Cross stitch done on dark gray Aida cloth and is a rendition of the Atari 2600 version of Vanguard but with flying gray cats instead of spaceships. At the top there are 3 rows of blue stitches extending the length of the cross-stitch. Underneath are 2 smaller stacks with gradually smaller rows. The colors are darker blue, indigo, violet, magenta and red. In the center of the image is a small yellow spaceship that has fired a shot (small line of yellow). There are 3 light gray cats flying from left to right, one above the spaceship and the others are on the left and right. Underneath the cats are gradually larger colorful rows, starting as 3 peaks but gradually becoming one at the bottom. The colors starting from the top are magenta, red, light orange, dark orange, bright yellow and orange. This last row is where they all meet and become one solid line. Under that is a single row of black, a double row of red-orange, and then 10 rows of black. In the middle of this last black row on the left are 3 orange star shapes and on the right are the numbers 999. On one of the peaks on the right side is a gray block with an E in the middle.

I finished this quick and fun pattern, Vanguard Kitty from Space Nona Stitchery on Etsy, this week. I'm actually working on another cross stitch project but I have had some issues with that one so while I'm working that out, I decided to stitch up this one. I got this pattern as part of a cat-themed multipack. I only have one left to do - the others that I've completed are on my cross stitch page. Usually I have no idea what I'm going to do with my projects when I finish them but these I'm going to frame and hang up in my computer room.

More mail club mail arrived! Blue Bike and Silver Swan also sent along lovely chatty notes.

Scanned images of a sticker on the left and a postcard on the right. The sticker is an open suitcase on wheels with 2 mice at the top, one brown mouse on the right holding a chocolate chip cookie and one gray and white mouse on the left holding a purple wrapped candy. One the side in large capital letters are the words I PACKED SNACKS. Inside the suitcase are 4 rows of snacks. Top row from left has a chocolate frosted donut with sprinkes, 2 chocolate chip cookes and a green wrapped granola bar. Second row is a bag of something that looks like Cheetohs, a banana, a few seeds, a wrapped lollipop and a white frosted Pop Tart with red jelly on the inside. Third row has another wrapped item which might be a candy bar, a red and white striped box of popcorn and a sandwich. The last rown has a tall can of potato chips, an apple, a blue wrapped candy just above the apple and a bag of pretzels. The postcard is a scene in a tree with different bugs riding cars made from different types of fruit, a walnut and an acorn along the tree limbs. There are exit signs on some of the limbs, a gas station using juice boxes as the gasoline pumps and a vending machine at the top with fruit juices.

Sticker and postcard from The Blue Bike

Scanned image of a notecard and a bookmark. The notecard has blue puffy clouds outlined in soft yellow against a starry black sky. There are 2 cats and a puppy asleep in the clouds, the same soft yellow as the outlines. The bookmark is a big rig. The cab is red with black flames on the hood and what looks like a teddy bear on the front grill. The trailer is pink with a dark red border on the top with an outlined yellow swag line and blue, green or pink balls cupped in each swag. In the middle in fancy script are the words Tender Heart Trucking. Under that are 7 images. From left to right there are crossed bandaids making an X, a stylized round yellow flower with a pointed green leaf at each end, what looks like a quilt square design with a blue boc and pointed black edges, a heart with wings, a black 8 pointed star shape, a stylized flower with a blue bloom with 3 points and two oval pointed leaves underneath and another crossed bandaid making an X.

Folded notecard and bookmark from Ren-O-Graphics

Scanned image of a postcard, 3 circus tickets and 4 stickers. The postcard's background is black with stars in orange, blue, green and pink. There is a ball with light and dark purple stripes at the center bottom. On the ball is a fancy white poodle. She has a fancy pointed party hat on her head. It is red with yellow stars and a gold pom pom on top. She is balancing a yellow-green ball on her nose that has red, orange and green dots on it. There is a Snoopy sticker. He's in a pink clown costume with yellow buttons and a double horned hat, also pink with yellow stars and pom poms on the end. His shoes are maroon with yellow pom poms at the toes. There's a Woodstock sticker. He has a white ruff around his neck and is balancing a dark red ball with a yellow star on his nose. There is an 8 pointed star sticker. There is a sticker of a circus horse. It is pink with darker pink mane and tail. It has multicolored dots sprinkled on its body. It has a purple saddle with a large yellow star and a purple pointed hat with lighter purple dots and a yellow star on top. There are 3 paper circus tickets in green, yellow and red. They are printed with ADMIT ONE on the ends and either CIRCUS TICKET or silver swan CIRCUS with circus tents or a clown on them. The green and yellow tickets have a date and time on them.

Postcard, circus tickets and stickers from Silver Swan Club

Man, it has been freakin' hot here. Not the hottest we've ever been but it was regularly getting up around 110F (43C). I do have central A/C but it still made it super miserable if I had to go out anywhere. Now finally we're getting some monsoon action. Our season is from June 15-September 15 and there is talk about how serious it's going to be this year due to El Niño. Appparently we're in for possibly being hotter, drier and having more rain although that might not come until the end of the season.

Listening

Some podcasts I've listened to this week:

Reading

I finished The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi. It was fine but it kind of made me feel a way since I live in the area it was set in and water problems are real, just not how they were portrayed in the book. I did not care for the ending and there was a truly crappily written endless sex scene that I think the book probably could have just done without.

I'm currently reading We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida. There are 5 interconnected stories about people who visit a mysterious clinic where they are prescribed an actual cat for their problems. I've read the first story and I'm loving the book. It's giving me Kamogawa Food Detective vibes.

Watching

I finished up the Acorn series with Brooke Shields, You're Killing Me. It was really fun! They've set things up for a second season and I really hope it gets one.

I started the new season of Harry Wild with Jane Seymour. I used to love watching Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman back in the day. Joe Lando played Dr. Quinn's love interest, Sully. Well, this season they've added Joe Lando to the cast! It was fun seeing them together again.

Link Lagniappe

OK, that's about it for this week!

When I first started using Zonelets I had Disqus set up as a commenting system but it looked obnoxiously ugly and I ditched it. Some people are happy to not have blog interaction but I'd love to hear from you if you have any thoughts you want to share! You can respond through my guestbook or email. If you found this link on Discord or the 32-Bit Cafe Discourse, you can message me there or leave a message on my Neocities profile page.