Moving Along...

It's Primary day in neighboring New Hampshire and the GOP race is down to 2 - TFG and Nicki Haley. IF I were a Republican, I would not have any choice and would stay home...TFG would NEVER be an option and especially now that he has shown over the past weeks that he is in severre mental decline. And, of course, I don't believe the man has any soul and he certainly does not have any ethics. And Haley? Well her stand on abortion and her vow that she would pardon TFG if elected eliminates her in my book. So far, Dixville Notch has gone all in on Haley (including former Maine resident and fellow IC alum Les Otten). Stay tuned. Another storm a week or so after Christmas created even more havoc on the Maine coast - wide-spread flooding and incredible damage all along the coast. Not so much inland but no one neede this, for sure. The aforementioned throw top has been completed. Just need to layer and quilt. And I have fabric for the second one in hand and ready to start. But I'm working on some simple runners to have on hand for quilting practice. Once all those are quilted, I'll start on some wall hangings and determine if I need more placemats (probably) and go from there. D. went to Titcomb this past Sunday for the afternoon. 4 runs and finally determined he needs to ditch his boots and just rent from now on. He thinks he can get new bindings put on his existing skis but I don't think so. We'll see. Had a few social gatherings this month - with the Longfellows crew at the Weathervane in Readfield, at Portland Pie in Waterville with the Atkins crew and at the premiere of Maine Local Market at Snow Pond this past Saturday. Interesting concept - they create locally-sourced dinners/entrees you can oder ahead and pick up. Eventually they plan to have a drop-in market somewhere on the grounds there. Worth checking out I think. I don't know if they will be providing food for events at Snow Pond or for the camp this summeer. And, speaking of Snow Pond - they are going big time this summer with an outdoor concert with Melissa Ethridge and the Indigo Girls. Pricey tix plus a parking fee put it out of my reach. Onsite and off site parking - I could see me buying off site and having to drive to Augusta to be bussed back to Sidney! It will be interesting to see how it works out. But it will work out without me. Oh, and several of the ticketed areas were labelled as "Standing Room Only" which would be a non-starter for me. And finally, racing has had it's challenges the past couple of weeks - tracks from Texas to Pennsylvania and New York have cancelled due to weather issues - cold, rain, snow, ice. Eclipse Award are Thursday and I might tune in to see if Archangelo pulls off an upset. And Baffert and his owner have finally withdrawn their appeal over Medina Spirit's DQ from the Derby in 2021, making the results final. (About time and RIP Medina Spirit)

January Blahs

Christmas has come and gone. The decorations are packed away again and the only reminder of the holiday past is the bowl of cards still on the table by the door. They will move on shortly and so will I. After another successful show season I have sewing and quilting to do. I sold 2 couch throws this year so will need to concentrate on replacing them in my inventory. I already have one planned and fabric prepared - just need to start cutting and sewing. Along with those 2 I also have another throw to layer and quilt. Several years ago David spent a week or so in Wilmington, North Carolina helping the people who purchased the business he worked for here in Maine get up and running. He was looking for other things to do so I set him up with my cousin Alliene, who lives in Wilmington and he spent an afternoon/evening with she and her husband, Ben. David came home with a few presents from Alliene, one of which was a hand-pieced quilt top. She was unable to provide much as to the provenance - perhaps it was pieced by her mother (my Aunt Jane) or her grandmother (her namesake, Alliene Estabrook). We just don't know and sadly have no way to find out now. I have the backing and batting and will add it to the mix while learning to quilt on my new machine. I'm still experimenting with tensions etc. to get the right mix, which of course changes depending on the fabrics in play. I am not going on the usual January fabric acquisition binge as usual because I need to conserve funds for show applications. Since I am no longer a Board member at UMC I no longer enjoy the perk of free spaces, although I did negotiate a deal for some credit in exchange for wrangling the Facebook page. We'll see how that works out. I thought I did a decent job this past year (certainly better than previous efforts) but I know I have more to learn. Christmas Day was quiet for us - and cold as the boiler chose to leave us without heat or hot water that day. We waited until the next day to call and Dead River was here within an hour. 3+ hours and over $1000 we were back in heat although the system needs to be cleaned and serviced as that got dropped this Fall. As I write this we are in the first hours of our first snow storm since my difficult ride home from the Holiday show over a month ago. This snow, however, is powder and so light you can blow it away. We needed this but it will be gone in another drenching rain storm on Wednesday. We had one of those a week before Christmas that sent trees crashing down and ripped shingles off in some places. There were people without power for several days and I noted yesterday when I drove home on Prescott Road that there is still a missing pole and downed wires there. We experienced fierce winds and drenching rain but kept our power.