A Clothespin Break

Dateline: 14 September 2013

Today is Marlene's birthday. We had breakfast at The Gathering in Moravia, N.Y. The Gathering is a small-town diner. It's nothing special inside, but the "home cooking" is pretty good, and the price is right. But more than that, it's the kind of place where, if you've lived in these parts for four decades (as I have), or your whole life (as Marlene has), you always see folks you know when you go there. 

When we walked in a few people looked up. I nodded and smiled to a man sitting at the counter who looked familiar, then said good morning to Mr. Randolph, an older farmer who was sitting next to the door.

We met our friends-from-high-school, Ken and Mary, and had breakfast together. That was nice. When the waitress came, she wished Marlene a happy birthday. She had heard it was her birthday from our daughter-in-law who was working in the kitchen, making salads for the day.

A bit later some young folks—farm kids we know pretty well—came in for breakfast. They ended up wishing Marlene a happy birthday. One of the boys gave her a hug. That was nice too.

Then, a few minutes later, in came two of my sons and my grandson. They sat at a booth on the other side of the room. My grandson was in a high chair and we got his attention. He was all smiles and gave a wave. He's 17 months old now. Later my son brought him over and I held "Future Man" for awhile. He was glad to see me. He's quite the talker, though I don't know what he's saying.

Ken paid for breakfast. That was nice.

We talked about making cider at breakfast. It's a good apple year and Ken said he has lots of good apples on his trees. I suggested that he bring his apples to my place some weekend and we'll all make a few gallons of cider together. So that's the plan, and it ought to be a lot of fun.

Then we came home and Marlene picked tomatoes to make tomato sauce. I headed to my shop to try and clean it up and work some more on the clothespins I'm making. Now that I have decided to sell make-them-yourself clothespin kits (as explained in yesterday's blog post), I'm motivated to get this idea launched.

Besides that, yesterday I picked up another load of lumber for the 2nd production run, and my son, who put a lot of hours in on the first production run, won't be helping me now that he's going to school. I'm doing all the woodworking in a tent outside my shop. The weather is getting cold. I want to get the 2nd production run done before it gets too cold. Then I'll pack the outdoor workshop away for the winter. I need to be about my work. 

And so it is that I'll be taking a little break from blogging here. The next time you hear from me, I'll have clothespin kits ready to sell. I'm shooting for next Friday. And I'm also putting a new web site together at Classic American Clothespins.

See ya later.....

"Classic American Clothespins" in the tumbler.