The weekend in NYC

I have decided to make some posts out of chronological order. I may work myself backwards, or perhaps work in random order.

First to report upon was my trip to NYC last weekend for the Pride March. As always, the march was exciting and moving, and set me to introspection and pondering the history of gay rights as I know it, from the 70s onward. Amazing progress on the one hand, still a lot more work to do on the other.

I marched with the NYC LGBT Center as is my usual. It's a fun group to march with and I had connections to the Center when I lived in NY, so it's just logical for me to join them. I had an invite to march with the City Council contingency, but since the Center has a float with peppy dance music, and the City Council is politicians marching, I passed.

Speaking of politicians... When we arrived at 7th Avenue and Christopher Street, our float proceeded to cross the intersection, but just as we marchers were to cross the road we were halted by the cops. I figured it was to let the 7th Avenue traffic pass--which they do intermittently during the march. But the traffic didn't move either. Then I noticed the mayor was in the middle of the street talking with reporters. That explains that! I managed to get up reasonably close to the action and had a very good view of Mayor DeBlasio. After a few minutes, 2 large black vans made an approach from nearby and out of one of them stepped Hillary Clinton! I couldn't believe it! Happy, happy. It made my day. I was about 4 people removed from her. She walked a few blocks with the mayor, shaking the hands of onlookers, then got back in the van and they were gone.

It was beautiful weather last Sunday, the roaring crowds rose to the occasion and showered us with many decibels of cheer. Tremendous fun. Pictures after the story.

I went to work Monday, and half the day Tuesday, leaving the office around 11:45 am to drive to my lesson. Yes, I took the car--knowing full well that my mechanic didn't sound terribly keen when I told him I was thinking of driving it down to the city a few months ago. Never mind, I wanted the flexibility since my teacher moved just north of the city last month and having the car would make getting there very convenient on my way out of the city. His new house is also readily reached by Metro North; just a 30 minute ride, I believe. I will be getting to know that Metro North line well, I am sure. "How can I be so sure?", you may ask. Because this:


That's right! I broke down. Just north of Hartford, CT on my way back home, in one of the suburbs. Sigh. Alternator died--although I did not know that was the problem when it occurred. Having just passed Hartford, the battery light and the brake light came on the dash. Troublesome, worrying. I went some miles hoping they'd go out, and lo and behold they did! Big relief. I decided then to get off the highway to get some lunch and let the car rest figuring it must have been just a glitch. Not knowing the mechanics of cars very well, I did not know what it meant when the car was sluggish to start after lunch, and I proceeded back to the highway. The lights came back on and other indicators joined them: ABS, Check Oil, etc. The speedometer started to go crazy, bouncing all around. It was intermittently sprinkling outside and when I flicked the windshield wipers, they barely crawled back and forth. I knew it was time to leave the highway again, and off I went in search of a garage. The car's condition was deteriorating quickly now and I was afraid it was going to completely malfunction. I reached a stop light with a separate lane for right turns and when I entered there the light was red. The car's idling was weak so I put it in Park to idle. That was the end of it. It was locked in Park and it would not release itself. A few moments later the engine conked out, keys stuck in the ignition. The car was dead.

Thankfully, I have AAA and they arranged a tow truck to come over. It took an hour for them to show up, so I spent some time directing traffic around my poor little car stuck at the intersection. It was almost 5 o'clock and I felt almost certain it would be difficult to find a garage at that hour, and I didn't want to spend the night in a hotel and pay some unknown mechanics to do who-knows-what for who-knows-how-much money. So I decided to have it towed home to my house. My AAA plan pays for the first 100 miles of towing and that left me to pay for 77 miles at the AAA price. It could have been worse. I think I felt worse for the tow truck driver who had to drive me 3 hours home and then 3 hours back! I tipped him well, and we shared some delightful conversation.

I've always wanted to know what it would be like to break down away from home. Now I know. Life is to be filled with experiences, and now I have a new story to tell. :) It was heartening to see more than a handful of people stop their cars and ask if I was OK at that intersection. Boosts one's faith in humanity.

Next morning I had to call a local towing company to piggy back my sick little car to the mechanic's (this one not covered by AAA, drat!), but it was all fixed by late afternoon. Just needed the alternator replaced. Apparently, I had been driving some distance on battery power alone and when it conked out was when the battery was finally drained of all!

Another adventure.

Pictures from the Pride March (Yes, a few of the pictures are a little cheeky, but I couldn't resist them! :) ):

State of the blog address ...

It's been quiet, but not forgotten. Will be writing some catch-up posts after the weekend during which I'll be in NYC for the pride march on Sunday.

Some knit items have been finished, the gardens have been interesting this year, the deck on my house has been built (yes!), some new quilts in the works, lots of new music, bear sightings, bird sightings. Stay tuned, some time next week I'll be posting.

All done!

Zick-Zack is finished, and I was able to wear it at least once this season. It remains to be seen whether weather will give me another opportunity before next fall. Yet, I was very happy to wear it to rehearsal this Wednesday and need I say, it's my favorite at the moment. Visually exciting, a riot of color, what more could one want?



