Quiltunes coming at ya from the center of the heat dome! It is HOT AS HELL here in the Pacific Northwest. All time high temperatures have been recorded daily for the last few days across Cascadia. For those of us on the eastern slope of the Cascade mountains, the temps have been hovering near 110 for almost a week straight, and will top off today at 117. That number is not a typo. And for those who wonder, as I innocently did a mere two weeks ago, if there really is a difference between say 105 and 110, the answer is unequivocally yes. It is more than frightening that these scorching temperatures are happening a week into the meteorological summer, in an area utterly unaccustomed to this weather. Our forests are literally crunchy and fire danger is extreme. I worry so for all of the agricultural workers outside in this heat. We should all give a silent thanks to all of the farmworkers every time we buy produce. Climate change is THE ABSOLUTE worst and as I age, extreme events like this will be the norm for everyone, everywhere. It feels apocalyptic, dire and overwhelming.
So how I am dealing with this unprecedented heat? First, we are extremely lucky to have central AC and a finished basement. I have spent almost a week hibernating indoors with all of the curtains closed, hunkering down and barely leaving the house except to get provisions. One lesson we learned from the pandemic is how to stay home and essentially shelter in place for days at a time. Second, I am trying to make the best of the heat wave by drinking homemade cold brew coffee, cucumber water, rose wine (in the evening, except for Sunday afternoon) and eating one ingredient banana “ice cream”. (Google it up — it is amazing. The creation will definitely test the strength of your food processor motor, but the result is worth it.) The heat obliterates my appetite, so I’ve been making a yummy egg salad when I tire of raw fruits and veggies.
Third, I am taking this time to just be lazy (well, after my full time job), listen to hours of music on the couch, work on small hand sewing projects and devour books. I got my library card a few weeks ago, an act that always makes me feel like I belong to a place. In the last 10 days, I’ve read: an Elin Hilderbrand beach read, Suleika Jaoud’s “Between Two Kingdoms” a brilliant memoir of cancer and life post-treatment, the astonishing new novel from one of my most favorite authors Vendela Vida’s “We Run the Tides”, a Tony Hillerman mystery, “True Colors – World Masters of Natural Dyes and Pigments” by Keith Recker and “One Life” by Megan Rapinoe. Is it obvious that I really missed the library?
Besides having central air conditioning and lots of cold drink/food choices, we are super lucky to have a 5 disc changer on our stereo, which is perfect for lazy people who want to listen to music for hours on end while remaining horizontal. I love noncommercial radio, but I also love albums. My most recent obsessions (literally, I have listened to some of these albums at least 5 times in the span of a few weeks) are: Magnolia Beacon, George Porter Jr., Black Keys, Esther Rose and a Jimbo Mathus & Andrew Bird collaboration. Magnolia Beacon was a short lived duo comprised of two phenomenal NOLA musicians Erika Lewis and Meschiya Lake; I am positively smitten with their ethereal sound. Shoutout to BM who hooked me up AND got me hooked — you continuously rock! George Porter Jr. continues his epic funkiness and “Crying for Hope” is another gem. And what can I say about the new Black Keys album “Delta Kream” except that it is absolute, maximum badass. Music is my ultimate balm.
More tunes, and reads, than quilts this month. As for sewing, well it is too damn hot here to accomplish much on my big projects, especially anything involving an iron or large quilt sandwiches, except during the wee early morning hours. When it isn’t a thousand plus degrees (i.e. 5 a.m.), I work on this animal quilt for a cousin’s soon-to-be-born. (The center is a fabric panel I had and although the animals look like Charley Harper depictions, I do not believe this is an official Harper print.) I have spent some time dabbling in various hand work (aka needle and thread) projects since those gel nicely with being couch bound. I started to add beads to my “Wouldn’t it be Nice?” quilt because, why not? I also played with making free form spirals using perle cotton thread on an onion dyed fabric. Oh, and I mended several holes on a linen cardigan I have and wasn’t ready to cut into quilt fabric. I sincerely appreciate that mending and upcycling clothing is getting extra attention in sewing circles these days
Perhaps the weather will cool down in July? This is probably the strangest sentence I’ve ever written… Let’s hope the heat dome departs soon and doesn’t just go crush another swath of North America. Our region is scarred and scared; we are petrified and rightfully so. The next few weeks are very worrisome as the fire danger is beyond extreme — just in time for a holiday where people blow up things. I am angry that climate change is still questioned and that urgent action feels a lifetime away. I don’t want to be afraid, or pissed, but I am both. These emotions are not just hangry Jennifer living off of cold food for a week, I am legitimately mad that we let climate change get this bad and that it will continue to get worse. At some point, we have to acknowledge that it is out of control and start working toward an actual, sustainable, long-term solution. (Not promises and measly legislation with lots of loopholes, crafted, diluted, implemented and then reversed every 4 years.) There is not a person on this planet who will not be impacted by our altered climate. Gigantic sigh. Until then, thank goodness for utilities keeping the power on, the heroes who grow and harvest our food, iced coffee, library book binges, small sewing projects and music that heals.
Albums listened to: Eilen Jewell “Boundary County”; Rhiannon Giddens “Freedom Highway”; The Black Keys “Delta Kream”; The best of Charlie Patton; Brandi Carlisle “By the Way, I Forgive You”; Muddy Waters “From Mississippi to Chicago”; The Meters “Cabbage Alley”; Panorama Jazz Band “Panoramaland”; Esther Rose “How Many Times”; Jimbo Mathus & Andrew Bird “These 13”; John Coltrane “A Love Supreme”; George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners “Crying for Hope”; Dr. John “Mos’Scious”; Indigenous “Things We Do”; Tab Benoit “Medicine”; Jon Cleary “Live from Chickie WahWah”; a Magnolia Beacon album and a whole, whole lot of WWOZ New Orleans radio.
Quiltunes 