Friday, September 11, 2015

In Memoriam



10 comments:

  1. WHOA!!

    DEAN IS STILL FIRST!!!

    Even when nobody posts all the live long day!

    Anyone been working on the railroad?

    ;-)

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  2. So, what happened was that I got texted awake on my birthday by very pregnant DIL who was wondering about our availability to take care of Grandson, as her BP was skyrocketing, the doc wanted to see her at 11:00am, and she needed Youngest to go with her (she shouldn't drive like that anyway, and the doc might send her to the hospital). Naturally, we immediately canned our plans to go look at and hopefully purchase a Treadle sewing machine, to be there where life mattered most!!! Yet it was all good news. Her BP was up at the doc's office, but DOWN when she was sent to the hospital for a few hours of observation. Grandson was good as gold, and we had a blast playing trains with him. (I know most of the Thomas the Train trains by colour now. ;-) ) No swelling and no other issues, so DIL was sent home with instructions to take her BP LESS often. :-) So far so good!

    We were able to reschedule to see the Treadle a little later in the day. Got to have a nice lunch. Drove up near the Canadian border to see the Treadle and part way there I got a text message saying "Welcome to Canada" and letting me know that data services would cost between .99 and 2.05 per minute…! As we had no passports, we were relieved to know we were still in Vermont, USA. But the signal was bouncing off the Canadian cell tower 6 miles to our north. The woman who sold me the Treadle told us we need to take our phones to the Verizon dealer and they will remove the Canadian charges. If you live near the border they are able to block the Canadian tower for you. Good to know! I may have that looked at on Monday.

    And ohhhh, I got the most beautiful Treadle I have ever seen, in mint condition and with accessories! It definitely works, too…makes beautiful stitches! My research tells me it is worth over $1000 and we paid just $150 for it…!! Moreover, I learned that there is a gentleman by the name of Bob Engels up in Newport who repairs Treadles. He grew up across the street from Singer in NJ, and his father and grandfather repaired Treadles all their lives.

    After that we drove into Newport and had dinner at the East Side Restaurant, so much on the shore of Lake Memphramagog (aka Lake Meantforafrog by my kids) that the deck overlooked their dock, which was open to the public. The food was fabulous and the sunset glorious!

    On the way home we stopped for ice cream cones. A very satisfying birthday!!! :-)

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  3. Glad everything worked out and that you had a good birthday!

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    Replies
    1. Thank-you, Renee! ♥
      I know you don't post often, so I'm really touched that you posted to me twice. That definitely made my birthday more special.

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  4. Lucky dog! I will always miss the Singer I learned to sew on! xox

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  5. Sounds like a great day, Listener♥

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    Replies
    1. One for the annals of family history! :-)

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  6. Very good news re DIL, listener; better safe than sorry. And that is a doozy of a sewing machine!

    I just ordered Michael Sull's "American Cursive Handwriting" book/course; at an exercise a day it will take about three months. Unfortunately I couldn't find a copy of all the capital letters, but the samples I found were very nice, and the pedagogy is proven (i.e., old fashioned). I ordered it directly from the author, presuming that he gets a bit more profit that way than through retailers. Stay tuned for updates... Received my really good quality (that will be my birthday present) fountain pen today. Very good discount ordering from Japan. Now to hit the sack--0530 comes early tomorrow.

    --Alan

    P.S.: The smoke from the forest fire in the mountains to the east has become worse. On the way home (1845-1915) I saw three borate bombers heading that way from the airport; the sun was a perfect orange ball, and when it still appeared to be three or four diameters above the horizon it was totally obscured by the smoke.

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