Thursday, June 22, 2017

Finger Treadle, Part 1

You know what a treadle is, right? It's usually foot-powered, and converts an up-and-down motion to a rotary motion. The classic example is a treadle sewing machine:

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

The Marquis de Lafayette

Mary Ellen and I have just returned from a little three-day trip to Cape May, NJ, and I'm going to take a departure from my regular blog subjects to do a little travelogue with lots of pictures. We hadn't been to Cape May in over 20 years, but remembered it fondly for its gentle beach atmosphere and the lovely Victorian homes everywhere in town.

Another thing I like about Cape May is that, although it is a "resort" destination, it doesn't have the draw of the nearby casino cities, and therefore has been ignored by the corporate chains. All of the beachfront hotels date from around the 50's and 60's, and we decided to return to one that was a faded gem even 20 years ago: the Marquis de Lafayette. This is a two-star hotel in modern ratings, but it is large, spacious, scrupulously clean, and right in the middle of things:

Monday, June 12, 2017

A Sticky Light

This little guy is the JANSJĂ– LED Work Lamp from Ikea. It's standing in its own spotlight, so to speak: