Sleigh Bell Fair and Art & Frame Restoration

Saturday, the Sleigh Bell Fair was fun! I got there at 7:30 a.m. to be sure to be there when the doors opened at 8 a.m. I was a cashier in the Crafty Ladies' Room. Consequently, my pictures are only of that room. There were a LOT of baked goods, used clothing and raffle tickets for sale. There were books for sale and a white elephant room.

I cannot take credit for any of these wonderful crafts.  And they all sold!

The blue pillow on the bottom had sparkles too!

Gaye did all of the painting on glass, these are Ann's famous church babies (and cats).

One of Ann's turtles. One year she made bigger ones that you could use as a pillow and they sold like hot cakes.  This little buy sold quickly.

These are my favorite little sheepies! They sold as a family, and they also sold very quickly.

I love grapes! I didn't buy a vase because where would I put it? 

Ann's gorgeous hats and scarves. They were sooo soft!

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After the Fair, I motored off to Emily's house in Worcester. If you need nail wraps or nail polish, she's selling it.  We had a great supper with Deb, Emily, and Emily's friend, Wendy, at Wicked Wings in Worcester. They were wicked good.

After supper Em and I watched Netflix and I got to bond with the cats. Mirable dictu! Lola sat in my lap (usually she hides). Jackson was on my lap too. You guessed it: two cats on the lap equals my falling asleep.

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Today, Sunday, I drove from Worcester to church and then on to Maple Farms to have a quick lunch. I got mushrooms and onions and loaded the crockpot with beef stew.

Then it was off to the Library for 1 p.m. so I could help Cyndi set up her hors d' ouevres for the unveiling.

Above are just a few of the munchies!

There was drama!

 Below is Bill Myers, rock star of the frame conservation world.

Joe Matteius, Conservator

Above, Banks of the Marne and Little Red Riding Hood (no hood, but red jacket) is below.

Below is Cyndi pleased as punch.

Some previously restored work

Some of the tools of the frame restorer's trade. 

On the whole, it was a fabulous program! I learned a lot of things that I didn't know about conservation and the newly cleaned and restored art and frames are just stunning. You can really see the difference in the "before" and "after." 

Easy Beef Stew and Low Carb Mug Cake

Lisa and I got to my house to aromatic beef stew that cooked itself!

Crockpot Beef Stew a la Tina

1.5 lbs. stew beef in chunks
1 package peeled, cut into cubes acorn squash
1 large onion, chopped
1 can (14.5 ounces) petite diced tomatoes
1 small package baby bella mushrooms, broken into large chunks
Optional (which I did not think to add): chopped celery
2 teaspoons chopped garlic (from a jar)
dried basil and parsley to taste; pepper
1/2 cup water

Starting from the top of the ingredient list, add to crockpot. End with the water and give it a bit of a stir. Set on low and if you put it on at 8 a.m., it will be ready at 5 p.m.  

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We followed the stew with an amazing recipe that I got from the internet. I'm sorry, I don't remember whose recipe it is.

Chocolate Mug Cake (Low carb, but not low calorie)

Not trusting the size of my mugs, I used a ramekin (about 5" across).
1 Tbs. ground flax
1 egg
2 Tbs. unsweetened almond milk
2 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
dash salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. liquid Stevia (I used 1/2 tsp. Splenda brown sugar)
Combine ingredients and pour cake mix into (greased) ramekin or mug.  Microwave 1 minute on high.

Chocolate Sauce

1 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbs. water
1/8 tsp. liquid Stevia (I used a heaping 1/4 tsp. of the Splenda brown sugar.

The only thing missing: whipped cream!

Lisa is not eating cream, so hers is on the bottom. To make these two desserts, we had to double the recipe above.  Yum!!

Saturday and Sunday 11-14 and 11-15-15

On Saturday at Noon I got to person a table (which you cannot see here) and sell Jones Library items. The only things that sold were the "Sammy bags" for $5 each. I sold one, count 'em, one. In two hours. So I packed it in. Roxanne had sold 5 in the morning, but I guess traffic had slowed considerably by the time I got there. 

Afterward, I zoomed to West Springfield and bought a couple of pair of slacks that I can wear to work. Then it was back home to meet Nancy at the movies.

We saw Bridge of Spies with Tom Hanks. It is a great movie! I was amazed at how much I remembered about the U2 incident with Gary Powers.  But there was a lot of that I did not know. Also, they showed the Berlin Wall being built. I remember being horrified and wondered how they could do such a thing almost overnight.

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So it's Sunday and after going to the Verizon store in Hadley, I stopped at Whole Foods.  I made shrimp scampi with winter squash.

Yes, it was as good as it looks. In fact, it's almost supper time. Hmmm...
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Last Friday I had the most wonderful surprise. The Shawl Ministry at my church had delivered a prayer shawl for me!It is purple and soft and warm and I love it! 

The prayer that comes with it ends: "May the one who receives this shawl be cradled in hope, kept in joy, graced with peace, and wrapped in love. Blessed be!"

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I would tell you more about my Verizon journey, but it makes me too mad. I have a new phone coming in the mail. The network guys want me to put in 3 more calls and "tag" them for their engineers even though a network guy heard the problem. The engineers won't examine my network hookup unless they get 4 tagged calls.

I'm gonna go make a burger.

Last Week's Crime Bake

Believe it or not, the photo below was taken at about 8 a.m. on Saturday morning -- after the meeting.

I am five faces from the right; the President (Sharon) is seven faces from the right (dark hair, dark blouse).

Below is a panel moderated by Hank Phillip Ryan in the middle in the fabulous blue jacket. On the far left is Hallie Ephron, next is Elizabeth George, then Hank.  To the right of Hank is Kathy (who writes two mysteries at a time) and Paula (an agent) (I can't remember their last names).

Saturday night's banquet was fun.  I had a great time conversing with people on my left and right. We had to leave because the music was so loud that we thought we were going deaf. That was o.k. because we continued in the bar! The food was nothing to write home about (ground beef with mashed potatoes piped on top) and the strawberry parfait was way too sweet for me to eat. But it was fun.

Guy Fawkes was the table decoration and inside the mask was a London tote bag. The winner of a quiz at the table got the prize of the decoration but we were all too busy talking and eating and didn't play. (I didn't really need a ceramic Guy Fawkes nor a tote bag.)

The Sisters in Crime New England had a Blinko game at their table. (I had never heard of it before.)  Below is a picture of what I won:

It's a good cuppa with jam and biscuits and the tea cup! There was a little cautionary note that the tea cups were tag sale finds.  Other people won a gin and tonic using a nip of gin and a tiny bottle of tonic. I thought one woman was going to collapse because she was so excited -- she LOVES a g & t!

All in all, I had a great time. I loved the panel on psychopathic protagonists and I loved hearing a lot of police procedures.  Now I know it's best to have the suspect lying face down before you cuff and frisk him. I guess the big trick is getting him to lay down!

It's Not Necessarily a Good Thing

... to be up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday. So it was my first face to face Exec. Board meeting with the Sisters in Crime New England -- at 7 a.m..  Those of you who know me, know that I am fully into REM sleep at 7 a.m. even if I have showered and dressed.

So I go to the grill at 6:33 a.m. (hard to believe, isn't it?) and it was locked tight as a drum. COFFEE!!! Luckily, the little Starbucks in the hotel was open.  How they can call a small coffee a "Tall" is beyond me.  Particularly since this is a conference (we filled the whole hotel) of wordsmiths, I would have thought they could have at least made funny names, i.e. Small Masquerading as Tall, or some such thing.

When I finally get into the private room in the grill (nice!) I plug in my Netbook (which I'm using now) and set out a sign up sheet. This activity apparently pisses off the President because everyone has a name tag (most of which I cannot see) and they will introduce themselves (which is not conducive to getting spelling correct). 

It was a productive meeting which ran a full hour.  It also ran 15 minutes after my diruetic had kicked in. I know, I know, too much sharing. But it was not pleasant to stay longer for pictures. I was, however, determined to be in the picture.  

I was on the union executive board for 7 years and they only managed to get me in one picture which has now been burned, I assume. It didn't matter how many side events or seminars I attended, I was never in the photo. I will no longer be a ghost drone.

Yesterday was great: I leisurely made my way here and had lunch at the hotel with some lovely ladies who invited me to join them. I met up with my roommate, Dusty.  I went to a discussion of 'how to revise your manuscript' by Barbara Ross. It was very informative and utilitarian. Barbara informed us that she had had a knee replaced 3 weeks ago -- but she stood the whole time.

