Category Archives: home

March 29, 2017 · 2:49 PM

End of March

Things are still busy and will be for the next few weeks, month, some period of time that will perhaps never let up.

The premature spring followed by the belated winter has messed with my head, but the extended daylight makes things a bit more correct again.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BR4Q_C7AXPE/

A small herd of deer has taken a fancy to the yard.

The dog absolutely does not fancy them.

He starts a new class for complicated dogs next week – fingers crossed he’ll soon learn to cope with other four-legged, or rather, all, creatures soon.

Fiber-wise, I’m still finishing up several things and resisting the temptation to start anything new.

I’ve started the garden seeds, and N has started to break up the concrete walks to nowhere in the yard.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRTMqhggeKd/

It’s sucky work, but he’s an ace with a sledgehammer and we’re saving a good chunk of money on the deconstruction.

We need a helluva lot of plants – ones not delectable to deer – but I’m happy to reduce the lawn as much as possible.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQL5d4fjmYy/

The bathroom reno is finally starting, well, scheduled.

After looking at hundreds of tiles, various solid shower wall options, and green resilient flooring, we settled in our comfort zone – all tile, tiles we’ve used before, ones that are very affordable, and fit into the vintage cottage vibe going on in the house already.

First we have a bit of an emergency with  having to replace the basement sewer line though… a rather shitty situation.

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March 12, 2017 · 11:37 AM

Van socks up and running

I finished another pair of socks, the “van socks” I thought about in 2015, started last spring, then re-started after dyeing one of the yarns, knocked out a few rows last summer, and finally set to finish up around the new year.

They sat for the last month or so just waiting for a bind-off and/or an end to the waffling I always go through nearing the end of a sock with yarn to spare – do I or don’t I increase a bit to go over the calf? But I don’t want to end mid-calf, and the amount of leftover yarn likely isn’t enough to reach the knee, so it is just a dumb loop I needlessly play.

The color of the socks isn’t really right in any of these photos – they’re mostly brown with a bit of orange, cranberry, and purple-brown.

And the walls are really yellow, but the floors aren’t, and my long johns are brown not purple, (but Rocco’s colors are almost right).

My socks look weird deflated, so I prefer to shoot them filled out, and I have no sock blockers or fake feet, so I have to make do.  And the light is weak indoors, and at the moment it’s icy outdoors, and let’s just get this done and move on to other things.

But the other thing at the moment are giant snowy ice bombs launching off the roof and slamming into the half-frozen hyacinths. It’s making Rocco equal parts scared and protective.

I can’t get a moment of free feet.

And I still can’t get the right color balance.

But they’re warm.

And done.

And the last for a bit – my sock drawer is officially full.

Edited to add:

Finally, the actual color – more muted.

And after a day, slouchy ankles too, but the ribbed part stays up, so note to self to reduce ankle stitches next time…

 

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February 15, 2017 · 1:00 AM

February follies…

Yes, I jinxed it.

After a gorgeous day in the 60s that permitted a few moments of bare vitamin D-sucking arms in the yard…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQRHN6ADwfT/

We woke up to this, and a snow day:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQTM5xBDaO_/

And snow days are not the barrel of monkeys when you don’t get paid for them, and then have to go in to work on your normal day off, and have to reschedule the electrician, and everything gets pushed back a week, and it’s not that big of a deal but yet sets your nose out of joint for a bit.

But the snow was only half of what they predicted and over halfway gone now.

I broke my commitment to finish shit first and cast on for a new project.

In my defense, it is a gift, or might be a gift…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQaXi4IgAEw/

It will either be fabulous or fugly – if the later, it should breathe its last breath in a few more rows, but each row takes me about 20 minutes.

And my wrist is acting up again – I started another spin last week too – I need to find a good balance of a bit of spinning to keep my wrist strong, but not too much, or not to rough/hard/nasty wool to exacerbate it.

This is rough/hard/nasty wool – bit’s o’shit I’ve gotten for a buck or so at the fiber festivals –  and a bit of some very lovely soft alpaca that I feel like I’m wasting, but I never had a good plan for it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKObwMthC52/

The plan for this is a bulky, uneven, rustic 2-ply yarn to be knitted up into mittens, and likely lined with an un-unravelable thrift cashmere sweater. At least that’s the plan now – I do need some mittens, but this yarn will be hell to knit up.

