Whoops, Our Hands Slipped!

 

We Got This

This is both a Facebook and Instagram post from a local group that is dedicated to all things Philadelphia history.  They get it - you should too. 

Have a good weekend!

Hidden City Philadelphia

 is in 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Philadelphia: protecting democracy since 1776. COUNT THE VOTES

#election2020 #oldcity #philadelphia #pennsylvania

: @mmbixler

Not a Cold Shoulder But More Annoying

Hello there.  I hope your weekend was OK or at least not awful.  Ours was pretty uneventful, which as a relief after the fiasco that was last week.  Though on Saturday morning, I woke up with searing pain in my left upper arm and shoulder.  At first I thought I must have stiffened it up in some weird sleeping position, but it just didn't let up no matter what.  Grrrrr.  I kept trying to work it out, but frankly it hurt too much and at a certain point I gave up.  Sunday it was less sore, and then - seriously - all of a sudden, it hardly hurt at all and I could move it much more easily.  This morning there is a slight tinge, nothing else.  So I have no idea what that was all about, but I'm glad it seems to be clearing up, because it was annoying at best.

I didn't have a lot of plans for things I was planning to do, but since I was for all intents and purposes (as opposed to "intensive purposes") unable to do a whole lot, I decided that meant I should just read and do crafty things.  Makes sense, right?  By the end of Saturday, I had a sock finished, and by the end of the day yesterday, I was halfway down the leg of sock #2.

 

On Saturday afternoon, I finished the wording on my cross stitch project, which pleased me.  

Now I will have the border and the outlining to do.  That will probably take a while, because it involves counting and a lot of blank space, and I'm not really good at that kind of thing.  But I'm enjoying the project, and I'm the only one who will know if/where I mess anything up, so it will be done one way or the other.  

Shortly after mentioning having started Wild Game last week, I abandoned it.  I didn't like the people, and didn't like the story, and so forget spending any more time reading it, you know?  On Friday, I started Seaview House and I have to tell you, I'm finding it highly entertaining.  It's a domestic comedy/comedy of manners and I don't know if it's really that good, or if I'm just in the mood for it.  I'm about halfway through, and purposely trying not to finish it any sooner than necessary.

A local photographer posted this photo on Facebook, showing the moment a lightning strike over the Philadelphia skyline during a crazy storm on Saturday night.

I find this breathtaking.  Fortunately other than LOTS of rain, we had no other negative effects from this storm or from the remains of Hurricane Isaias earlier in the week.  I know some friends in the 'burbs are still without power, but in the city we lucked out.  I think since most of the power lines are underground, we don't suffer outages as much as places where trees fall onto power lines, etc.

It sounds as if this week we are back to hot and humid and overall ICK.  The other day on the local news, they said that there were 3 days in July when the temperature was not 90 degrees (F) or above, and that was a record.  I am not pleased to be living in these record-breaking times, let me tell you.

Hopefully in spite of any weather issues, we'll all have a week that goes well.  Part of me thinks, "Well, it can't be much worse than last week," but of course I know only too well that it can.  So I'm just going to hope for a normal, boring week where things are fine.  If it goes better than that, it will be icing on the cake (oooh, cake!).  Take care, friends!

Time to Regroup

June 1st - here we are, in the month that separates the first part of the year from the second part.  And this year, as months have blended into each other more weirdly than ever before, I think plenty of us have been thinking of June as somehow a bellweather of how we might be going forward.  Some places are slowly reopening, lots of places are seeing significant drops in new Covid-19 cases, and of course for many who are not me, it also means that the summer season is really getting started.  So it can also be a kind of mini-New Year, a chance to start fresh and maybe make it to the end of the year with better results.

Today in Philadelphia, it won't be that easy.  As you may or may not know, things exploded here over the weekend.  What started as a peaceful protest memorializing the police killing of George Floyd, turned into two days and nights of heavy duty destruction and violence.  Things are extremely tenuous right now.  The fires are either out or under control, but if the wind blows in a certain direction you can still smell smoke.  The helicopters are finally gone (at least for now - they kept coming and going all through Saturday and Sunday), and there are fewer siren sounds.  Curfew has been lifted for this morning.  The National Guard has arrived, and everyone is hoping that it will not be needed.

