Friday October 2, 2015  THE TABLE IS FINISHED

Dear Friends, Family and all the Others who do not know me:

Pretend this is a letter to each of you.  Actually, it is an email letter to bring you up to date on what is happening around this place.  Both lots and not much.   The people who will be attending our house while we are gone will be here tomorrow so Dave and I are hitting the road.  It is good to know that I have two such capable people here to do all the things that need to be done while we are gone.  Since we have our farm boxes being delivered each Thursday we had to have people here we could depend on.

I am in the midst of prep work for packing the car.  We find it easiest to leave midday rather than early mornings.  We do not put a time factor to when we leave but we do put a time factor on how much sleep we get the night before we begin driving long distance.  We will wake up at our normal time, without an alarm, and finish the last minute packing and then hit the road.  We’ll travel until about 10:00 p.m. and finish the drive the next day.  It makes for a much easier and safer trip for us.  We probably will not leave until early afternoon.

I’m taking lots of frozen dinners and must put them in the car at the last last minute.  Everything is frozen and packed so tightly that usually most of it is still frozen 24 hours later.  It helps that the weather is cooler.  It is truly fall where we are and  Wisconsin knows its seasons. Like clockwork, the calendar said autumn had arrived and the temperature minded its P’s and Q’s and dropped considerably.  We actually already have our down comforter on the bed over our light summer quilt.  On my side of the bed I also have three additional blankets to ward off the night chill that blows its way through our open window.  Dave has one extra blanket.  In the cold of winter we have two down comforters on the bed and I have a few extra quilts piled on top.  We do close our windows when the ice starts forming but we do not heat the back zone of house where the bedrooms are.  I said all that to say this, since it is so cool now I am not concerned about the frozen entrees we are transporting.

So, life is on track for the time being.  Our daughter is not quite so fortunate. She and her husband will be delayed from leaving Florida as planned, due to a tornado that is just 80 miles away from where they live.  Originally they were not thought to be in its path but per chance that it changes direction tonight, they will need to board up their windows and batten the hatches before they leave.  They have an outdoor room that is covered with a thick canvas roofing.  Many times they have had to unlace it and take that down as well.  Lots to tie down when you live in hurricane country.

Dave and I did accomplish one of the things we hoped to accomplish with the help of our neighbor today.  We were able to bring in our table that I have been painstakingly painting.  It turned out very nice.  It is very heavy and we could not have moved it into the house without help.  And now the garage will be available for cars while we are gone.  I took a few photos of how the finished table looks in the house.  Remember, it is not a conventional dining room table, especially for a formal dining area.  But all said and done, we all agreed that it looks quite nice.  It is sort of whimsical and elegant at the same time.   I have already made a display in the well area of the table.  I’ll publish a few pics for you to see.  We set 4 of the chairs around it to see how it looked.  The seats have not yet been reupholstered but everyone that sees them has told me not to do so as the color on the seats go well with the table.  It feels good to be finished with this project before we leave and before winter sets in.

A NEW LIFE GIVEN

By Kathleen Martens

October 2, 2015

Such satisfaction is a job well done

When all the work complete.

To know the labor of love put in

Really makes it quite sweet.

Just a vision in my thought,

I figured it could be done.

But it’s always a lot more work

Than it is a lot more fun.

And to know I salvaged a piece

Destined for the garbage heap.

An old battered rusty table

That is now a treasure to keep.

Over a hundred and fifty years past

This table has lingered long.

I wonder at all the places it’s been

And to whom it may have belonged.

A new life given to something so old,

No longer discarded or rejected

It was an old tobacco table,

Which no one has suspected.

And now it will stand prim and proper

Under a chandelier the color of gold.

It’s been given a new purpose

And it no longer looks so old.

And instead of tobacco plants,

In its well are a display of books.

My very favorite one in the world,

Scroll down to take a look.

(INSERT POST PUBLISHED)  I published the photos as I promised so they would be at the bottom of this blog.  However I had to remove them as pertinent information showed on the display that I was not at liberty to to publish.  Due to that I will not have the photos where they should be.  You need to scroll up to see the ones I could publish.

I will sign off now.  Thank you for reading my letter to you.  I will miss you while I am gone.  I may or may not be writing my blog.  I’ll play it by ear as to what is happening in the moment.  We have a lot of exciting functions planned and lots of things to see and do.  I’ll try my best to write a little something, even if it is a simple poem.

Sincerely,

Your blogger friend