Running hard and scared for good reasons. Truck in the shop the last two days to find out why the dashboard light are on and to get new tires. Can't get to the middle of nowhere south of Rochester with bald tires and flashing lights. There goes all my money from Colorscape but had to be done. The Ford F150 that moved all my worldly goods to this little farm in northern Appalachia and, AJ will corroborate, saved our lives in the great flood of August '96 when route 88 opened up and swallowed two truckers near here, is worn out. I need it to go another two years - we'll see. Once I pull some hay wagons home with it in the next couple of weeks it might lay down and die altogether. Hoping for the best, expecting the worst. On a good note - school is going really well. Great staff, really challenging kids but manageable. Every day is a new day. I came home today fingers crossed that the packages I need for this weekend would be on the milk room steps. Would the things I ordered on Monday have gotten to me, here in the middle of nowhere? Well, most of them did - enough for me to make a good showing at Fingerlakes. I can make more creme tonight and finish the two bags I have going. I feel pretty good considering it's been midnight every night this week that I close my eyes and up for work at 6. The roving got here from Frankenmuth - bless their hearts - and is fantastic. All those old fleeces I found in the tractor shed and brought back to life with washing and dyeing are soft and beautiful. I fretted so these last couple of weeks, worried that even with the kid mohair and angora it wouldn't be soft, and there is 50 pounds of it, but it is SO soft and wonderful. I'll never poo-poo old fleeces again. Can't wait to spin it, but not tonight. Chores, dinner, sewing and creme are on deck. Oh, that's right, my two working sewing machines are about to die. I can't lift the presser foot on one and the other is moaning and groaning, shaking and clattering. I'm really hard on machines. Please, let another wonderful old steel machine drop out of the sky! Better get going. It's dark, rainy and cool outside and the leaves are changing. It was in the thirties this morning, had to turn on the baseboard heater in the bathroom. Winter is coming on fast and everyone is predicting a hard one. People up here are used to it. At least I have good tires on the truck. Miles to go before I sleep.
Dear Maggie:
ReplyDeleteI am one of your annonymous readers. I had commented in a previous note that I was thrilled to realize that this unique blog has 5 years of entries to read. Upon reading your most recent (poignant!) entry regarding your truck and your wish for a "steel sewing machine to fall from the sky," I searched your blog for "sewing" to see if you had any further information as to what models you might need. While I didn't find any model information, I did stumble on a post in which you seem to refer to my previous note about how highly I think of your adventure and your unique documenting of it. Maggie, this writing of yours (and the life that you document) continues to amaze me .... what a wonderful American Story. I am totally in awe from what I read just in the single "sewing" search result; that you once wrote a paper on women who were taken captive by Native Americans (Indians) back in the day (....what an interesting background you have). As the movie Jerry Maguire would say "you had me at 'hello'." I loved the photos of your farm and then to have the priviledge of finding this story of yours (that I'm slowly unwinding post by post....I am a slow reader with limited time) is such a surprise and is now one of my favorite new activities. Thank you and please do post a photo of your sewing machine so I can see what you need.