Retreat to Hope Valley

~ I remember that during the first Trump presidency we compensated by binge-watching the West Wing, happily immersing ourselves in an administration that was far from perfect but at least had their priorities straight. This second presidency has been more of a challenge - but I have found an antidote - the Hallmark series When Calls the Heart. I'm about a fourth of the way through the back catalog and it's so refreshing to immerse myself in life on the Northwest Canadian frontier of the 1920s, complete with school teachers, villainous businessmen, shady railroad tycoons and, of course, courageous Mounties! Currently, Elizabeth (the school teacher) and Jack (the Mountie) are engaged but separated by his need to wrangle some bad guys farther North than Hope Valley (which was renamed in Season 1 from Coal Valley after a mine accident killed many of the town's husbands and sons). It's been interesting to follow civilization's advances back then, from fashion to technology - cars were just introduced but share the roads with stage coaches. I started watching the current stories last season and could not stay away from this season. It's amazing to me the number of actors that have passed through this series, some as main characters for a season or two and some in recurring occasional roles. It's very well done, if preachy at times but I'm willing to allow that given the gentle nature of the story. ~ The war in Iran continues as prices climb everywhere on everything. The TSA agents at airports have been working without pay for a month, resulting in massively long lines at major airports, especially this week and next as Spring breakers flood the lanes. Many stories of 4,5,6 hour waits and people missing flights. It's all crazy. Last night the Senate passed a bill to fund most of DHS, including TSa but not ICE. We'll see if the House takes it up before they attempt to fly home for their recess. (Good luck - at least one airline - Delta - has suspended their program that gave members of Congress preferential treatment so now those people ar standing in the same lines as the rest of us! ~ David's brother passed away a week ago - he fell somewhere in a parking lot and fractured 5 ribs. Hospital sent him to a rehab facility where he passed. Debbie, his ex-wife in Rochester, flew down earlier this week to do some preliminary arrangements and found the double-wide in a sorry state. She spent a couple of days just cleaning and throwing stuff out. She and Kelly, who inherited the place, will go down in June to see about maybe selling or whatever. I can't imagine Kelly wants that place. She ahs a lovely home in Rochester with a pool and hot tub and friends. David might go down for a couple of days just to grab some things he wants. All in all, a sad end. ~ My two Lupine & Laughter tops are done but still waiting on the new Pfaff to be ready to be picked up. I'm currently wrangling some scraps into usable shapes/sizes, but quickly losing interest. I need to clear them away, finishing cleaning and tidying and get back to Freddie's quilt and my other projects. ~ Third No Kings rally tomorrow. Going to Waterville as they were a kinder crowd than Augusta.

Catching Up

~ In the month or so since I last wrote, the chaotic administration moves have continued. They removed the head of ICE operations in Minneapolis and his successor claimed ICE was leaving, which, of course was a lie. They continue to harrass citizens in the twin cities area. And they made a brief foray into Maine, arresting several people and disappearing many to who knows where. Just last week they made an appearance at an office in the Lewiston-Auburn area that has been the target due to perceived financial misdealings with federal funds. I haven't seen an update on that one. ~ One positive development was the demotion of Kristi Noem as head of Homeland Security after she said in a Congressional hearing that Trump had approved her spending $2 million on an ad campaign for Homeland Security that featured her prominently. She's been reassigned to some made up post and her replacement is a Republican member of the House of Representatives, Markwayne Mullin. we'll see if he gets confirmed. ~ AND last week Trump joined forces with Isreali leader Netanyahu to attack Iran, claiming they were on the verge of creating a nuclear weapon. It all smacks of Wag the Dog as there is still little news on the Epstein front beyond a release of a few files that are highly damaging to Trump. The things alleged are truly heinous. An immediate result of the war has been a rapid soike in Gas and oil prices. David remarked just yesterday that he's glad we got fuel oil before this al went down. Gas prices were juping 10 to 20 cents per gallon overnight. And still Trump is lying to us about the economy while not landing on any one reason for this absurd war. Now there is talk of boots on the ground following an all ir war so far. Shipping is at a stand still as the Straits of Hormuz have been closed and possibly mined. Hegseth is on tv daily, hyping up the war, while it was revealed yesterday that the Pentagon has spent outrageous amounts of money on luxury foodstuffs and furniture. It jus amazes me that these people get in power and just go wild with our money. Its like a slap in the face. The amount of money being consumed by this war on a daily basis would easily fund healthcare and lower prices for all of us but they do not care. ~ Closer to home, I'm closing in on completing my mystery quilt. I've split the blocks to make 2 lap quilts which will be gifted to Linda and Melissa Turner in memory of son/brother Derrick. After listening to all the stories about his sense of humor, it occured to me this was a good idea, as the name of the pattern is Lupine and Laughter. Once I'm finished witht he tops it will be on to Freddy's quilt which I set aside before Christmas. By the time I finish that top the new Pfaff should be back from Tyler's so I can qult all three and then move on to other projects. ~ Currently taking Tai Chi but willtake a break this Spring to put energy into the yard which ahs gotten short shrift the past few years while I was busy creating to sell. I'm enjoying it and it's making me move, which is a good thing.

