The Bag & It's Repair

Another of the "bargains" from the retail job.  This messenger bag was well loved by the previous owner before being returned.  The zipper was off it's track.  This bag, unlike the black tote, has long enough straps to be carried on the shoulder.  I don't like carrying bags on my elbow which seems to be "the fashion" right now. Or swinging it along the ground at the end of my arm.  Especially at an airport (in the days past when I seemed to be spending so much of my life in airports).  I like my bag to be securely tucked under an arm.

After having G (he has greater patience that I do) get the zipper back together, I stitched the track at the end so it couldn't go off again.  Then I stitched a short bit of seam between the zipper and the leather trim at the opening of the bag, near the handles, where it had ripped apart.  After that it was just some effort (oh yes!) and some leather conditioner to get the bag back to it's original color.  I checked on the website.  The bag is still being sold.  I know how to repair because I am my father's daughter.  He could fix just about anything and I loved watching him work.

The bag is heavy.  The top of the bag, when unhooked, stands up and allows for even more stuff to be stuffed inside.  Then zipped shut.  A good travel bag.  As I mentioned.  It's heavy empty.  I wonder how heavy it would be to lug around fully loaded. I remember coming back from trips with so much "good stuff" that I was tempted to buy another suitcase.  I could fit all my clothing for a week away in this bag. In the past, I packed way too much.

I wonder at people returning something because the zipper is off it's track and the zipper seam has opened about 4 inches.  Both may have occurred when the bag was overloaded.  A short trip to any shoe repair shop and "good as new".  Perhaps they wanted the $200 back to buy a new, more fashion forward (lighter) bag?  Good news for me---- for $6

The sun is shining here in Maine.  But the wind is blowing and it's very cold.  I am very, very tired of all this cold.  All this hard packed snow. It will be weeks and weeks before I can even see the edges of my raised beds in the vegetable garden. Weeks longer before I can plant anything there.

 Here in the house, the amaryllis are blooming, one deep red and the other palest pink, the one geranium that didn't get put into the cellar, is starting to bloom, also a pale pink.  The orchids have had flowers all winter.  My rosemary, over wintering here in the house, has put out tiny blue flowers for the first time ever.  I am watering the plant more than usual.  The lavender is out on the colder sunporch.  Green but not flowering.

The ferns are perking up, sending out new fronds with the increase in sunshine.  The clivia (so many now that I divided them) didn't send out any flower shoots this year.  Neither did the cymbidium orchids.  Both have produced good green leaves, with lots of baby leaves at the centers.  They look healthy.  The bromeliads are doing very well, getting bigger and bigger--all of them were just side shoots from larger plants that I repotted.  I had never thought of myself as a bromeliad person, but I like them.  Just fill the leaf cups with fresh water.  Simple.  And eventually they will produce a colorful "flower" from the center of the leaf rosette.  Only one has done this so far, but it's a beautiful golden yellow.  I can wait for the rest.   I'm not going anywhere.