And does anyone need the bottom part of a Morse sewing machine case?

morse-case-bottom

It’s a pretty standard case, so it would fit most average-sized vintage machines (I had a Singer 66 in it) but it won’t necessarily match up to other Morse tops – I had this issue – and it’s in semi-rough shape, but still sturdy. It’s free to a good home, but I’d appreciate shipping reimbursement or some sort of trade. I’ve offered it on ravelry too, and will likely drop it off at the ReStore (or possibly try to sell it online) by the end of February otherwise.

(And I’ll likely find a cheap-can’t-be-passed-by machine that needs a case right after I get rid of this… but that kind of thinking has left me with 25+ years of shit to purge/sell now…)

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February 8, 2017 · 1:00 AM

What Phil* had to say

It’s a bit disorienting to be in February and have only been through an extended mud season – mud from rain, not snow (except for a tiny bit). I don’t mind a mild winter per se, but the ticks haven’t died (have I already bitched about the ticks still hanging on – on the dog – this winter?) and I’m sure the garden’s not-frozen foes are planning their evil attacks…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BP3SQFJluDs/

But there is still ample time for a blizzard or two, so I’ll shut the hell up.

Thanks to N with his speedy PVC erection skills, we’re good to go with seed starting this year – just need the electrician to add a plug, and a few more supplies.

feb-grow

The signs of spring are urging us to eat up last summer’s bounty – we’ve barely touched the frozen veg, but we’re down to just one butternut, and the last of the juicy peak of season blueberries made their way into a pie.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQHDd24jh9z/

None of my current knitting projects wrapped up by the end of January, so they’ll be finished when they are – soon, likely, for the socks, and I have to really force myself on the sweater – I need the needles from it though (to start another likely long-suffering, but less painful to knit sweater) so that might be the needed kick to the finish line.

I put the hand crank on the Singer red eye.

feb-crank

And it will hopefully be awesome – now, not so much – the machine is far more gummed up than I thought and the movement is sluggish (I think I last used it in 1999? and it’s been in and out of basements and storage units) – and I have to learn a bit more about disassembling parts and well-greasing and whatnot. “Fixing” old sewing machines for me has just been a good wipe down, oiling, and replacing a missing part or two, so it’s time I get a few more mechanical skills on that front – and at some point, I’d like to be able to restore the finish and whatnot, but maybe not – I want to use these machines, not look at them being pretty.

*as in Punxsutawney.

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February 1, 2017 · 1:00 AM

In the closet

Home improvement continues around these parts…

I called in a contractor for shits to price out the bathroom reno I’ve been having trouble with, and of course he charged in with the rallying cries of:

Gut it!

Take it down to the studs!

And I get that when a place really needs to be insulated and the plumbing and wiring needs to be replaced – to a degree – but for a very simple remodel? I shudder to think what would unnecessarily be going into the landfill, and all of the older, better built things replaced with newer crappier things. But we’ll see when the quote comes in – I am willing to pay a bit more for the convenience of showering within a day or two rather than a week – and we know our limits with some plumbing re-installation, so we’ll need at least some professional help, but without seeing the quote yet, but knowing it’s going to be at least 3 times what I budgeted, I’m gearing up for another DIY job with the help of our friendly (but not cheap) plumber instead of a crew… But we’ll see.

During this process, I went to the bathroom store the contractor uses to price out the fixtures. We’re in a weird area of big wealth, muddy farmers (some wealthy too), and semi-scrappy “artists” and ageing hippies (again, either wealthy or hand-to-mouth). In our little town at the fancier hardware store and green building center, everyone is friendly and doesn’t make assumptions based on how you look on your budget – sometimes I want the fancier, better quality higher-priced things, sometimes I want the budget line, but I want to talk about both to see which is the best option. But the bathroom store was out in the vast mcmansion acres and the salesperson pegged me as a penniless shack-dweller and rushed me through to get to the next (bejeweled) customer. This sets my teeth to grind – I want to support the local businesses and I’m willing to pay a bit more for them, but when I can get the same toilet/tub/sink/faucets at the big (blue, not orange) box for a bit less and without attitude it’s hard… but one shit salesperson isn’t the whole business, so I’m thinking too much about it.