People have been injured, including some in law enforcement.  The property damage is considerable, and a couple of buildings that housed retail in Center City will have to be demolished because they were so damaged from fires, meaning that some people are also losing their office and/or living space.  After the cleanup, who knows what places will reopen or decide to rebuild?  Everything has already been closed and the future uncertain because of the pandemic, and I'm sure for some, this will be the point where the break comes.

It's been sad.  It's been scary.  It's been frustrating.  It's clear that serious and systemic change has to happen, though that's been clear for a long time.  But of course there are already people seeing only what they wanted to see, and saying that this proves that "those people" only want handouts or they resort to violence.  "Those people" of course meaning black Americans.  In spite of the fact that there were plenty of lily white people taking advantage of looting.  In spite of the fact that black Americans and other people of color have been facing disproportionate levels of income. healthcare, and pretty much everything else that is easily available and often not even realized by those of us who have pale skin.

I realized over the weekend that a bumper sticker that I've seen a lot over the years was actually a lot smarter than I'd ever realized.  Yes, a bumper sticker. 

When people are treated justly in all ways - legally, financially, socially, etc. - then we are saying that no one has to be like everyone else to lead the life they deserve.  The world will never ever be perfect, and none of us will ever be 100% happy, but if we are all treated with humanity and dignity and have the same opportunities, there are fewer reasons to look at things as being Us vs. Them for anyone in any situation.

So if you want to help the world and your community to regroup, and you want to feel like you are starting the second part of this year in a way that can only improve it, work for justice - however small, however local, let it start to ripple through the water of our world.  Unless we can all afford our own planet, we are here together.  And if you don't think that we all deserve dignity, kindness, and respect, then every single bit of this is on you.

It's June 1st - take a deep breath, regroup, and decide to move forward in the best way you can. 

And on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, make sure to vote so that our country will be able to regroup and move forward

A Perfect Rainy Day

When I don't have to slog back and forth to work in a downpour, I love rainy days.  They just seem to provide a chance to slow down, and either do nothing at all, or tackle a project that you want to do, but find excuses not to when the weather is nice.

This past Sunday was a serious rainy day - starting overnight, and just pouring until Sunday evening.  It had been in the forecast, so I had already decided I wasn't going to make any other plans to do anything that required being outside.  And that worked out perfectly, because when I can, I try to remember on the Sunday prior to Ash Wednesday to make some Hot Cross Buns.

I'm not much of a bread maker - The Tim has that down to an art, and bakes bread at least once a week, so that works for me.  But I have always liked hot cross buns, and in our family, they have always been something we had during Lent, rather than at Easter as many on Facebook have pointed out in such a lovely fashion.  (I mean, really, is there nothing that someone can't find to "correct" you about???)  Of course, that always meant store-bought or if we were lucky, bakery versions of hot cross buns, but that was fine.

Years ago, when we lived in Chicago, I was perusing a Prevention magazine one day at lunchtime when I had forgotten my book and was at the mercy of what freebies were around the lunchroom, and I came across a recipe.  I decided to be adventurous and give it a try, and I was beyond pleased with the results.  So that became a yearly tradition, except for years I completely forgot, or last year, when I was in my cast for a broken ankle, and standing for any length of time was uncomfortable.

Over the years, as with any recipe you make over and over, I've tweaked things a bit.  This year, I decided that rather than adding only the cinnamon and nutmeg in the recipe, I'd just put in an amount that seemed right to me.  Turns out, that was one of my best ideas ever - this batch is seriously tasty!

So Sunday morning, I gathered the ingredients, mixed things together, and put the dough in a warm place to rise.  Then I sat down and did some knitting.

Then it was time to punch down the dough, let it rest, and form it into the individual rolls, which had to rise again.  So I did that, and sat down and did some reading.

I put them in the oven to bake, washed up the mess of dishes I'd created along with breakfast dishes, took them out of the oven to cool, and then took a shower.   By then The Tim was home from work, and we caught up on our days, and had dinner.  After dinner, I did the icing, cleaned up, and he did the dishes (our deal is that one of us cooks, the other washes the dishes).  And then we watched the Olympics and I did some more knitting.

