Still waiting!

Still waiting for my "new" Pfaff to return from it's visit to Tyler but I've been very productive with the old standby. I still have that top to layer but it will happen. Surprise snow squall this morning yeilded over 20 "incidents" on the interstate while we were on our way to my eye appointment. People drive just too darn fast especially in bad weather. Just sitting in my living room, I see cars and trucks driving way too fast - surely over the speed limit - every day. And the ones with the loud exhaust systems are the worst. But I seldom see any police presence to deter this bad behavior and I think drivers know that police are engaged elsewhere. Politics continues and the GOP is still road blocking any progress on anything. The orange man sounds more and more delusional and I really wonder how anyone can support his bid for the White House. He has been assessed 500 million dollars in fines on 2 court cases. Narcissism reigns in his world. Last week was vacation week here and every day there was a post on the Friends of Saddleback FB page about someone's skis or equipment going missing. Some were apparently honest mistakes and made right but some I fear were blatant theft. Perfect time and place. I seldom saw or heard reports like this before. I think Saddleback's new-found popularity has attracted an unwanted element. And it's not just thefts - I see posts about other undesirable behaviors - kids forcing people to ditch out and get injured, trash under the lifts, vaping everywhere. It reminds me of the tales I heard in high school of the ski trips to Greek Peak with kids off in the woods drinking. Just unsmart behavior all around.

Hello Old Friend!

I took my new (last year) Pfaff to Tyler in Portland for its yearly check up last week and yesterday pulled out my old Pfaff to do some pieceing. It was like we were never apart. Through the years I've spent so many hours at that machine, creating I don't know how many couch throws, table runners, placemats and other things to sell and gift. Someday I really need to count them up - I'll bet I'll be surprise at the totals. So far this year, I have one couch throw top and 3 runner tops finished. Some small projects are still percolationg after clearing the ironing board and I hope to get them into production this week. I also hope to get the throw layered along with the one gifted to me by my cousin Alliene several years ago. That one will be my practice piece once I get the new Pfaff back. While we were in Portland we ran a couple of other errands, visited the Osher Map Library at USM and had lunch at the Great Lost Bear. Always good food there and a good selection of beer for David. Our meager snow pack has been further reduced by a surprise rain storm this afternoon. Temps have been trending up all week and we hit 50 today. So warm and sunny. I have noticed since COVID that brick and mortar stores have reduced their inventories and no longer include all the sizes they once carried. Case in point: I used to be able to walk into the local Agway and purchase the smaller size of dry cat food. Yesterday's emergency search yeilded only the 25 lb. size and there's no way I'm buying that as it would take Divot months and months to eat through that. And we do not have the space to store a bag that size! So it was Chewey to the rescue with their fast shipping and crisis averted. A sad moment yesterday to learn via Facebook that a horse I had been following, Vallelujah, had passed away. She was still in training at Aqueduct and apparently had a heart attack and died in her sleep. Her breeder, Carolyn, had sold a partial ownerhip share to a group of Saratoga residents who started gathering ourside the fences to watch training during COVID. Carolyn's trainer stopped to talk to them and told them they needed to buy a horse so they couold attend the races, so they did a deal. Val had varied results but her big moment came in 2022 when she won an allowance during the Saratoga meet and you would have thought she had won the Derby with the celebration. Carolyn has her little sister, Mary Union Ave., in training now and she (Mary Union Ave) ran her first race today, finishing seventh. I "met" Carolyn way back during the Alex Brown racing journey with Barbaro. She bought her first horse, Ave Ravina, and sent her to Tim Woolley to train. (Ave Ravina is the dam of both Val and Mary, along with a couple of others Carolyn has bred. She was scheduled have her last foal this year and head off to retirement someplace really noice, I'm sure.)