Eternities

It's been ages since I wrote the last time!  Busy.  We moved the business into this gorgeous (in comparison to the old one) building, and are truly happy here.

We hosted Thanksgiving - sorry, no photos - and were busy getting ready for that.  We had a wonderful time, we had 14 people including us.  The kids had a good time, I had white tablecloths on the table, and after dinner I got out indelible markers and let everyone lose writing and drawing on the tablecloths.  The original idea was to embroider peoples signatures, which I had envisioned was the only thing, but the kids had such a good time that I couldn't just request a signature.  You draw whatever you want!  And they did.  I was thinking of getting fabric paint and painting over the drawings, since I ended up mixing washable and indelible markers, but oh, well, another project.

I almost finished a quilt for Jackson, he requested a 'blanket' with airplanes, and I finished another doll quilt, which is going out in a package today.
We hiked, enjoyed the fall and the outdoors, and loved every minute of it.  My brother visited during this week, he had a business trip to the States, close by, and we got to see him on three of the nights - actually all of them!  It was great!

Andrew turned one, and had a stellar birthday party, where he got his quilt, the one that started it all.

He started walking, he has 8 teeth and is a hefty adorable 'baby'/toddler.  On his party he fully walked, he had had a double ear infection, and finally felt better on his birthday.
My son visited the Friday after Thanksgiving for an overnight visit with his dogs, we took him hiking to the Hawk Watch, to give the dogs some exercise before going for a 4 plus hour ride home.

Jessica and Matthew got a dog, a tiny little Yorkie, just one pound when they picked it up.  Jessica had been hounding her parents for years for a dog, but because of Jim's allergies it was a no go.  Finally Jessica's parents relented, after Jessica stalked the neighbors dogs, was waiting outside all the time to see them.  So the day after Thanksgiving Jessica's parents took the kids to the home of the puppy pretending it was a visit to a college friend, and surprised them with Zoey.

Since the dog has almost doubled in size (still the littlest dog I've ever met), and she is adorable and personable and gets so excited and happy.
What else?  Oh, we had visitors from Alabama, Michael's nephew and wife and four sons, it was fun!  We had a good time with them, and did a marathon sight seeing session on one day with them in lower Manhattan, we had to skip a second day, because Michael's car got a smashed rear window because a rock fell from the bridge it was standing under while being parked there.  But it's all good again.

Some more photos of the birthday boy, his brother Evan, and the birthday cake.  No, not home-made, home bought.
And I forgot to take pictures of my 'tacky' (as my brother declared it) Christmas tree.  Don't worry, I know he loves me!

Visitors

Forgot to mention about the visitors in my last post.  Michael's nephew and family are here this weekend from Alabama.  Busy weekend planned!  The patents went to a wedding last night, and we babysat the four boys, ages 11 to 5.  It went very well, the boys are great, the are having a blast in our neighborhood with the school and the woods so close, right out the door in fact.   They are enchanted with the practically tame deer, who are obliging and show themselves, even up close.  They brought their skate boards, and a found a place to practice.  One of the boys mentioned wanting a typewriter, and we could oblige with that, we had an old underwood, which we kept dust covered on a shelf thinking someone would want this antique piece.  Totally happy boy!

We will see what today brings.

Move, visitors and fall

We moved the business.  Granted, it's very tiny, only two of us working, but it's a business, and some other businesses depend on us, we are very specialized, an niche market, and, to be honest, I like being independent.  The building we were in we ended up in because where we were before was too big and too expensive.  So we moved in with my son-in-law, in an old, old factory which had never been modernized.  The roof leaked badly (it did in the previous building as well), it was dirty, didn't have hot water and was in a terrible neighborhood.  The only good thing about it was the affordability, and hat I met my husband there.

Anyway, the old building is ready to collapse, the owner is selling it, and it was time to move.

We found an industrial park with a vacancy that suited us, the price was right, it is only 12 miles from home, and we loved it.  It has windows!  It has a non-leaking roof!! It has heat!! And a sink with hot water!!!  And in a safe neighborhood!  All things we didn't have before.  We covered the table and the machines every night with plastic, just in case rained.  No more.  