Now *that's* what I call a perfect rainy day, and a nice end to the weekend!

Here's a shot of the buns before baking.  As you can see, the recipe makes a lot.   Since they freeze well, we will have them for breakfasts during all of Lent.

And here they are, baked and iced.  Boy did our house smell good!

We were laughing, remembering a few years back when I made a batch, and then we went out for about an hour.  When we got home, Dug had helped himself to about 10 of them!  He was so pleased, we just couldn't even be upset.  And fortunately it had no bad effects on his system, if you get my drift ...  we only wish we still had that problem, I have to say.  :-(

****

I'm glad so many of you enjoyed my Knit-taalik story, and I only hope we can get a group going at work, that would be excellent.

Today at work was also really cool.  They are renovating two of the dioramas in the museum, and the glaziers were here to remove the glass (the panels are about 200 pounds each!).  It was so nerve-wracking (for us, for them it was their work), but really cool!  And then, I came back up to my desk and was able to see the restored LOVE statue go past on its way back where it belongs.  As I mentioned on Facebook, it was actually worth coming to work today.  Though unfortunately, now they expect us to do something.  Work really does cut into my day, you know?  

Joy in Mudville!!!

THEY DID IT!!!!

Every single person I passed this a.m. on my way to work was smiling.  And looked tired.  I got a grand total of 4 hours of sleep. 

I regret nothing. 

E-A-G-L-E-S!  EAGLES!!!!!!

Well I Didn't Mean to Do That!

"That" being not write a post for a week.  But last week was a bit much, with A LOT of unexpected dental work, a long time to recover, then getting ready for company this coming weekend.

The lowlights:

I had gone for my 6-month checkup and cleaning at the dentist, which is usually no big deal,* but the dentist said a crown needed to be replaced.  So I went back and when she took the old crown off, it turned out I needed a root canal.  So I went back the next day for that.  During the root canal, part of the tool broke off in my tooth root(!).  The endodontist assured me that it would not cause any problems,** and finished up with the temporary crown.  Then today, I had to go for the tooth to be prepped for the permanent crown.  Oy.

*Even so, of all the medical-type things I ever have to do, or have done, going to the dentist and getting my blood pressure taken are the two things that freak me out the most.

**When I told this to The Tim, he said, "Isn't that how superheroes happen?"

The highlights:

On Friday, my sister Mary Ellen and brother-in-law Pat, along with my niece Amanda and her husband Pat came for Bloomsday weekend.  We had a great weekend with them, laughing, catching up, going out to dinner, and exploring Philadelphia.  Fortunately, Saturday - which was the only entire day they were here - was humid but not oppressively hot (like it's been since then), so our walking-around-tour was not messed up until the very end when we started home/back to their hotels, and there was a torrential shower.  Mary Ellen and Pat have visited a few times, but have never had much time to see a lot of the city, and Amanda and Pat are always up for anything.  So we walked over to see the new plaza and the building of city hall (everyone is a history and architecture fan), then to the Reading Terminal Market, where we all had a local beer, and the two guys bought locally-made spirits ("From Farm to Glass" was the name of the place, which I thought was great).  Then we wended our way to Jeweler's Row, Independence Hall Park, and our final destination, the National Constitution Center.  With three out of the four of the group being lawyers, we thought it was a good stop.  It was wonderful (we'd never been there yet, either), and they had a special exhibit about Prohibition which was both interesting and fun.  So we covered quite a bit of ground!

The knitting:

After everyone left on Sunday, I sat down and [finally] cast-on for the second of my Orange Tabby socks.  I'd finished the first one last week, and then became slightly obsessed with knitting on my Sonora Shawl.  But I want to get the pair finished, and decided casting-on would be the best way to actually get that accomplished ...

Of course, I have no pictures to show you, at least not at the moment, from this past week.  Instead, I hope you enjoy this picture from our trip to Acadia National Park and Forest last September.  Looking at it, I can remember not only how great that trip was, but also how the weather was neither hot nor humid.  Win-win for me.  :-)