But we’re still a few weeks out on that project.

In the meantime, I finished the wood of N’s cubby for the “cloakroom.”

closet-cloakroom

This coat closet added an endearing element to the house during our search – too many of these mid-century cape cods that we saw around here lacked any interesting nooks and crannies apart from the ubiquitous knee wall closets, but this place has a few more closets and turns than the others. Some days I’m tempted to put a little desk in there ala a  windowless cramped dickensonian accounting office or something, and occasionally the dog wanders in to consider making it his den.

It still has evidence of the original children that I didn’t have the heart to paint over.

closet-kid-graffiti

(But I did get rid of the original lime green also seen here.)

And then there are the bedroom closets that aren’t so great. One is large and was built-out with shit paneling in the ’70s or so that I painstakingly spruced up (still need a better solution for the sliding doors, but at least they’re painted nicely now) that N uses. Another is a small, but not-too-tiny size, but with a fairly narrow door that makes reaching for anything not in the middle absolutely annoying, especially before dawn. This one is mine. It is lined in thin dark plywood that should have been some sort of wallboard but wasn’t, and I should have installed some but didn’t, so I thought painting it was the best other option – a lighter color could help me see in there a bit better and the acidic wood needed to be sealed to protect my clothes.

closet-early-during

But I should have used the shellac-based primer, but I didn’t want to get gassed out, but instead got slowly gassed out by three coats of the regular stuff… And I went against my always-should-be-followed advice against cheap paint – it’s like trying to coat the walls with skim milk even after all the primer. But I wasn’t satisfied with a fresh coat of paint and the seams caulked up – the floor was still gappy in a few places at the bottom edges and the plywood didn’t reach all the way down, or evenly.

closet-trim

So I added some trim – a bit of over finishing for a closet perhaps, but it’s something I feel oddly strongly about – if something looks sloppy, then it brings down the place – it shows thoughtlessness, carelessness, and makes you wonder what other hidden things are wrong like a fancy meal made with factory farm meat…

And I’d also like to pause here for some unashamed bragging – the closet floors still have the original finish on the oak , and I managed to match it perfectly – seen in the doorway and to the left. (That BFA paid off, right?) The hard wax oil I used has been holding up well and I would use it again, but I just touched up several areas of scratches after two or so years – mostly from felt furniture pads capturing a piece of grit, and a few from the dog, but his claws seem to slightly dent it more with the finish intact rather than scratching the finish off.

closet-floor

And now I’m waiting for paint to dry so I can put on a second, maybe third coat, let it cure, and then put it all back together (and maybe have the electrician put in a light if they’ve got a bit of time left after their next job here.)

closet-almost-after

So instead of a project that should have been done and dusted in a day and a half, it will have taken nearly all of a four day weekend and some time off of my lung lifetime.

And there’s another just like it in my workroom that is next, along with trim for the pantry, and hall (kitchen equipment) closet, and linen closet, and maybe the office, but I’d have to move the filing cabinets out first to check…

(And that big Heywood Wakefield double dresser peeking in from the left still needs to be refinished as well, but it is so impossibly heavy and it would be stupid to sand and refinish it in place, right?…)

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January 18, 2017 · 12:30 PM

Some time in January

I’m on a wrap-up bender and actually might be able to stick a fork in a couple more things by the end of the month, but I don’t want to jinx it…

But I’m here to keep track of things, so you might want to hit snooze for the next few posts…

One thick sock is 90% done (still needs top ribbing, I always do that last and at the same time as the other to maximize yardage) and another is fast on the way – first socks are usually a very slow, very occasional project for me, but I get a burst of impatience after one is done – I have the opposite of second sock syndrome – second sock mania?

jan-thick-sock

And there’s still a bunch of tasks to do around the house – some tiny and doable in a day, others still make me want to weep.

