Gearing Up for the Holiday Slog

I've been working steadily to build up my inventory of holiday-themed runners and placemats. I'm about 3/4 of the way there with completed goods and have 2 more sets of placemats ready to be trimmed and bound tomorrow. Fortunately I haven't had too many distrations this week so have made great progress. And I plan to have things ready to hand finish for the first show or 2 of the season. Not sure I'll have any holiday items at the Harvest show in a week as I really want to whittle down the fall on genereal inventory.

I did take yesterday off and we trekked up Route 17 through Readfield, Fayette, Jay, Dixfield, Mexico et al to Oquossoc and eventually Rangeley. The colors were muted but there were bright spots which I suspect will be long gone after this weekend's rain/wind. We cruised by the Country Club Inn which still awaits rehab by the new owners. We found out that they have rented it out to Saddleback employees the past 2 winters and will do the same this coming winter as Saddleback's employee housing will still not be ready for inhabitants this year. That information came from Margie when we caught up with her at the new Jamison outpost, the Corner Bar in Downtown Rangeley. Wonderful cozy place, good small plate food, creative cocktails and an acceptable beer list. Margie also shared her expeerience of stopping by the Inn several months after they sold in in the fall of 2021 and bemoaning the condition of the floors and the just general lack of housekeeping by the residents. Sad but she seems to have moved on, which is about all she should do. It was great to see her and enjoy Steve's culiary skills again and see Krista behind the bar. (It's a family affair!) Due to the seeming lack of interest, I suspect that this will be the last year in existence for the United Maine Craftsmen group. Which means that my move of joining SSMC this year was a good one. Hopefully I'll be able to get into more of their shows next year. And I'll definitely do Brunswick again. And the spring show at Snow Pond - hoping for more publicity with Christa's involvement. And, of course, I've been following the developments inthe Middle East which has blown up once again. And the feakin' GOP faction in the House ditched their Speaker 2 weeks ago and the front runner right now is a MAGA monster who has done nothing in Congress, inflames every meeting he is a part of with his shirt-sleeve rhetoric and has denied that he ignored sexual assault allegations whe he was an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State. The clown car that is the GOP in the House keeps going off the rails and is searching for a new driver.