My son-in-laws and my daughters and their children helped move, which we very much appreciated.  My co-mother-in-law cleaned, which was totally necessary, since everything coming out of the old place was covered in dirt.

Above a photo from my desk.  Beautiful, right?

I did find a picture

 Of ou finished business !   Happy worker!  Looks good, right?

And Michael and I behind the great desk he built for me, I'll have to show photos of the finished product.

In the meantime we enjoyed a beautiful fall, hiking most weekends,  I and it is so tempting to photograph every tree.

The reds are phenomenal

Love that

And from ou last hike

And I've been quilting, but didn't get it finished for Halloween

First anniversary

Well, it's been a while.  I've been busy.  With birthdays, sewing, working, just living.  I won't try to recreate the lost weeks, I'll jump right in with this weekend.  It was our first anniversary, so we are no longer newly weds. It still feels newly we'd, though, and so very special.  We spend a lot of time together, since we work and live together.  And it's so great, I've been alone such a long time, I still have trouble realizing I'm part of a couple.

As my better half would say: enough with the mushy stuff!

We went away, back to the bed and breakfast inn we went to last year, near Monticello, NY, which also happens to be close to Bethel Woods, which is the site of Woodstock in 1969.  Michael actually was there, back then, I had wanted to go, but my then husband was an MP, and it was totally out of the question that we go.... Oh, all such a long time ago.  And no, we didin't go to yhe site, we went last year, and never even bothered to visit the museum.

No, we went back to our lovely hiking spot from last year, the Neversink Gorge.  We went for a five plus mile long hike, which was lovely, except for the fog and drizzle the entire hike.  No, it was not cold at all, just humid and wet.

And we saw wildlife!  A porcupine in a tree, lots of toads, a chipmunk, and, drumroll: we startled or woke up a bear.  Really close to us, I didn't even get to see it, just heard it rustle, and run off, and Michael just saw it really close up for a couple seconds.  It scared us, and there was no chance to even grab a camera, although that was the first thing I thought of.

The mystical woods, it really did look like a fairy tale forest.

Just

Beautiful, with the fall colors

A sign forest we came across after supper

Home today.  To a rainy day with tornado warnings, but luckily we only had rain.

Quilts and week

When we went to the Adirondacks, we stopped for one night in Windham.  We hiked for a bit in the Encarpment trail, which was fixed, the bridge over the stream restored and it looked like the trail was well used.  Anyway, in the closet in Windkam I found this quilt:

I guess I will have to take a photo of the whole thing, I'm just showing the bit I'm fixing.  It looks like a quilt... I'm guessing from the 30s or 40s.  I took the forgotten quilt home with me, and I'm fixing it.  It has some worn spots in it, the quilt experts who warn against folding quilts on the same spot are right, it wears out a quilt.  I tore apart an older pillow case to coma as close as I could to the white.  

Lovely, I'm so thrilled to have something that lovely in my hands.  And the story behind it?  No clue.  No label, nothing embroidered.  

Below is the quilt on the bed.  You can't even see the fixed areas.  

Other than that?  Just a normal work week, waking up around five, and out of the house before seven.

What do you do all day

Frau Brüllen wants to know what I do all day, the first Wednesday of the month.  And as soon as I figure out how to link, I'll show you.
My day started early, I woke up for good at 4 am.  Which is nothing new, I haven't slept until later morning in a long time.
 We had coffee in bed at five, while watching the news.  Got up at 6 or so, took a shower and wandered in the kitchen, where I made coffee to go and a thermos for work.  We left the house at 6:45, and joined everyone going east for two exits, when I remembered I forgot my phone.  Having retrieved it, back on the highway for our 27 mile trip to work.  First order of the day is to fold back the plastic covering the tables, the roof leaks when it rains, and we don't need the material to get wet.