jan-tiles

I thought the official bathroom re-do could wait another year or too, and while the painted floor is still just fine, the underneath is not… I’m still not 100% on tile though, originally I wanted marmoleum to keep the weight to a minimum and still think it’s an issue, but it’s got some issues too (mostly $$$) and the sink I’d been pining for isn’t made anymore, and our water stains in a dirty rainbow, so I can’t accept wanting white fixtures but not being able to fully clean them and/or willing to constantly clean them, but the beige has got to go and dark grey fixtures would be hella expensive and potentially scare off a buyer and/or my favorite toilet is white only, and I can’t figure out the shower walls, and… no other house project has been so frustrating for me…

But I finally replaced the floor in the pantry – from this godawful “vintage” vinyl:

jan-old-floor

To this contemporary godawful vinyl:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPQqiZ9j9mI/

It’s awful because it’s vinyl and I oppose vinyl in nearly every circumstance, and I wanted black-ish stuff and this is faux soiled metal of some sort – but – it was only three tiles and it’s where the recycling can and back-up water supply goes, so it doesn’t really matter except that it is no longer annoying to see that nasty old stuff. The original linoleum is still holding up, but if we’re still here coming up on another decade, it will likely need to be replaced, so we’d probably just run the flooring into the pantry too (the old linoleum was there, just gouged up beyond repair).

(I’d also like to get some lighting in said pantry, but then the floor would look annoying again.)

In the same weekend I finally got around to fixing the caulk around the kitchen sink that I should’ve done better the first time around, touching up paint, oiling the counters, and N built a nifty cubby in our cloakroom.

(That I still need to finish, but I’m waiting on the oil wax.)

I’m still in full-on cold-sheep mode again for yarn this year except for festivals and legitimate need – usually that ends up being superwash for gifts and whatnot – my superwash stash/scraps only fit in the equivalent of a shoebox at any given time – but this reflective yarn caught my eye recently and I got both some godawful nasty acrylic on the cheap, as well as filament/thread stuff that I can hold with a better yarn. N walks the dog in the dark on sidewalkless roads so they both could use some items made of it.

jan-reflective

The orange yarn also broke my buying made-in-China ban (could have sworn it said made in Turkey, which I know nothing about the conditions and regulations there, but at least it’s not China?) But the dog’s fondness of mud and brambles limits things to the very cheap and warm-washable. There are some reflective wool blends out there too, but I’m hoping the spool of filament stuff is the way to go for human wear – especially since I scored both an orange cashmere and another orange wool sweater perfect for unraveling at the thrift a few months ago…

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January 11, 2017 · 1:00 AM

Chugging along

With the help of N, the yarn bowl is now sturdy again and is occupying a place in the living room.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOx0v9LjjEa/

My goal is to get rid of the other yarn bowl on the side table so that the room only has two project receptacles in it at a time – the standing bowl and a ubiquitous African basket. But the standing bowl is shallow, and the other is deeper and holds that sweater I’ve been pissing and moaning about, so once the sweater is done, the bowl can go, right?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPAliJqjfoZ/

I’m not even sure I like the sweater any more – I love the yarn in it, but I don’t really want/need another pullover, but it’s useless now without the bottom tenth and the sleeves, and I don’t want to unravel it, so I just need to bang it out.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPAf4_Cj9MF/

Like these socks – for a minute they were never-ending, then they were done.

And just in time for a cold snap.

 

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January 2, 2017 · 10:50 AM

So this is the new year

Back to back illnesses in the last week made it seem I was handed someone else’s new years resolutions done and dusted.

Give up drinking – check.

Break caffeine addiction – check.

Lose a few pounds – check.

So my resolutions are to reverse those (the coffee was getting a bit out of hand, so I’ll keep that one more in check).

(And I wouldn’t mind keeping off the few pounds but I recently purged all of my pants that only fit well after an IBS flare-up, so I’m looking extra frumpy/saggy.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOsPTUijTqq/

I didn’t get to do my annual feat of organization/medium-sized accomplishment that I like to do this time of year, so I’m starting off the new year with a slightly bad/sad/frustrated attitude. I was going to get my wet photography supplies and photographs in a purged and condensed, possibly final, form. But in truth, I’m probably not quite ready for that, so it was going to be a big production of dragging everything out, looking at it all, then re-packing and reducing the size by one box or so. I can’t let go of real photography, but I haven’t been in a darkroom or set up my own for at least 15 years – I’m not comfortable with the environmental aspects of chemicals and water use for something other than life, and there’s also some bad mojo tied up with my job loss this past year and my failure to get into an MFA program a couple of years ago, so I’d have thought cutting the cord would be easier…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMZbsj1A8aL/

But my prints, cameras, and their accouterments are already a fairly manageable lot, tucked away in a closet, except for an enlarger and tub at the folk’s place – the only things left there after the last trip out at Thanksgiving – and for the first time in my adult life, everything I’ve ever owned is now in one place and it feels very burdensome. Luckily a few things I’m not so attached to have value – some children’s books, perhaps a doll or two, and even expired film – but my shelves of items currently up for sale/auction are growing faster than going out the door.

