Abstract Lines

The latest project is progressing slowly, but several of the finished squares have provided subjects for today's challenge. I think I might change the center circle in this one, and one of the construction lines that I forgot to erase is visible on the left.

Our friend/handyman/ contractor David arrived at 8am to fix the fallen towel rack. John and I were on the right track when we gave up. It took David about five minutes and two trips to his truck in the driveway to fix it and got us off to a nice early start, so we were able to take Spike up to his meadow while most of the hill was in shadow and the temperature hadn't risen to it's ultimate high of 92F (31c).*

While I worked on the  latest. quilt I listened to The Women by Kristen Hannah about nurses in M.A.S.H. units in Vietnam. I remind myself sometimes how difficult those times were. The nation was divided over that war as it is now divided over practically everything, and for some of the same reasons. All the men we knew were in danger of being drafted for a war they did not believe in and did not want to fight. Those with means or education found ways to be exempted which meant that much of the youth of our country was decimated in the jungles because they had no other prospects or options. 

I was still in college, and John had a deferment(later rescinded)  because he worked in a 'critical industry', when we spent many weekends marching and protesting the war.  All three of our children were born before the conflict finally ended in 1975. Then, as now, the national guard was called out to quell the peaceful protests. The Nixon administration lied about the death tolls in the jungle and denied the presence of women in the hospitals who worked to patch up the wounded. I still remember getting up at 3am when we were living in Edinburgh to hear Nixon's resignation speech. 

It felt as if that war touched every part of our lives, friends died, or moved to Canada, or came back broken. In many ways it was a more terrible time. It took a long time, but I do think the demonstrations and the efforts of the administration to stop them did finally turn the tide of public opinion. 

Perhaps that's one reason I feel so helpless now that there seems to be little appetite for protest. I remember Matt telling us that he had a business trip to Vietnam and seeming a bit bewildered about his itinerary which included a visit to the Viet Cong tunnels. I realized that he was only 6 years old when the war ended. He didn't remember any of the horrors of that war. Those of us who do are getting old. Perhaps if more people remembered things would be different now.

I don't know....

*You can find out almost anything on YouTube. I just learned the quick way to convert fahrenheit to celsius, not to mention the correct spelling of both of those words....