February 15

Greetings,
Well the storm hit and it was a true Nor'easter. The pictures you see are mid afternoon on Wednesday, and by this morning our cars were completely buried. No mail in two days, lots of shoveling and neighbors coming together to help each other out. My husband's birthday was yesterday, so he ventured to the mountains to ride, meeting other friend's and our older son. It was "epic". I shoveled mid afternoon to try and keep it under control...with little success. We gathered with friends to enjoy an evening of shrimp, fondue and chocolate covered fruit. My good friend, June, called this morning to say she must have dropped her cell phone while walking back to her car (thigh deep snow) guess we'll find it in the spring. I was amazed we didn't lose power, but because it was so cold, the snow wasn't wet...and shoveling it was a lot like shoveling sand.
So...a bit delayed with the correspondence, but will catch up by tomorrow. My handle order was delayed, but week by week he managed to get just enough to be me by. The order is filled now, but it took extra time picking them up...managed however to get eight bags ready for tonight.
The Cherry handles were well worth the wait, and I was delighted to see that some are spalted Cherry.

Spalted Wood

What is it?
Spalting is a by-product of the rotting process that is carried out by a vast array of stain, mold and decay fungi, that are found naturally on the forest floor. When the temperature and humidity are right, spalting can cause many different and beautiful patterns in rotting wood. The unusual colouration may be due to chemically induced reactions between the wood, fungi and insect deposits, often resulting in black, pink, grey and multicoloured streaked wood. It is decorative and can be greatly valued over the uninfected wood. Once the wood has been cut and kiln dried, the fungi can no longer grow, and the spalting process will stop. Airflow, wood moisture content above 25% and air temperature between 60 and 80 degrees F. are all necessary for spalting.

Knit on good women!
Till next time,
Martha.