Out With a Friend

One of the best things about coming back to NJ again this fall was being able to meet up with my friend Sabra for lunch. Sabra is a weaver and a knitter and we have a lot in common so it’s always fun to catch up with things in her life.

We met at Sirtaky, a little hole in the wall Greek restaurant in Mt. Holly that serves the most amazing food. It was vegan-friendly, too, so I will definitely go back again. Our waitress was fabulous, offering us a glass of a fruit beverage she was “working on” to drink with our meal of roasted vegetables with baba ganouche.

We are still waiting for that baby to make his or her appearance!

This Week in NJ

I have been remiss in writing lately and I do apologize. We arrived back in NJ last Monday and we’ve been caught up in the little details of life ever since. On Tuesday I went with daughter Emily to her midwifery appointment and was able to meet the midwife who will be delivering Em’s baby some time in the next couple of weeks.

I’ve been sewing a lot on my “new” sewing machine lately. This was a machine that I purchased back in the late 1970s, a Husqvarna Viking 6570.

I loved this machine and on it I sewed all my children’s clothing (and many of mine,) dolls, quilts, and curtains. About 15 years ago it went to live with my sister when I purchased a new Viking but recently it came back to me. It is going to stay in Mesa, AZ as my winter machine.

So this week I sewed a Christmas stocking and a bunch of grime guards for my daughter Kristen’s cross stitch frames. Bob and I visited daughter Catherine and her crew as well.

We will be here until Emily’s baby is born (and a few days more) before heading back to Mesa. Her due date is September 30th but as we all know, babies are on their own timetable!

Macomber Looms

On Friday Bob and I drove down to York, Maine to visit Macomber Looms.

You may recall that last spring I purchased a 40” wide 8 shaft Macomber loom. Well, over the summer I sold some equipment and ordered some accessories. From Gowdey Reeds I purchased 1600 bright and shiny heddles so that I will have enough for any project. And from Macomber I ordered two new shafts to max out my loom to 10, as well as a cloth apron, handle hardware, jack pads and beater pads and a couple of reeds. I am going to be all set!
We met Eddie, the man who makes these wonderful looms and had a very nice chat with him.

Bob and I learned some things about my loom that we never would have had we done business over the Internet. He even threw in some updated hardware for the castors on the loom which had failed during the move to our little house in Mesa.

We left Maine on Saturday morning and spent the night in Willington, CT before moving on to our campground in Florida, NY. By Monday afternoon we should be back in NJ where we will be for the next few weeks.

Acadia National Park

Bob and I had a beautiful day at Acadia today. We were cutting it a little close since tomorrow we leave for Scarborough, Maine for two nights. But the weather was pretty darned near perfect. Here are some of my favorite shots of the trip.

We came upon this Golden Retriever fetching balls for his owner in one of the little ponds.

Can you make out the Corgi riding on the woman’s lap?

This is one beautiful national park, to be sure. Our trip through New England is winding down and we’ll miss this lovely region of the country, but soon we’ll be on baby-watch, waiting for the birth of grandchild #8 so there’s a lot of excitement ahead.

Moosehead Lake

On Saturday the campground hosted Trick or Treat night and the kids (and adults) turned out in droves. This is Trick or Treating, campground-style.

Weekends at this campground are noisy, smoky, and lacking in a strong enough electrical service but in a few days we will be leaving. Plus Labor Day is behind us so all is good. We always breathe a sigh of relief when summer officially ends and we have the campground to ourselves again except for fulltiming RVers who usually know how to be courteous neighbors. Note to weekend RVers: you may have come to the campground to party hard with your friends but not everyone wants to hear your loud music and barking dogs, and breathe your smoke-producing campfires.

Just a moment, now, while I step carefully off my soapbox so as not to break a hip, old fogey that I am.

Bob and I took a drive on Friday up to Moosehead Lake and the town of Greenville, Maine. This is truly God’s country, filled with lakes and mountains and relatively few people. We turned into Lily Bay State Park on a whim, just to drive around. I said to Bob, “Look, if it costs more than $5 to get in, let’s turn around because all we want to do is drive through it.” So when the ranger told us it would be $6 per person I explained we were just looking and she said, “Well, in that case if you want to pay $2 you can come in.” We’ve never had a state park ranger offer to lower the price before! So we drove around. They had a very nice boat launching area as well as a swimming beach and campground with no hookups. It looked like a very nice spot to go for a day with a family.

We drove on, keeping our peepers peeled for a moose without any luck, but the views were worth the trip.

I ran into the Greenville fabric store and bought myself new fabric. It was a lovely day.

On Saturday Bob went golfing and I sewed up a caddy for my iron, which I am tickled pink with. I plan to make another one for our Mesa home.

It opens to make a pressing surface, and the heat resistant fabric allows me to put the iron away before it is cool.

On Sunday I whipped up a thread catcher using some Disney fabric from the Walmart near Walt Disney World. I’m on a roll!

Bought

Right now I’m just enjoying the peace and quiet of an almost empty campground and low humidity with a lovely breeze. We even heard a loon the other night. How cool is that!