More sadness from Minneapolis

~ Last Saturday ICE agents in Minneapolis murdered another US citizen who was observing and filming their illegal activities. He observed the agents shove a woman to the ground, and when he leaned down to help her up and shield her from further mayhem, the agents gassed them both, took his legal fire arm and then proceeded to fire 10 TEN!!! bullets into his body. Another observer filmed the murder and has since come forward to self-identify to CNN. I cannot imagine the hell she experiences every day after witnessing that. Of course, the Trump administration spun it six ways from Sunday, saying he was a hired assassin and a radical terrorist, that he drew his gun, and all sorts of other lies. The only good to come out of this is that Trump's head of ICE, Greg Bovino, has been removed, but sadly replaced by Tom (Bagman) Homan, the "border Czar". He has vowed to reduce the amount of agents in town - we will see. In the meantime, ICE presence in Maine increased last week, although Susan Collins claimed today that ICE Barbie has promised her that their work in Maine is done. They dubbed this action here as Catch of the Day. They love to troll us with what they perceive as clever names for their programs. ~ Locally, we were walloped by a storm on Sunday night/Monday that left us with 15+" of snow. Thankfully it was a dry light fluffy snow so clean up was not as onerous - but it went on far too long. We had finished the front 2/3 of the drive and took a nap break. While we were napping, neighbor farmer Bob Campbell finished the job for us and even came back Tuesday morning to deal with the 3" we gained overnight. And he did a better job than any of the guys we've paid the entire time we've lived here!!! Neighbors helping neighbors - one of the things I love about this town. Now to figure out a way to thank him. ~ I'm on the home stretch of the mystery quilt I've been working on since Christmas. Just 10 more blocks of one kind to finish and 25 of another and I can start assembling it. It will go to be professionally quilted , then I'll bind and likely gift it to Linda Turner to help her heal from the loss of her son, Derrick, who committed suicide 2 weeks ago. There's a celebration of his life a week from Sunday at the Belgrade Community Center.

What Is This Country Coming To?

~ After last week's horrific killing of a woman by ICE in Minneapolis, the rhetoric coming from the Trump Administration has become increasingly terrifying. More gas lighting, more shockingly violent false claims, the President yelling at an autoworker in a Ford plant in Detroit then flipping him the bird (How presidential?!) And the increased insistence that the US will take possession of Greenland one way or another. The EU has been moving forces to that island in preparation for a possible armed conflict. I believe we would not "need" Greenland as the president claims if we weren't acting like a global bully by taking control of Venezuela while capturing and removing their president. Yes, he was an illigitimate president but don't act as if that's why we went in there with guns blazing. You just wanted the oil - oil that it turns out none of the US companies want. They don't want to invest the multi millions of dollars it will take to get the infrastructure back in working order and they don't want the "dirty" oil that Venezuela has been selling for years since we have plenty of cleaner oil right now. Whoever came up with this plan did not do their homework. Of course, the "real" reason all of this is happening is because they want to badly to make the American public forget about the Epstein files. They don't want the sitting president of the US and all his chums exposed for the bottom dwellers they have been for years There are some truly awful allegations out there by some of the victims who have been talking - extreme criminal behavior that would make the MAGA faithful turn tail and run.

New Year, New Quilting Adventure

~ After closing LeafLady Quilts at the end of my last show in November of 2025, I needed a project to keep me at my machine and distract from the increasingly shitty world we are forced to endure. I found it, even before I officially retired from selling - A mystery quilt. I had recently run across Bonnie Hunter's postings on Threads and learned she is of a like mind when it comes to the current political landscape and makes no bones about it in her personal posts. I'm certain she has lost some of her audience as a result but did she really need them? ( I had followed her on social media back in the 2010s and stopped because she was way more productive that I could be and I was feeling bad that I couldn't keep up with her.) Anyway, I am in the midst of trying to catch up on the clues for her Lupine & Laughter Mystery Quilt. It's a scrappy thing, just what I need to reduce my holdings. I'm halfway through Clue 4 and have happily managed to use some of my Deb Tucker Studio 180 tools to complete some of the clues. A new clue drops every Friday and if I'm really diligent today, I will only be 3 clues behind when that happens tomorrow. And 2 of the next clues are mostly assembly of previously constructed/cut pieces so they should be quick. I ran into a bit of a bog with the half square triagles for clue 3 and had to re-sew the seam and rip out the previous seam on avout 1/3 of them. (Still not completed yet but I have enough to keep me moving forward. It's a joy to not have to make any decisions on this save for which fabrics to use. I'm sticking fairly close to Bonnie's suggested color palate, some scrappy, some not. Not even sure what the finished size will be. I plan to have it professionaly quilted (Probably Lynn at Whippersnappers) and will likely donate it for a raffle somewhere. ~ Other than that, the tree is down, the house undecorated. The outside lights are still in place due to the snow load but today promises a break in the frigid temps so there might be a chance to grab those lights by Saturday. There has been some shovelling and baking and decluttering taking me away from the sewing machine. ~ I have several runners designated as gifts for friends in appreciation for their years of support for my little business. I need to package up the ones to be mailed and write little notes for all. Get those out of the house. And I'm collecting things for donation to GoodWill, so they will get a box ot a bag or two. We need a new vacuum cleaner. And I could use a new chair for the studio - the current one slowly sinks over the course of the day to where it is too low to be comfortable. (What did I expect for $10 at the State surplus sale?) I also need to print off forms for the 3 throw quilts I'm donating to Hopes and Dreams for thier ALS challenge. I donated several previously, a couple of Judy's UFOs that I finished and one of my own. ~ Tai Chi starts again the last week of the month. ~ We had a nice dinneer out on Christmas Day at Otto's on the River in downtown Augusta. I finally got the prime rib I'd been wanting for months.

