My pile of nonfiction reading these days. Well, the pile of nonfiction that doesn't include sewing, gardening, or newspapers.

Here's my sign.

Today (the 26th) was my birthday, too. Happy birthday to you, and go embroidery! Have a random picture of my hat in progress.

For those who need cheerfulness today, here are some Malaysian small-clawed otters.

Great (or Greater, either name works) Argus at the Woodland Park Zoo yesterday. "Oh, he's a fancy boy," said the keeper cleaning the turaco's enclosure. His mate was not impressed. "She never is," said the keeper. (Video of Great Argus mating display; I don't see a way to put alt text on the video)

For the second day of #ArtAdventCalendar, have another hat. This was not my most successful silly hat, in that the duck's forrehead is too high and the duck's bill flops around, but it did succeed in its main aim, which was to make its recipient and her spouse laugh during a difficult time.

Okay, I'll play along with #ArtAdventCalendar. Here's a hat I made some years back.

We took a walk in Kubota Garden today. It's a serious candidate for loveliest park in all of Seattle, a city with many lovely parks.

Good sign, my friend. I can't march, but here's my front porch.

Post a random picture or everything else will go bad in September.

We went to the Ai Wei-Wei exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum today. I recommend it highly. The post box made me cry, though not as much as the first page of the Mueller report rendered in Lego bricks. Witness. Resist. Endure. Hope.

I got dressed up in silk and velvet and beads and wore my best mask and a cocktail hat with frivolous feathers. (Mask shown around my neck in the picture because we took it in the back yard after we got home.)

I'm not marching today; too gimpy for a march these days. Here's my flag, because it's flag day and I'm as Barbara Fritchie as anyone, along with the banner I made for pride month. It's not the current guy's flag; it's ours.

My garden has reached peak Pacific Coast iris. All of these are called Pacific Coast iris, but they are separate species. The dark purple ones are iris douglasiana; in our neighborhood, we call them stained glass iris. The yellow ones are iris innominata. The pale purple one is iris tenax.

My favorite Pacific Coast iris opened its first blossom yesterday. We generally call this flower stained glass iris, because, well, just look at it.

Post a photo you took with no context to bring some zen to the time-line.

I garden. My recent gardening pictures are of Sungold tomatoes we ate a while back, a tubfull of dirt with very recently planted winter greens, lacy phacelia blooming its head off, and the last of the summer's scarlet runner beans.

Here, have a drumming katydid. Not native to this continent, but a cute little bug nevertheless. It really, really did not want to move, but it was in the exact center of the porch. I used my powers of persuasion and a piece of paper to harry it on to a wisteria leaf.

Here is my work in progress, which has nothing to do with anything that has happened today. That is, I didn't work on it today. It's just embroidery of a lustrous copper butterfly, with black spots to be added later. La la la, I can't hear you talking about politics. Nope. Nope. Nopity nope.

World #embroidery day! Here's my ten-line June beetle in progress, along with a large picture of the source beetle. The adults are short-lived; I find their carapaces all over my garden these days.

Have some California poppies while you're inside, and get better soon. Thanks for isolating!

If you see this, post your purple art 💜 #bskyart #art #SciArt

July 14 (to my surprise) is Be Nice to Bugs Day. Repost with some of your bugs! Here's a ten-line June beetle, trying hard not to be seen and failing.

Here's a picture of blue-eyed grass.

I have a Moen shower bench, which is not in the shower. It's attached to the wall by our back door stairs, so I have a place to sit down and change from my outdoor shoes to my indoor shoes. That space is too small for a regular bench, but the fold-up shower bench works well there.

Stuff I use to make life easier while my legs don't work the way I want them to*: Asia Ascend teak shower bench. It is not cold or slippery or ugly, all of which were features of the plastic and metal bath chair I used earlier. *An undefined time period, possibly the rest of life. Who knows?

Yesterday, Joanna Russ's irises bloomed. She didn't care about plants, but she wanted her yard to be tidy. Our friend Katherine tended her garden and kept it within bounds. She transplanted these irises to my yard, and when they bloom, I remember. Damn, that woman's brain was so sharp.

That's nothing compared to the field of corn in Dublin, Ohio.

Post a tree you love

Knits turn out to be forgiving once you get over their nasty habit of stretching when you don't want them to. I made a dress for surgery recovery that was long enough to look okay with the wheelchair and that had great pockets. (Am now done with wheelchair and walker; recovery went fine.)