Right now, I'm "cutting class" because I need some quiet time. We have heard the winner and runners up of the Al Blanchard Award and various notes. I just couldn't face the panel in the ball room which is too hot and too noisy for me.  I went looking for the crime scene which was supposed to open at 9 a.m. but there was nothing there at 9:30 a.m., so I guess I will just vege out with you here.

Having a roomie is not so bad. I will, however, use ear plugs tonight. And I won't drink a bottle of water before bed ... I considered a nap now, but I assume the cleaning crew is there and I can't tolerate several conversations in Spanish. I cannot even tolerate English at this point.  Is it too early to start drinking? As Dr. Phil says, 'You know the answer to that.'

The remnants of the breakfast buffet is still out, so I have had a lovely plate of melons. We got breakfast at the meeting, but it's not really comfortable for me to meet, type, and eat at the same time.

I just spent a ridiculous amount on books. The most expensive was Hank Phillipi Ryan's new book and I don't see her here -- meaning the chance of an autograph is slim. I'll have to spank her. I bought Kate Flora's (with 4 other authors) under the pseudonym of Thalia Something.  My failing memory is one of many here -- the book seller couldn't remember the price of a book that she had just looked up.  I forgot, this is a 'real' bookstore and I had to pay tax. I don't pay tax for the Library because it's a non profit.  Sigh.

It's way too difficult to upload pics from my phone, so I'll do that after I get home.  Speaking of phones, Dusty plugged in her phone in the room to charge it and it started ringing.  Earlier in the day, I called her and I got a man who said his number is not even close to what I had dialed.  I think there's some weird wifi devil here. Dusty was able to plug in her phone in the bathroom with no ill effects.

I have determined that these luncheon plates are designed to make your silverware hit the floor. The woman across from me has just lost her fork to the floor. That's two for both of us.

I think I'll go see if the crime scene is up.  I may sneak back into the ball room, but at the moment, talking heads is not my thing, Baby.

Today

"It's a beautiful fall day today," I said when I saw Marian looking at a dvd. Her face seemed to crumble.

"Are you o.k.?"

"No," she whispered and I put my arm around her as she began to sniff. 

"Come, let's go see Lisa," I said as I guided her to the Office. "I have some Kleenex." Marion had often stopped in to tell Lisa about her children, and then, her new grandchild. As it happened, Lisa was on the phone with a patron. I went quickly into Sharon's office and said, "I need you now."

Marion and her husband, Abe, walked to the Library every day no matter what the weather. I recognized Abe as the professor who had taught me about Shakespeare in my undergraduate days. They loved the Library as much as we all do and they enjoyed their daily outing, exuding happiness and contentment in their retirement.

Now Abe is gone, having died in his sleep last July. And today, Marion sobbed in my office. I was a coward and got Sharon to be with her, ostensibly to retrieve my Library keys from where I had dropped them. But the truth is, her pain and grief were so palpable that it hurt my heart to listen to her sobs. After a while, Marion was able to stop crying and said, "I can go on now."

She stopped to chat with Lisa who asked about her grandbaby and Marion visibly brightened up and stood a little straighter. We think it will be a while for Marion to remember Abe without crying. After all, they were married for 59 years and that's a long time to be a couple. It's hard to be single after that.

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The story is true but 'Marion' and 'Abe' are not their real names. 

Blackberry Musings

I savor my first luscious blackberry, tasting the rain of the end of summer in their juicy sweetness. I imagine huge fields covered with cheesecloth and the glee of a bird who sees one ripe blackberry within his reach, uncovered.

Eating blackberries is not only sensuous to my tongue, there is that niggling aprehension about THE SEED. There is always at least one seed, sometimes two, that cannot be eaten and waits quietly on my tooth for me to take it out of my mouth.  Is it the Mother Seed? I wonder thinking maybe this is the only seed that will propagate blackberries. I respect the seed, lining them up like little soldiers on my bowl.

I guess now you know why I can't eat blackberries in public!

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Halloween was last night and at the last minute, I got two cartons of cookies. There were three kinds and one cute little boy said to his even littler sister, "Do  you want ore-wee-ohs or animal cwackers?" I had dressed up in my master's robe and witch's hat with the purple boa (on the hat).  

This prompted a little girl to stage whisper to her mother, "It's a mean witch!" We all laughed as I told her I was actually a nice witch. After all, I was giving the kid cookies.

I had 59 kids (actually one was a parent and one kid came back twice). How do I know? This is what I had left out of 60 packets of cookies.

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I'm off to breakfast. More later.