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November 9, 2013

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



October 7, 2013

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.



September 15, 2013

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.

September 4, 2013

What do you do all day

Frau BrĂ¼llen 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.

September 1, 2013

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