We started right in with work, I made - sewed - operator belts, a customer ordered 50.  When done with those I drove 30 plus miles to my supplier, to pick up 300 yards of canton flannel, which need to be cut, and one side of the three sided part has to go to the printer before we can start putting it together.  The cutting is planned for tomorrow, layers of fabric are pulled on the cutting table and then cut with a fabric cutting machine.
Came back, and we had lunch.  Delicious ham salad on whole wheat bread, I love the sandwiches Michael makes!
Unloading the 6 rolls of fabric and storing them took up time after lunch.  I paid the rent for the month, we put over 50 bags Michael had made into plastic bags, counted them, and put 100 of those plus the operator belts in the car, covered the tables, and on the way home made the delivery.
 Then home, and I didn't realize how concentrated I worked all day until I walked into the house.  We relaxed for a bit, then I played with the Christmas quilt I'm making for Jessica.  Tv in between, Michael made dinner, delicious again, I cleaned the kitchen, and I'm finishing this post now.  Then shower, and bed by 9:30.

Having the boys

Mom and dad are travelling, and we have the boys for a two nights and a whole day.  We are planning to go to the renaissance fair, since we were told the boys loved it last year.  Michael is off to buy the tickets, and the boys and I wandered down the street to check out the garage sales on our block.  The second garage sale we came to, we promptly found so much stuff, that we had to turn around and go home.  A wooden castle, an aircraft carrier, and a big game.
And they are playing happily with their new loot - ups, the fighting has started.  Oh, well, not all fun and games!

.... Later .....
We dropped the boys off at their house, chatted with Mom and Dad, and are home again.  There is a reason why grandparents aren't having babies anymore.... tired!  The Renaissance Fair was very nice, but no time to take pictures, except for a few, the crowds were large, and I had to keep an eye on the boys.
In the meantime, I'm still thinking of our week in the Adirondacks.  It was so lovely, on the last full day there we drove up to Lake Placid, about an hour and a half, and walked a bit in town, ate lunch, and then went to a gorge nearby.  We loved it, admired it, it reminded me of the gorges in Switzerland we used to visit on rainy days when it was not nice enough to go up into the mountains

 The gorge actually had a couple of glass sections - so scary!  But I did manage to step outside.

.And then we came upon the piece de resistance:  The drive - yes, I know, I am ashamed of myself, but the day was late, we got a late start, therefore no chance to walk up it - to the top of White Face Mountain,  the highest mountain in the State of NY.  Lovely, lovely view from the top into all directions.  This wonderful feeling on being on the top overlooking it all, the clean air, the quiet, it was amazing.

 There are two ravens (crows?) on top of Whiteface Mountain.  I asked about their names:

Edgar and Allen

!

 And some photos of our last day of hiking.  

Amazing.

I do want to go back some time

Home again

We got up very early ester day morning and started on our way home.  We had rented a small house, it was very comfortable and had every amenity, Internet, dishwasher, washer and dryer, in a very old house, but very updated on the inside.  Very clean, it was spotless.  Nice and large property, attached to woods, meadows, a brook and wetlands, all in the backyard.
We bought hiking maps of the area, picked out hikes by grade of difficulty, easy for us, or by recommendation.  One of the suggestions was Chimney Mountain, which Michael and I did.  Michael warned me from the very beginning: the topographical map shows it starts nice and gentle, and then it goes straight up, showing with hand motions a straight up, no, using his arms to show a straight up!
Well, he was right.  Evidently no one ever hiked in Switzerland, where they at least put some switchbacks in, but not here!  Straight up it went, nothing but up.  And up some more.  Huffing and puffing with backpacks, after all, there is no hot dog stand on the way, or at the top.  But we made it!
And it was beautiful:

Adventures in the Adirondacks

Today we went to Auger Falls in the Adirondacks. It took us a while to find it, it wasn't marked at all on the road.  So up and down the roads we went, looking for nonexistent road markers. When we did find it, we were grateful we hadn't given up, because it was beautiful, like a fairy tale forest, where you expect a gnome or two to climb out of the tree roots. And the princess to appear around the corner.

Instead we saw a family with two children, the girl maybe three, the boy five or six. They were really close to the white water rapids or waterfalls in sections, and then at one point I saw them on a slanted rock close to the water by a fast flowing section of the river.

I happened to take these photos of the family while thinking, gee they are really close to the edge...., also fooling around with the zoom on my camera.  On the lower photo you can see how far I stood away from them, you can't even tell where they are.

Anyway,

I heard a scream from some hikers close by and knew immediately that one of those kids had fallen in. Luckily the dad reacted quickly, jumped in after, and was able to pull the boy back out.
Scary! Luckily a happy ending...