profiles

An Icelandic knitting odyssey

/ marlainpa / 2 Comments
dscn1656

Icelandic sheep hanging out by the side of the road.

Larry and I just returned from a one week vacation to Iceland.  While we saw a lot and I took many photos, I want to start with a post about knitting.  Why, you ask?    I am an avid knitter — that was one of the draws to Iceland.   Also, it’s that time of year when the days are getting shorter and the evenings have a crispness in the air that lends itself to all things wooly.   On top of that, Rhinebeck is coming up next  month, the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival.  I am in a knitting frame of mind. Continue reading →

Advertisement

The Local Post Office: Selling Stamps and Community

/ marlainpa / Leave a comment
Salfordville Post Office, Old Skippack Pike

Salfordville Post Office, Old Skippack Pike

In January Marla described her trip to one of the small post offices near our house.   A few days ago I took a drive to visit other nearby post offices.  On my drive I took photos and talked to the post men and women to learn more about them.  I wanted to learn something about these towns and what the post offices meant to them:  it was more than just sending packages and selling stamps.  For many of these tiny dots on the map, a post office and a zip code is about identity. Continue reading →

Time Travel at Zern’s Farmers Market

/ marlainpa / Leave a comment

DSCN0071

On Friday nights and Saturdays the place to go for local food items and an assortment of other shopping pleasures is Zern’s.   This place is hard to describe.  It’s part food market, part flea market, and part craft market.  Wrap it all up into an indoor shopping experience in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania.   This iconic place has been around a long time.  As a boy in the 1960s, my husband rode his bicycle there from his home in Pottstown, about six miles .   Continue reading →

Sunday at Rhinebeck: Food, friends, and snow

/ marlainpa / 3 Comments

IMG_1782

Sunday at Rhinebeck is a calmer affair.  For one thing they don’t open the gates until 10 AM so visitors are forced to sleep in and relax before hitting the fairgrounds.  We arrived just after 10 and cruised right in.  The crowds were smaller, but still formidable.  I had a list of some places I wanted to return to that I missed the day before.  In addition we wanted to have a hot lunch before heading home, I wanted to get back to the book signing booth, and walk through one barn that I couldn’t even get close to the day before.     Continue reading →

Jill Draper’s open studio

/ marlainpa / 2 Comments
Jill Draper building

The front door of Jill Draper’s studio

On the Saturday of Rhinebeck Jill Draper had an”open studio”.   Jill Draper is the owner of Jill Draper Makes Stuff.  She is a knitter, dyer and spinner who sells yarn sourced from American sheep and spun in the U.S.  and dyed lovingly by her.   For the past several years she has shared a booth at Rhinebeck with Jennie the Potter.  As they both attract a crowd of loyal followers, sharing a booth was no longer a viable option.   Jill recently got dedicated studio space to dye and dry her yarn, so it was the perfect time for an open house.   Did I mention that Jill lives in Kingston, New York, just a hop and a skip from the fairgrounds, and close to our hotel? Continue reading →

Little Lost Creek Alpaca Farm

/ marlainpa / 2 Comments
One of the alpacas at Little Lost Creek farm

One of the alpacas at Little Lost Creek farm

We recently visited an alpaca farm in Salford, PA about five miles from our house.  I met one of the owners, Alex Frazier, at a craft fair at Pennypacker Mills.  He and his wife Sandy are the owners of the Little Lost Creek Alpaca Farm.  He told us about their upcoming open house and we decided to take a look.  By the way, it’s called Little Lost Creek because the creek so rarely has water in it that it gets “lost”.  Continue reading →

What are profiles?

/ marlainpa / Leave a comment

You may have noticed that I added another page called “Profiles”.  What are Profiles, you may ask.  This is where I will write about people I have met who have their own stories to tell. While I would like to think that I am unique in this journey I am not. I am joined by many others who have made interesting discoveries, worked to create and build new enterprises, and reached for things outside of themselves. As I try to figure what I am capable of on my search for that sweet spot where contentment and personal value meet, I will share their experiences — or “profiles”, with you.

IMG_1619

Manning the table to tell people about Pennypacker Mills at their craft fair in September 2015.