(Excuse the photo quality... trying to be my own model... :))

Crafting my floors

The kitchen and 1st floor bathroom tile that I inherited wasn't really my cup of tea. It was nice enough, but the color was somewhat drab--although I have to say it hides dirt well! :) I looked into the cost of laying down a new lino floor when I first got here and it was prohibitive (and a lot more than I expected!). I cannot make it a top priority, ditto new cabinets and counter, although I admit to being quite fond of the current cabinets. They are solid and functional and they've been here a while, I like that. No hurry to replace them. The counter top? Well, yes, it would be nice to have something new. This one is showing some age. Still, it's bright and not unreasonably worn. But... a renovation/remodel is not in the works. Not for some time.

A make-over, on the other hand... well that's what's occupied much of my time these past few weeks. It began when I decided to lighten up the cabinets from their darker palette. I chose 2 different whites and it makes a world of difference. The kitchen now appears much brighter and lighter than before.

Working on the cabinets put me in a mood for makeovers and I started to browse the WWW for ideas. I went in direct search of info on painting over tiles--there's a lot out there. I pretty much knew I wanted to do checkerboard in large squares (larger than the 12" tiles in the house) and I wanted natural colors. I chose a tan that is similar to terracotta and a red that is similar to brick. Sherwin-Williams low VOC, latex floor paint, a gallon of each was more than enough. Today I put the final 2 coats (3 in all) of clear polyurethane over the paint job and it looks nice. I used "Vermont Natural Coatings", a water-based clear satin finish with lower than average VOC. It's a very nice product.

For the bathroom floor, which was done in the same tiles as the kitchen, I chose 2 tones of bluish grey and some gold stencil paint. Tomorrow I will put the final coat of clear finish over that.

I found a very pretty farmhouse-looking table and ladder-back chairs this afternoon at a local repurpose shop and they will replace my current kitchen table. I'll have to let the floors cure for another week, but by this time next week, my kitchen should be looking well spruced up! :)

This is what the original tiles looked like: (clicken to enlargen, of course)


This is what the new "tiles" look like, with a view of the new paint job on the cabinets:


Here's a better view of some of the cabinets (and I put knobs on them, they didn't have any before):


And this is my new bathroom floor:


In all these pictures, the clear poly finish was not yet applied.

Zick-Zack progress

Almost there! I think another 8" or so will do it. This is being knit on size 3 needles so it takes a while. Must say I've been enjoying it thoroughly, such an easy pattern not requiring tremendous amounts of focus. And tons of color--my favorite! I think the results are pretty spectacular. I've utilized more than the 2 colorways called for by the pattern, going with 4 or 5 different variations. I love the variety.

1878 and all that ...

I wanted to hold this post until I re-made a video of my new sewing machine, but since I'm not getting around to that task, I'll post the original, very short video I made.

What is this new Machine, you ask? It's a Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine #8 from 1878. I got it for a steal after waiting several months--all the while watching it's asking price fall from high to "low enough". I'm quite surprised it wasn't snatched up earlier; I've seen these disappear the same day they are posted. I drove about an hour to pick it up. It didn't make a stitch at first so one-by-one, I checked the most obvious trouble spots.

I discovered so much lint build up in the feed dogs, and it had packed in so tightly as to have practically become felt. I cleaned that all out then noticed that the dogs moved up and down but not forward to back. For that, I had to check underneath and found some mechanisms gunked up with hardened grease which was preventing free motion. Eventually, they freed themselves and now work quite fine. In the video, I had not yet quite got them working at max, so the stitches are quite small in the video. All other parts appeared to be working as they should.

Still, it would not make a stitch. Thinking perhaps the tensions were wrong, I played around with both the top and bottom tension regulators--to no avail. I checked my threading. Luckily, the machine came with 2 copies of the manual, so I conferred within to make sure I'd threaded it correctly. Indeed, I had. A few words, however, eventually dawned on me. The manual mentioned the 'grooved' needle. Hm. I wonder if this needle has a groove in it? No, it did not. Wonder of wonders, there were a scattering of old needles in the bottom of one drawer of the cabinet and I found one with said groove. That did it! After I replaced the machine's needle with the grooved one, it worked! I was pretty happy about then.

Here is a picture of the machine and cabinet the afternoon I brought them home. You'll notice that all the moving parts are visible--nothing is hidden. Perhaps you'll also notice that the head is quite small compared to later machines. It's such a beautiful and elegant piece of machinery.



Here's the little video I made which is too short, and before I had the presser foot working completely smoothly. But I hope you'll get the essense of it...



Happy, happy!

Last week I made some quick & easy, everyday reversible placemats. All the sewing except the top stitching was done on this Wheeler & Wilson---I did that on the 1940s White Rotary because I have very good control of that machine. I like these placemats for their simplicity, yet they have a charming warmth. And easy to construct of scraps--and easy-care to boot, simply throw them in the washer when needed.



Happy sewing!

The situation...

It looks, from the current vantage point, that this year may not see more than a post a month. I sincerely hope to muster at least one per thirty days. And who knows, maybe after this dry-ish spell I'll tap a flow once more. That would be my preference. Looking around at other personal blogs, I see I'm not alone in this experience, so there is that. I can guarantee a few posts this week: Progress is made on the zick-zack scarf and I'll have new pics to show about that; our spring concert is Sunday and I'll want to report on that; I have a new sewing machine and I can't wait to share that!; some quick and easy placemats and napkins in the works; spring is here?--to be discusssed.

Stay tuned. :)

In the meantime, a few pics from a recent walk...


Snow, pavement, and mud.


Old leaves, soil, melting snow. Renewal.


Upward corkscrew.


Halls Brook.