July 4, 2025

How to Celebrate the Fourth 

of July When America

Is a Constant Disappointment

Build a little banned books library for the neighborhood

children. Hoard Plan B for your sisters & daughters

& nieces & friends. Forgo fireworks & provide comfort

to shelter dogs frightened by the noise. Plant explosions

of rose & dahlia across your yard - make your lawn

a rainbow welcome mat for pollinators & love.

Learn & acknowledge the names of Indigenuos lands

where you stand. Sing Joan Baez. Read Langston

Hughes. Dance to Bruce Springsteen. Boycott Amazon.

Savor the fireflies while you still can.

-- Danielle Coffyn

End of June FO: Cat Socks!; and, a Quick Catch-Up

 Hello! I didn't mean to be away so long. But one week found me in a flurry of Dr appts, volunteering, and being much more social than I wanted to be - especially by the end of that week!  And last week the heat and humidity had me in such a deep depression, I just didn't do anything much.

But I'm here now, with an FO to show you!

I started these socks at the beginning of June:

And one of the very few things I did last week was actually finish the pair:

Project: Cat Socks!

Pattern: Peeky Catsocks, by Marna Gilligan

Yarn: CoopKnits Sock Yeah DK, in colorways Ammolite (pink), Fleet (blue), and Tatarus (gray)

Needles: US size 5/3.75 mm

Modifications: Instead of having a big cat face "peeking" out of the foot of the sock, I knit most of the foot and then added a row of cat faces before starting the toe. The pattern has the larger cat face on the top of the foot, and a color pattern on the bottom, and I just wasn't feeling it.

Notes: This was a kit I bought a really long time ago. I remember trying to start it, and thinking that I couldn't figure out how to read the chart, so I tucked it away in a place somewhere in my stash, never to be thought of again. That is, until I was doing some stash reviewing and came across it. Since I had successfully knit my Christmas colorwork sweater, I decided to give it a shot.

The pattern is well-written, but other than using the chart for the cat faces, and following the color suggestions, I left things plainer. Not that it was vastly different from the pattern, but in any case, they were a fun knit.

Once they were finished, I tried them on and they didn't fit over my instep. Which was disappointing, and if I had been making DK socks on my own, I may have used different numbers, etc. But I was trying to follow the pattern since it was written for the colorwork, etc. So I will give this pair away, and someone will be thrilled and have happy kitty cat socks to keep their feet warm.

One thing I've decided is that I don't really like DK socks. I'm a sock/fingering weight girl, and when I want heavier socks, I just go to worsted. I like "regular" socks or slipper-type socks, but DK just doesn't do it for me. 

Anyway, I know have a cat face chart to use for anything I want, so I consider it a win overall!

*****

So, as I mentioned in last my post, we participated in the "No Kings" March here in Philadelphia:

It was great! So many people showed up, and it was incredibly well-organized. It was warm, and somewhat humid, but not completely miserable - it was cloudy so you didn't get baked as you walked along. The speakers at the end were great - and all of them kept their remarks to no more than 20 minutes. I had not paid attention to who the speakers would be, but the first one was Congressman Jamie Raskin, and he was followed by Martin Luther King III. They were followed by more local people, and everyone was articulate and interesting. We were so glad we decided to go!

There were a lot of great, and really funny signs. Two that stick in my memory said, "Happy Birthday, Old Yam Tits," and "If She Had Won, We'd Be At Lunch." 😂😂

But my very favorite was one that said, "This I The Only Orange King That Philadelphians Will Support" and it had a picture of this guy under that:

This is Gritty, the mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team. He is - as you can imagine - beloved in Philadelphia, in the tradition of sports mascots that are insane. But that sign was perfect!

*****

So now you are pretty much caught up on all of the highlights around here lately. I can't believe that Friday is July 4th! But I'm all for it, if it means that summer is moving along, since as you know, I am not fond of summer in the least, and see it as a path to the next season. At least according to the weather people around here, after tomorrow, the rest of the week is supposed to be warm and bearable - like summertime used to be before global warming decided to really get going. So I'm counting on that, not because we have any plans for the 4th (The Tim has to work), but because it means I will not have another depressive episode, and that's always a good thing! Plus, I really enjoy breathing, and last week it was difficult at best. 