I’ve been at peace, even happy tinged with smugness, at my now utterly frugal life, but I’m starting to see the shabbiness in the cold [not cold enough to kill the ticks, dammit] winter light, and it’s time to replace a few things with new, but shopping brings out even more grump. (And I’m always off – I should have been looking for a wool coat in October, or August? not now when the racks are nearly bare).

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOqW_FNDa-W/

But there’s likely a psychological reason for it – I’m being confronted with the past lately, so I’m yearning for something new…?

But I’m not going to dwell on it.

My fiber projects for the new year are to finish most of what I’ve got in the works now (one pair of socks is just so almost done but always seem to need 10 more rows) and crank out a long vest and coat/cardigan and whatever else I mentioned in that recent post.

Around the house, the final reno of the bathroom is becoming more urgent due to a dubious happening with the floor, we need to set up the grow station (or commit to buying tomato and pepper plants again), and the yard has some challenges that still make me curl up into a ball. I’ve also got my own list of small tasks I wanted to complete while underemployed, but still haven’t been able to carve out – small, but messy jobs, mostly involving painting and re-flooring insides of closets.

And the biggest challenge is personal – I’m still not any closer to figuring out how to get my career back on track or reconfigured – I’m less angry now, so it might be possible to do a variation of what I was doing before, but I’m still not in a good geographical area for that (not without a nasty, expensive commute). I’ve been reading some books, but to not much use – nay, detriment really – so I need to find another approach…

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December 21, 2016 · 1:00 AM

‘Tis the season…

I’m having a moment of old computer functionality again…

This is a wrap up (mostly for my own memory notes) of things of late.

The garden is officially done – we ate baby beets and their greens for Thanksgiving and again a week or so ago.

holiday-beets

The baby carrots went down the hatches of all of us a week or so ago too.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNxcCwujZyz/

And just in time – we had a bitter cold snap last week followed by a shellacking of ice.

Our Thanksgiving on the actual day was a pleasant gluttonous one with just the two of us and a bunch of delicious Italian courses – including ravioli with squash and sage from the garden.

holiday-ravioli

Then we traveled to the family one a week later for an Eastern European version.

(I can’t remember the last time I had turkey and mash potatoes et al, and that’s just the way I like it.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNpoDvAj_N-/

Rocco has been on much better behavior in some areas – Thanksgiving happened without a single counter-surfing incident since he’s learned to sit in “his spot” just outside the kitchen when we’re in there.

(Step away, however, and anything is still up for grabs.)

holiday-rocco

We also had a little jaunt up the Hudson to see Andrew Bird in an old music hall and stayed in a great Airbnb with a view of the new and old Tappan Zee, only it was frigid, so I didn’t take advantage of the balcony…

holiday-tarrytown

I’ve been meaning to do a wrap-up of all of the works-in-progress I’ve got going on, as this time of the year I’m usually in the mood to bang out/wrap up/undo and move on, but when I go to dig them out, I end up working on them a bit because I could check them off if they’re done, but they’re never as close to being done as I think they are.

(Or I have a marathon day with a staple remover at work and my hands can’t knit for a day or two afterward.)

I have a few paper-pieced quilt-like things in the works.

One I completely forgot about:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BN5BhdnA7t6/

And I’ll likely play with it some more, but though I thought a lot about it before I started it, I’m not feeling it as much now – I’m not feeling a lot of “craft” or art now – it won’t be a viable source of second/additional income I hoped it to be, I pretty much hate what social media has done to it, and the art side of everything still burns.

