started to relax.  But, we did take her supplies a couple times so she didn't have to get out or call in favors from her roommate.  Last night, she texted that she's feeling better and ate a solid dinner, so she's on the mend.  It's hard to parent and adult when they're sick, finding the right balance of taking care of and letting them be an adult, all while trying not to let her see how worried I was. 

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If you're a racist and you're afraid...good.

What is going on in our country right now can't be a surprise.  When we have a racist leading the government and his racist gang of thug congress people supporting him and all of them pouring salt in wounds, old and new while allowing white haters to walk around with guns and act like uncivilized freaks, we gotta expect that people are going to protest.  The video of the killings of Ahmaud Arbury and George Floyd cannot be tolerated and should not be condoned by anyone, regardless of color because if the haters can kill them, who is next?  And, just like everything else that's happened since the orange toad was elected, the worst of the worst haters are going to pour gasoline on it and try to burn our country down.  Because they hate what the U.S. stands for.  They hate freedom.  They only want superiority.  And, that is over.  It's done.  And, time will not move backward to a time it was true, ever again. 

So, let the orange tit in the white house hide in his bunker.  Let his fear show loud and clear so that all can see that the racist is afraid.  And, along with all the other racists in the world, he should be afraid.  My hope this week is that we can successfully move past these haters and into the future without an armed conflict. 

But, that's a hope and I'm afraid it is not how the rest of 2020 is going to play out.  We shall overcome.  Love will win in the end.  But the battle may be long.

Be well.  Keep your chin up.  Sometimes the struggle is just getting up in the morning and being the best person I can be, setting the best example I can set, and participating in life in my own way. 

Lane