The New Beginning

As you might guess, I have been anxiously watching the weather, waiting for the conditions to get right so I could get out on my bike.  As spring as progressed I have found myself more and more often day dreaming about being out on my bike.  In watching the extended forecast, I have been looking forward to today, since today was predicted to be the first good day with everything falling in place; warm enough, dry enough, and not too windy.  Plus, for these first few rides, the roads need to be dry enough to be able to get around without getting all wet.  It will be a few weeks yet before the trails are melted off and dry enough to get on so, at this point, we settle for mostly dry roads.  But, as hoped, today everything came together and we got out.  

This year there was also an added element, Brombeere got a new bike.  Yes, yes, I know, she just got one last year.  But that was a new upright bike, which she liked very much; it was way better than the older bike she's been riding for the last several years.  But as things have developed, she was beginning to feel less and less comfortable on her bike, she was worried about losing her balance, tipping over, and getting hurt.  We have both had a few spills on our bikes these last few years, but we've been lucky and, for the most part, neither of us has gotten seriously hurt.  I don't count in that the time I got hit by a car, that was an exception; it wasn't my fault.  Pretty much all the little spills we've had on our bikes have been our own doing, or the result of the bike getting away from us.  Be that as it may, Brombeere was feeling less sure of herself on her bike.  That combined with some health issues that have recently surfaced that make it a little more important now that she not get seriously injured.  And so our thoughts turned to getting her a recumbent, where the chance of falling off is much less than with an upright bike.  After all, I got one last year and have really enjoyed it.

So we went back to the same shop where I got mine and took a look at what they had.  Brombeere was looking for some different things in a recumbent for her so she ended up getting one a bit different from mine.  Mine is sometimes referred to as a "tadpole" trike (with the single third wheel out back), where she wanted a more traditional trike (with the single third wheel in the front).  She tried a few they had, including one like mine, and liked this one best.  So we bought it.

It took them a couple of days to do the adjustments and add the accessories she wanted, but it was ready today so we picked it up.  We were really hoping it would be ready in time for today's good weather.

Then we dug mine out, pumped the tires back up, and got it all ready for the road, and off we went, for a season opening ride.

We kept it short, and stayed pretty much to the roads since the trails are still snow covered or very wet.  Brombeere's endurance is also still getting back up following a hospitalization she had a few months ago.  But she did better than she thought she was going to be able to do when we first started, today's ride was only slightly shorter than most of the first rides from previous years.  It was actually longer than my first ride after the run-in with the car a couple of years ago.  And it was so nice to be out, cruising around town on what promises to be the first of many rides during the upcoming season. Definitely a good time!

Whoever Dies with the Most Toys Wins!

I think I've mentioned before how Brombeere likes to sew, especially quilts.  Since before we got married she's sewn clothes, which grew into sewing lots of things for us and our kids.  I still have a shirt she made for me when we were dating.  Stuff she has sewn typically plays a large part in Christmas and other gifts for kids and grandkids, to some extent or another, depending on how much time she has.  Anyway, Since retiring she has focused mostly on sewing quilts.  A couple of years ago she replaced her old Pfaff that's she's had for a long time, mostly because it was getting hard to get it serviced.  Part of the sewing she did on her new machine was a big quilt for Moosbeere, which turned out very nicely.  And so she has done a lot of sewing.  

The place she has normally taken her machine closed a while back because the owner retired.  She found another place here in town but a few years after she switched, the city was redoing the road in front of his place and was going to take his parking lot.  Instead of arguing with them or relocating, that guy decided to just retire as well. That was the guy who had told her he wouldn't be able to continue repairing her Pfaff because he was having a hard time getting parts. That led Brombeere to start looking around for another place to take her machine.  She has a couple of friends who are also quilters, and she got talking to them about where they got their machines serviced.  That led her to a new shop in a neighboring town.  So one day when we were in the area, she decided to drop in and check them out, she liked what she saw.  A short time later we had Erdbeere's machine because it needed some service so we went this new shop.  In talking with them about repairs she came to find out that they are a Pfaff dealer and could still service her old Pfaff machine so both machines went in the shop and a short time later, Brombeere had her old Pfaff back and working and suddenly she had two working sewing machines! 

