Twisp of Fate

When we were over in Seattle the week before and including Thanksgiving, one of the things we did was pack up and move my mother-in-law’s things to her new retirement home in Ballard.  This involved quite a bit of “down-sizing”, and one of things I came home with was her Sunbeam Mixmaster, which she had held on to for all these years.  It worked, but had no bowls, although the beaters were in pretty good shape.  You can remove the mixer from its stand and use it as a hand mixer, so maybe that is what she had in mind.

Mixmaster after initial clean-up

So on the way home, Rick wanted to stop at the antique malls in Cashmere (near Wenatchee).  He half-jokingly said “maybe we can find a bowl for the Mixmaster” (what he is really looking for is woodworking hand tools).  Hmm, sez I, not a bad idea!  I asked the ladies at the first place if they knew if they had such a thing – it is such a big sprawling place I didn’t want to seach it high and low.  They actually knew their inventory and brought me several choices!  Only one fit the base of our mixer, and it is the small bowl, but for 6 bucks at least I had something that would make it usable….

Mixmaster with small white bowl

Then we went across the highway to the other antique mall, equally big and sprawling.  I found a lot of candidates but none that fit my mixer (notice it is now MY mixer).  I really wanted the big bowl, too.  Then I found these two beauties hiding on the floor in one of the booths….

beautiful jadeite bowls for MY Mixmaster

Wowza!!!

Everyone I have shown this to has said “My mom had one exactly like that!!”  So did ours!  I am ridiculously pleased with this thing and will leave it out on the counter and use it.  It’s not like I don’t have a Kitchenaid (my mom’s actually – thanks Dad!) and that one will always be the workhorse mixer.  But I just love the Mixmaster.

I have since found some information online about Sunbeam Mixmasters.  This one is a model 7 and they were manufactured starting in 1941, with a hiatus in production during World War II, up until about 1948.  It had the largest production of all the Sunbeams, with over 3 million made.  Like previous models it came as 7A in cream with jadeite bowls, or as 7B in black and white with white bowls.

Final picture:  some of the Blue-faced Leicester as a 3-ply yarn:

We’re off to Seattle again this weekend, for various reasons, but the driving should be easy since it remains dry and cold up here in the Northwest.

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We’ve been on sick leave around here the past week.  Rick came down with it first – congestion, lots of coughing and hacking, then a fever that kept him in bed for a day and a half.  I thought I had avoided it, but no – although I seem to have a somewhat milder case of the congestion part.  I spent all day yesterday in bed with the fever, chills and achiness, and am still a little wiped out today, but pretty sure I am on the mend at last.  Hopefully normal life resumes tomorrow!

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So we decided to move the two woodsheds that Rick built late last fall, mainly to get them farther away from the house and propane tank (for fire safety reasons) but also because we thought they would look better in that location from the house and the road, and to allow for an easier way to drive all around the house.

Rick built them as free-standing structures, but they are heavy.  What to do?  Last week he inquired down at Methow Valley Lumber about their boom truck.  Expensive and maybe hard to get into the back yard to even do it.  But Larry suggested we just get “peeler logs” which are used for fence posts, and roll it on those.  That’s how the Egyptians did it, says he.

Rick actually moved the first one last week all by himself.  Worked like a charm!  But the other one was partially filled with firewood, so this morning we transferred all that wood to the one in the new location, commingling it with some of the two cords of fir that we had delivered about a month ago.  Then we moved the second shed.  It was kind of fun and so much easier than I would have thought.  Alright, I actually did help – just not when I was taking the pictures!

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This has been a sociable weekend.  On Friday our friend and neighbor, Lynette Westendorf, celebrated her 60th birthday at Tappi restaurant in Twisp by having musician friends from the valley and from Seattle join her for a night of dinner and music.

Lynette's 60th at Tappi

Lynette is an Emmy award winning composer and pianist, the link to her website is above.

Saturday evening brought the progressive dinner that is a tradition in our new community (Wolf Creek Views).  Last August at the community association meeting I volunteered to organize it this year, and to host the main course at our house.  I thought it would be a good way to meet all the neighbors and for them to see our new home.  It’s a potluck, so once I figured out who could make it, I just had to assign who was going to bring what to each home.

We started with appetizers at one home (also new to the community, they just built last year), then progressed to our house.  We set the food out in the kitchen, but managed to seat everyone – all 27 of us!

12 around the large walnut drawleaf table in our dining area:

8 around the smaller oak drawleaf table that we brought down from my studio and set up in the entryway:

4 at the bar between the dining room and kitchen:

And 3 of us around the coffee table in the living room.  Worked great.

Then we progressed to a third house for coffee and desserts.  What fun!

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