To Bed

Got a lot done this weekend. I waited up until 11 on Friday night to watch Bill Mahre, then fell asleep as soon as he came on. I woke up with a start on Sat. morning around 4:30 am. The air being blown in by the fan smelled like rain. I jumped up with a start - two hay wagons were across the street loaded with hay! Every forecast I saw said rain would come later Sat. afternoon when Hanna came up the coast. Needless to say, our morning started early in a panic to get the hay unloaded. It took some doing, and we had to seperate the wet bales from the dry. I managed to get some lovely bags cut out. While looking for a certain green for a lining I needed, I found some marvelous fabric with big patterns for jumbo bags. What a find. The mega-bags will do well at the wool shows coming up. Unfortunately, my wonderful little Singer, purchased for all of $75 last summer, has given up on me. What a time for my machine to break. I will take my broken Janome to a new guy in Norwich and beg him to fix it this week. I'm hard on machines. I'm the only one I know who ran a Janome into the ground in two years - they are practically indestructible. Matt said he would look at the Singer, hopefully it just needs oil. I took the bobbin casing apart tonight and got a lot of crud out. I made unscented soap last night - yes, unscented. There are people who want it, and I shouldn't complain. Soap is so costly to make but without essential oils it's a little easier to manage. AJ called today from St. Vladimir's Monastery in Yonkers where he is going to seminary for three years. He is very happy there and says the seminary students are very friendly, yet serious and intellectual. He believes the Orthodox Church is the real Christian church, before it was changed by the "Romans," then others. They are very big on the Saints and have lots of rituals. I told him he was trying to go back to his Jewish roots, as the Orthodox Church was an extension of Judaism when it was first formed. He says there may be something to that. AJ will continue his National Guard activities while at seminary and become a full time Army chaplain when he finishes. Back to work tomorrow. Gretchen will have the coffee and bread machine going, making it much easier to take.