What about you? Any exciting plans for the holiday/holiday weekend? I'm glad we're not planning to travel, because I think it's gonna be pretty crazy on the roads. I'm planning to make a holiday-type dinner on Friday, and depending on the weather in the evening, we may go onto our roof to see some of the fireworks. But that's about as thrilling as things will be around here.

I hope your June ends well, and that July will be a good month for all of us. I'll check in later this week, take care!

Jesus SAVED Us!!

It's true! For those of you who need visual proof in the power of Jesus, look closely at this photo. That tiny pitcher on the baseball mound? That is Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jesus Luzardo. And when my friend Lisa and I went to see the Phillies play the Cubs this past Wednesday, Jesus saved us from losing another game! (And for those of you wondering, Jesus is regular-sized - I took that photo from our seats.)

It's been a rough few weeks for our Phils, but on Wednesday they beat the Chicago Cubs 7-2. And my fave player, Kyle Schwarber, hit a home run which I am sure he did because he heard I was there. 

😂

Lisa and I try to go to one game together every year. We text a thousand times every day, but generally only see one another this one time. We've been friends now for about 25 years, since we were co-workers. She left to give birth to twin boys, and I moved to other jobs. But we always kept in touch. And she is the one that met my niece Amanda ONCE, and immediately added her to our text chain! The three of us are the ones keeping each other accountable in our exercise routines.

Lisa is hilarious just in general, but she is also one of those baseball fans, that knows *everything* about each player. I swear if you asked their shoe size, she could answer immediately. She's also really impatient with them. Whenever they win, she is on cloud nine, but when they lose and/or play poorly, she texts me: "Sell the team." So it was a really fun afternoon, and though it was warm it wasn't humid, and we were under an overhang, so it was especially nice to be out of the direct sun.

Apparently, the person that Lisa bought the tickets from is a regular, and part of a group that are always there for afternoon games. When we first got there, the two guys behind us asked "How do you know Brian?" And a bit later, when a young woman and her friends arrived, she said to me "Are you Brian's wife?" to which I responded that was "that bastard's ex-wife and he lets me have tickets for one game a year." She looked slightly surprised, but I doubt as much as Brian will be when she asks him about his ex-wife! They were all a fun group of people though, so it made the whole game even more enjoyable.

*****

A bit later this morning, I'm headed out to get my hair cut. I'm trying a different place in my neighborhood, so wish me luck. I like the person I usually go to, she is very nice, but the last few times I've gone, she has just been on autopilot, and not really tried anything I want to try. Plus, we are getting to the time of year when I want my hair short all over, and she doesn't want to do it that way so that I don't "look like a man." 

So I'm trying out a different place, which is slightly more money, but if I can get a haircut even close to what I'd like, it will be worth it. 

I just hope I don't go there hoping for a cut like this

And come out looking like this:

*****

This weekend, it is of course supposed to rain at least some of the time. Tomorrow we are headed to the No Kings protest here, but that is our only specific plan for the weekend. Since our weekends are generally pretty quiet and uneventful, we'll likely need Sunday to recover from doing something out of the house on Saturday! We always joke that, if we are like this at our current age, if we are lucky enough to live to be 80 years old, we'll only be able to do maximum two things a week, so that we have time to recover!

Whatever plans you may have, I hope you can enjoy your weekend. Even if you also get some rain, at least a lot of the plants and flowers are enjoying it, right?

I Think I'm Finally Back On Track

Have you ever had a week where for the ENTIRE week, you are mixed up about what day it is and what the date is? That was me last week. I spent the whole week either a day ahead or behind, or just confused altogether like someone who just arrived from another planet and had only a tenuous grasp on how time works here.

The good news is that as of yesterday, I was back on track, and it's a good thing, because I have obligations every single day this week. This morning was a doctor's appointment, which thankfully was short and sweet. So I should be good to go for this week, having started it out successfully.  I told my brain that I hope it enjoyed its vacation last week, but there was no response. I don't think it likes sarcasm.

Anyway, June is moving along here. In general, I like June - or at least I used to. It was always the month when it was summer, but not SUMMER. Fortunately so far we've only had a couple of miserably hot/humid days, and I think we're supposed to have one or two this week. So I have been enjoying things so far, and even though we've gotten a lot of rain, it has supposedly helped with the drought, so I think I can live with that.

