Treadle

While I shopped at Goodwill for old t-shirts to change from one shape into another, Regan explored the odds and ends in the back. I was ready to go when he told me he had something he wanted me to see first. And this is what he showed me:

This White sewing machine appears to have been produced between 1911 and 1920, according to the serial number. However, I still have to call the company to double check. Obviously, this photo was taken in our house and not Goodwill, which means I bought it on the spot for the low, low price of $50. I’ve been needing another table in my work room to set my serger on and since this is a thing of both beauty and function I snapped it up.

My next task might be to see if I can get a new leather strap cut for it and see if I can get it working again. It seems to be nearly functional. However, I won’t make it a priority. For now I’ll just gaze upon it.

I love old things– that attention to detail is incredible, isn’t it?

My Beautiful Mountain Nowhere

Actually, it’s somewhere. 

It’s Park City, Utah and Regan and I are in love with it. Really. So in love.

We haven’t taken a substantial vacation together ever, really. When we were living in Virginia all of our time off was used to visit family over the holidays, and since we both had jobs that required nametags we weren’t making enough money to travel anyway. But now, thanks to Mom and Dad, we had the chance to share a great week in a really lovely condo at just about the best place on earth. 

There was no skiing and no Sundance– none of the stuff that tourists really flock to that location to experience, but there were the mountains and that was enough.

We could have traveled around Utah, but we didn’t want to stop wandering around downtown Park City, peeking into shops, taking pictures of everything, soaking in the climate, the kindness, the progressive people and the abundance of recycling bins! Regan and I shifted gears mentally while there and really want to do something with our careers that will allow us to live out there. Perhaps not Park City because of the million dollar homes, but maybe near there. 

Here are some completely raw images from the camera that almost capture the beauty we were so happy to soak up for the last week.

Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake. Regan’s got some powerful love for this place and rightly so.

View from our balcony at sunset.

*sigh*

Oh, CSA. I’m Glad to Have You

This summer Regan and I have learned what vegetables really taste like. All organic and locally grown, we get our half share delivered each Friday to the Mass Ave Wine Shoppe just down the street from where Regan works. Mixed spring greens, mustard greens, summer squash, tomatoes (yellow, green, red– both little and humongous), radishes, herbs, adorable red potatoes, etc, etc, etc. AND we still have at least 10 weeks of fresh vegetables to look forward to!

There’s a lot to love about local- little packaging, a huge variety, and delicious. It feels like we’re doing something good for the community and good for us, too. Plus, we get a newsletter from our CSA with recipes to use with our share each week. It’s been really nice having fresh new veggie recipes come to us each week. There are only so many salads or bean based dishes I can stand to eat and so finding new recipes is extra exciting.

As happy as I am with this CSA arrangement, I’m trying to not get too excited about buying local because if I do I might become obsessed with striving only to buy local. And then (because of my personality) naturally I’ll try to be impossibly good to the environment. And then I’ll become militant about not using electricity or excess water. And then we’ll begin to have poor hygiene and only use the electricity between the hours of 10 and 11 pm. And then I’ll drive Regan and myself crazy. So for now I’ll just be really happy about being part of this CSA and tend to our small garden in the backyard. That’s enough for now.