We’re Having a Heat Wave

 The weatherman said that we have concluded the 4th warmest and the 5th driest July in recorded history for our area. I am up to date with my daily cross stitch temperature chart. Each paw represents five days, and the deep red color signifies a day with a temperature of 85+. We have had nine days so far over 90, and we are expecting more of the same this coming week which means I don’t even have to bother putting the deep red floss away. :-)

Is the heat my excuse for not posting since July 9th? Not really as I am lucky to have central air. I’d like to tell you about all the wonderful trips and marvelous adventures that I have been having, but that would be a big, fat fib. :-) 

With this heat, I haven’t done much gardening; I’ve just pulled a few weeds and tried to water the plants enough to keep things going. 

I did finish two small cross stitch pieces which I will show you in my next post, and over the last few days in a burst of quilting energy, I finished not one, but two, quilt tops. The Herring Run Quilt Guild is having a show in September and forms needed to be submitted by August 1st. In truth, one quilt only needed borders. I added a narrow inner border and a larger outer border, and I didn’t like how it looked so I had to remove them and eliminate the inner border. Now I am pleased with how it turned out. The blocks were all done on the other quilt, so it was just a matter of sewing them into rows. Fortunately, this quilt did not need borders. So, put a gold star on my forehead; that’s two quilts headed to the longarmer. Does that mean my quilting mojo has returned? Only time will tell.

(I am aware that when I changed one of the photos, the paragraph above was no longer left justified. I attempted to fix it, but it didn’t work, so if you don’t mind, rather then retyping it or losing it I will just leave it that way. Blame it on the heat.)

I’ve Been Reading . . . The only book that I am recommending this time is The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. I’m not recommending this because I think the writing style is so smooth; it’s not, but rather because the subject matter is so compelling. It is a work of historical fiction that tells the story of Belle da Costa Greene, the woman J.P. Morgan hired to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his Pierpoint Morgan Library. What adds another dimension to the story is that Belle was a Black woman who passed as white. She was the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard. Belle was a truly remarkable woman, and for that reason this book is worth reading. There is only one out of print biography of Bella da Costa Greene, and I have put my name on a number of lists in case a copy turns up. I’m hoping that since The Personal Librarian continues to be a best seller and people are fascinated by her life, the out of print biography, An Illustrated Life: Bella da Costa Greene’s Journey from Prejudice to Privilege  by historian Heidi Ardizzone might one day be reprinted. 

Yes, there are good people . . . I was driving home after Mass this morning when the traffic on Broad street was barely a crawl. Then I spotted the problem, a group of ducks was smack dab in the middle of the street. I was about to pull over to try to wrangle them safely across the road when the man ahead of me did just that. He jumped out of his car, raised his arms to stop the traffic (a few idiots had been attempting to go around the group), and proceeded to herd them out of harm’s way. They were no doubt heading to the tiny pond across from the fire station after their Sunday morning stroll.

Speaking of fowl, a large turkey was in my backyard when I took Emma out this morning. Thank goodness Emma was on a leash. Her barking didn’t faze the turkey until we started heading in its direction   whereupon it flew up into the woods.

Well, that’s it for this post. I’m going to go FFO my two cross stitch pieces this afternoon.

Stay cool and stay safe.