The Yarn Cottage
As you pull up in front, you see this cute little garden abode with  flower boxes, rustic red barn wood siding and a quaint sign announcing The Yarn Cottage.    It’s part of The Red Brick Farm in Mayville, NY and actually used to be the milk house. Susan Newman, the proprietor, told me that she knew she loved it the moment she found it and I know why.  It is small and cozy and yet open and bright at the same time.  I remember the first time I visited.

And Still Paying For It…..
Wow - pay attention - this is your Mother speaking!  When that popping in your ears and the scratchy little cough doesn’t go away after a couple of weeks, do something about it!   I’m the queen of the, “Oh it will get better by itself” club so when the flu I had a month ago dragged on in a slightly annoying way, I ignored it.  But after a couple of scary episodes of dizzyness and almost fainting, I took myself to the doctor. Turns out I have a deep-seated viral congestion in my sinuses and lungs and it still makes me very tired.  So now I’m taking a vast assortment of things for at least 10 days to get rid of it.  They are starting to help thou

And Now I’m paying for it…
After nine weeks at CHQ, Dad was very ready to return to his retirement home, friends and familiar routines by the first of September so I took him back to Pittsburgh and then returned to the lake house for a week of peaceful aloneness with just a dash of fun with some friends and neighbors there. The weather that had been chilly and damp all summer suddenly turned absolutely gorgeous and I thoroughly enjoyed long walks, blueberry picking, hiking in a nearby ancient forest and late night forays to watch the International Space Station and the US Shuttle race across the starlit sky. It was so great that I was easily persuaded to stick around for a second week. My first

Stretching Summer Vacation
OK, so those of you who are regulars have noticed that the blog posts have been really rare this summer and now the September newsletter is at least one week late.   What’s going on?   Where’s Jane?  A couple of people have even expressed concern for my health and welfare.   Well here’s the deal… Remember when you were a kid and the first day of school loomed sometime around Labor Day and there was just no avoiding it?    Then as adults, some of us became teachers and we actually had to go back at least one week earlier in order to be ready for the students to appear.  Well, this year, I just decided that I was not going “back to school̶