The other long-term pieced piece I was working had a bit of a message – one that though still active, has passed in the popular mind – and the other issue I’ve got with hand-piecing is quilting – I really don’t want to do it by hand, but it seems somewhat wrong to machine quilt something that has hundreds of hours of hand work? Or it can be something for the wall and doesn’t need it, but I’m not making things for the wall…

I unearthed N’s quilt that I started as a housewarming gift for his/our first house nearly a decade ago and have it near the sewing station south to finally finish this winter, but I need to clean/oil/and in some cases repair, and find new parts for, all of the machines down there…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOBKVdogREI/

These socks are on their way to being wearable – just on the long cuff slog now, but I can do that without any thought and minimal looking, so they should be done soon. Another pair of socks on the needles are thick and fast, but a bit unwieldy to take for waiting room knitting, etc., so I’ll probably cast-on another pair as soon as I finish the aforementioned ones – perhaps suck it up and knit a fine-gauge pair with a maddening dark and boring yarn that I would really like to wear now, but haven’t wanted to knit.

Otherwise, there’s a sweater on the needles that is 75ish% done, but hurts my hands a bit, so it has to be slow but it’s finally cold out enough to wear it, so I’m motivated to finish, and there’s a fingering-weight cardi that I sometimes forget about and haven’t touched in a year? but I’d like to get back to soon. I’m not loving the way some of my old clothes fit these days, so I need to figure out the ideal dimensions for any new projects – definitely want things longer and with more ease, but that means more yarn and longer knitting.

And I still love working on my oh-so-soft Paris Toujours, but I feel like I need to bang out the few older things first – but this has promise to be truly grand – I want all of my shawls to be bigger, ridiculously, almost impossibly bigger these days and this might start to scratch that itch (but the amount of yarn left could be deceiving since the rows are constantly increasing).

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOKZByHDQPj/

I’ve also promised a poncho/serape sort of thing for N, as well as scarves for him and another, and why has another winter appeared without a pair of mittens out of handspun for me…?

But mostly I’m still just unraveling everything – a few old projects and dozens of thrift store sweaters – making for a sneezy cloud in the basement, much bigger muscles on my winding arm, and a pleasant non-thinking calm state of mind.

 

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November 23, 2016 · 7:30 AM

Better, not great…

I still can’t hear the term “president-elect tr…” without my bowels loosening and my chest tightening.

All of the past hostile and toxic environments I’ve been in, stalkings I’ve gone through, rictus grins through mansplaing and talkingovers, and yes, even getting my pussy grabbed in broad daylight on the way to work and when filing a police report about it being told that I could be charged since I punched the man and thus likely left a mark and he didn’t….

is all coming up GERD-like and simmering at the back of my tongue.

So fiber really isn’t on my mind.

And the wind is howling like January.

And my computer is possibly in its death throes, so I’m busy backing it all up.

sewing-4-b-flag

Here’s a less stressful time – I’m sewing 4-B flags for our sister 4-H group in Botswana – complete with tomato pin holder, yarn bows on pigtails, and my mom’s early-mid 1960s Singer sewing machine in the background, and of course, a perfect example of the absolute worst decade for eyeglasses (not to mention the mole I had surgically removed after I was sick of being called “moleface” but then became “scarface” but that was more badass and not as bad, but I regret removing it now unless it ended up taking over the whole side of my face like the kids said it was doing…). Our 4-H club was called “A Better America” and I think of it every time I hear “Make America Great Again.” And both bother me because most “Americans” aren’t actually including the whole of the Americas north and south, continent-wise, when they say it, but tr… means us, just us, just our jaggedy wide midsection of North America and only those citizens who worship him, but our 4-H club included the whole shebang and beyond, and meant that we as Americans needed to do our part to make it a little bit better for everyone. We welcomed new immigrants and citizens, helped out our poor townspeople, mentored youth, played entirely too many games of Uno with our elderly and mentally handicapped (somewhat warehoused in hindsight) neighbors in group homes, and connected with others in the world (along with the typical 4-H litany of farm animals, bake-offs, forestry projects, and camp).

 I (think, hope) I still have the letters that my 4-B penpal from Botswana, Bertha, wrote over 30 years ago, but I’ll never forget her first which she opened with: “My country is not as beautiful as you may think.”

I’m feeling that about mine too.

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