The Holidays are here...

...so why don't we feel very festive? Oh, maybe because we have a 79 year old toddler in charge of our country, who every day creates more chaos we have to process. Not one segment of our lives is safe from his meddling. We wake up wondering what fresh hell he will create today and go to bed exhausted by dealing with it. I'm firmly on the side of those who have the champagne on ice, ready for when the big announcement is made that he has finally expired. It seems as if he is being propped up by some miracle of modern medicine due to the severe bruising on one of his hands. It appears as if he nods off during cabinet meetings and other public events. He's always pictured sitting behind his desk in the oval office while everyone else stands behind and beside him. He rambles and rants incoherently when he speaks. Every public event is an opportunity for him to expound on why the Dems are to blame for everything. He's a true embarrassment to our country. This week he further cemented his grip on the title of Worst Human Being on Earth by opining that two of Hollywood's brightest and most creative people were murdered because of their political views - not because of an apparent dispute with a family member who took revenge too far. RIP Rob Reiner and his wife Michele. I was reminded just yesterday that among Rob's many fine directorial efforts is one of my favoties, The American President, which contains that amazingly relevant today speech by Michael Douglas as Andrew Sheppard. This speech was the total of Heather Cox Richardson's post for today and it hits so true. We desperately need serious people in Washington. ~ Show season is over for me, as is my run as LeafLady Quilts. The last two shows were good - Topsham was the best of the 3 years I had done that show and Scarborough was good. I just need to shut down the website and the Facebook page, make my final sales tax payment and figure out what to do with the leftover inventory, as well as all my booth setup. I've had some interest in parts but need to put it out there on Marketplace. ~ We got the tree up a week ago and the cookies are all made. Party mix on its second batch. I think I completed my shopping this morning. House is decorated. I put up the outside lights one morning at the beginning of a snowstorm that has left us with a few inches on the ground since. It's been so cold but supposed to warm up for a few days tomorrow. Now to do the cards and mail them, wrap the presents and enjoy. ~ In an effort to not lose all my quilting mojo, I decided to do a Bonnie Hunter project. I'm already 4 weeks behind schedule but will start sewing tomorrow. So far it's just creating small units - LOTS of small units. I stopped following Bonnie years ago because I just couldn't keep up with her. In the meantime, she has slowed down and it turns out she is vehemently anti-Trump. So she's back on my radar! ~ Finally made it to the Wayne Stroll last weekend. Was an enjoyable morning/afternonn with Brenda. Fun things and good lunch. We also checked out Freckle Salvage. ~ D. and I went to a concert Sunday afternoon. The Augusta Symphony Orchestra presented some holiday favorite - Nutcracker, a movie medley,Brandenberg Concertos and the Halelujah Chorus, sung by the CODA chorus. A saw Gabriella breifly but we did not stick around to reconnect after. Good music and great performances. Impressive for such a small emsemble.

Shut Down Over...?

~...for now. Likely to be revisited in January. I admit that Angus King disappointed me when he voted for the new rules which include a "promise" by the Republicans to revisit the ACA rebates in December. I can only imagine the excuses they are already cooking up why they can't do that at this time. Time will tell. At least for now, peoples' SNAP benefits are restored and we have some sort of breathing room. I have made 2 weekly donations to the Sidney Food Pantry. It's so easy to add a few things from their list to my cart. ~ Work continues on the last items for stock for the Topsham show. D. has said he'd help with set up unloading. We're doing Thanksgiving at home rather than in Topsham, as Kattie is moving back in. Her relationship/engagement fell apart (no surprise) and the fiance has decamped for his home in New York. I imagine I will hear all about it if she stops by the show and I will have to make it a point to not get trapped in my chair by her, because she can ramble on. ~ I've missed half of the Tai Chi classes this session so I need to recommit to that. It shows in that I cannot remember the routine once I get home. Must do better at that. ~ We had our first show thi week - just barely covered the ground and was gone by noon. A little more last night but nothing to worry about.