Alfie had a good birthday. He got one of those catnip "kickers" - it's like a tube filled with catnip, that cats grab onto with their front paws, and then kick with their back paws. It was a big hit, with everyone to be honest. And there were kitty treats and some fancy canned food, so they had a good time. I bought a small cake for The Tim and I to share, and Alfie was both mystified and annoyed by the birthday candles. 😊

Not much is going on around here. I was knitting away on a project I'd started a couple of weeks ago, and realized that I had completely messed it up. So I frogged what I had - not a whole lot, but more than 6 rows - and put it away overnight. This afternoon I sat down and restarted it and to be honest, since I know more what I'm doing, it actually looks a lot better. So maybe all's well that ends well with that. 

I finished the first sock of a pair I'm knitting, though I haven't woven in any ends yet. I like the pattern, and enjoyed knitting it, but haven't cast on the second sock yet. Not that there's a big hurry to have the pair, but I also don't want to let it sit too long. I made a couple of modifications and don't want to forget what they are/were. Why yes, I could write them down, but so far I have not ...

I met two former co-workers on Saturday for lunch, and one of them told the funniest story. She said that a couple of weeks ago, she had stopped to get coffee, and while she was waiting to pay, a guy came in that she saw from a decent enough distance that she couldn't see him clearly, but she noticed he was really good-looking. A few minutes later, he got in line to pay for his coffee and she realized it was her ex-husband, who she had a bitter divorce from! So she tried to get her stuff together to walk away quickly before he saw her, but her headphones got tangled in one of those signs next to a jar that asks for donations for some cause or another, causing it all to fall onto the floor and spill the money! She said that normally she would stay to clean up the mess she made, but she just ran out the door. "I dont' think he saw me." Hm. 😂

I guess just being confused about the day and date is pretty much a non-event compared to that.

I hope your week starts out well, take care!

P.S. I have no idea why the first paragraph is indented like it's "special." And I haven't been able to fix it, so there you go ...

Scenes From A Walk Along the New Part of the Schuylkill River Trail

Hello! I hope you are doing well this week, and that if you are someplace where the heat is showing up, that you can find a well to keep cool. I know I'm not looking forward to tomorrow, when it is supposed to be 91 degrees (Fahrenheit) here. Ugh. 

But sadly I can do nothing about it. Sigh.

In the middle of May, a new portion of the Schuylkill River Trail near our house opened. It's been under construction for a while, and had gotten to the point where you just kept thinking, "Come on, that looks finished, let me see!" 

A lot of my walking takes place on the trail, for either part of a walk or all of a walk, so I was really excited to see what it was. It's lovely, interesting, and at certain times, you can't really believe you're smack dab in the middle of the city! My Merlin app on my phone identified American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Ospreys, and Baltimore Orioles on my first walk as being the birds providing me with background music. I saw the robins, and an osprey, but not the others. I would especially love to see an actual Baltimore Oriole - it was one of the first "special" birds I learned about as a kid, and it also fascinated me that there was a baseball team with the same name (my childhood brain didn't make the connection that the team was named after the bird ...)

Anyway, this past Monday, I made myself stop and take some photos along the way so I could share them here and on social media, so you may have already seen some of them. But in any case, here are some scenes from along the new part of the trail. I hope you'll enjoy them.

   

We've had lots of rain lately, so you can see that the river is pretty muddy!

See the Center City Philadelphia skyline in this one?

This tunnel means you can walk under Interstate 76 aka the Schuylkill Expressway.

I love the way the bridges look! And they added lights to them, so at night they twinkle and look so fabulous!

Of course, once you get off the trail, and back into the neighborhood on the way home, you remember that you're in the city. But fortunately, our neighborhood is actually pretty quiet - I mean, it's not like you don't hear anything, but for living where we live, it's kind of surprising it's not a lot noisier. The loudest noises are sirens (no surprise there), and one big-mouthed guy who lives on the street and talks at a volume that would lead you to think everyone here is hard of hearing.

So I hope you have enjoyed the new parts of the trail. As you might imagine, it's been getting a ton of use with our nice weather over the past few weeks. Right now, if you started at the southern end of this trail and headed north, you could walk/bicycle/whatever all the way to Valley Forge. (I will not be doing that ...). And there are plans for extending it even more, but like all things related to infrastructure, money has to be found. But in the meantime, none of us are complaining!

*****

The fact that I am writing this post today is a salve to my heart and brain. I had a laptop incident a couple of days ago that made me certain that I had killed my laptop. But so far, so good. 🤞