Two machines, twice as much sewing, twice as fast, right?  Well, not quite.  Brombeere has also been learning to machine quilt, which is a bit different from hand quilting, much faster, but it has its own issues.  

While the Janome is a good machine, it's for general sewing, not specifically for quilting.  It doesn't have a big "neck" and so sewing a big quilt can get challenging some times.  Sometimes Brombeere would have to do things to make the material fit in the neck, especially when she was working out in the middle of the quilt.  On a big quilt that can be pretty hard.  So she started looking around for a new machine again.  She did a lot of research online and talked to her quilting friends.  She even went to the sewing shop and tried several different machines they had in stock.  Finally she made a decision on which machine she wanted and began looking around for the best price.  She found that price online and placed her order.

A few days later her new machine arrived!  This was a happy girl that day.

It came in a big, heavy (emphasis on the word "heavy") box but we got it inside and she began unpacking it.

Then she lugged the machine downstairs to her sewing area.

It took her a while to get it all out and assembled and set up on her sewing table so she could actually sew with it.  She had to consult the directions several times, even for stuff as simple as how to thread the needle.

The first thing she sewed on was a wall hanging she's been working on for a while.  She had been working on this wall hanging but, since it is a Christmas decoration, she figured she had plenty of time to finish it and had set it aside because she wanted to work on a quilt she's been working on for Erdbeere for some time.

Then she got out a piece of cloth she had brought home from the sewing shop where she tried some machines, and did some more quilt like sewing. Then, at last, she was ready and comfortable to try it on Erdbeere's quilt.

So she moved the Janome off her table and got all set up to do some serious sewing on Erdbeere's quilt.

And sew she did. The more she sewed the more she decided she liked this new machine.  Designed for quilting, this machine is much easier to do machine quilting on; getting a third machine is going to be a happy thing. She quickly decided this was going to be much better.

Just Like Old Times

 When I was growing up my parents had a big yard, much of which was in garden and orchard.  There were several peach trees, an apricot tree, as well as an apple, a plum, and a cherry tree. There were grape vines and they grew all kinds of regular garden vegetables; tomatoes, corn, beans, onions, strawberries, and other kinds. All of this got bottled and stored and we got to enjoy it all winter.  But all that yummy goodness didn't come without a whole bunch of work at harvest time.  I have lots of memories of all us kids sitting around the kitchen table, under the careful supervision of my parents, peeling, slicing, chopping, and bottling all the bounty from our garden and orchard. Mom would be at the stove, pressure cooking all these bottles.  We learned to love the sweet sound lids popping as they sealed, ready to go in the storeroom.

Anyway, the other day Blaubeere came into a whole bunch of apples, so much so that she was more than happy to have a little help getting them all into bottles, or at least a whole lot of them into bottles.  So we planned a time and went over to spend some time socializing as well as helping with the apples.

Just like when I was a kid, most of us were gathered around the table, working on the apples in something like an assembly line.

Some of us were peeling, that was where I was assigned, which was perfectly okay with me, it was my preferred station.

Others would take the peeled apples and chop them in to smaller bits.

These were fallen apples, for one reason or another they had fallen off the tree and been picked up from the ground.  That meant that they had bruises and stuff so they weren't the prettiest apples.  But they were still fine for making applesauce after having all the bruises and spots cut off.

After they were all peeled and chopped, they went over into the kitchen to be cooked and put in the bottles.  That was Blaubeere's and Brombeere's job.

Once in the bottles they went into the big pot where they cooked the allotted time.

And lastly, they came out of the cooker and onto the counter to cool.  This is where we were able to listen to the lids pop as they cooled.

In the end, Blaubeere ended up with around 27 bottles of applesauce.  She also ended up with a couple of gallons of chopped apple pieces that she'll use for baking muffins and such.  Some mighty fine stuff comes out of Blaubeere's kitchen. And some got made into apple fruit leather. And that's in addition to all the apples that got munched on and eaten because her family really likes fresh apples.

It was a fun way to spend a few hours with Blaubeere and her family. It was a good illustration of the old adage, "Many hands make light work."  And it was a pleasant reminder of all the good times my own family spent doing the same thing when I was growing up.  All in all it was a good time.