Skype and more skype

Chris got me up at 9. We skyped Michele and talked to for awhile. It was really nice to be able to chat with her. Then we called my dad. That was nice too. He had a little trouble hearing us, but overall it went well. Then we called William. Chris got ready for work while I talked. I really missed being able to call him. Then I skyped with Kurt, a little longer than I meant to. But again, it was good to be in touch. Faye was not on skype, and neither was Maryann, although by then it was pretty late for them. I exercised, then made and ate breakfast. I realized it had been quite a while since I walked up the mountain, but what with the rain, and all the morning sewing classes, there had not been the opportunity. And next week will be even worse. After reading e-mail, I cleaned the kitchen and ran the dishwasher. Chris came home. I asked him to help me fix the timing on my mail-ahead machine. We compared the shuttle/needle interaction on it with another machine. After much deliberation, I decided that the shuttle was ahead of where it should be. So we loosened the set screw as seen in a video on Youtube, but the mechanism would not move. We took off the back of the machine where the bobbin sits, and found two set screws there. Chris loosened them and I moved the shuttle guide. But I was unable to make small movements because it did not move freely. Eventually I did get it stitching with greater accuracy. Then I worked on the rubbing problem. The whole process was working too tightly, but I could not determine where the friction was occurring. I took off parts I had never taken off before. But I could not get off the one part I thought would allow me access. So I reassembled the machine and put it away. I searched the internet for a service manual, but could not locate one. I put a burger in the toaster oven to heat. I made a batch of hummus. (So much for cleaning the kitchen). I cued up a movie on my laptop as I ate the burger. Then Chris hooked my laptop to the TV so we could watch “Cleopatra”, a movie with Timothy Dalton as Caesar. Och, it was three hours long. It made me sad that I will never see the great library at Alexandria. I posted to my blog as Chris looked up some of the characters. We discussed Greek and Egyptian history. Then it was way past time for bed.
* This is the lady from the restaurant, mixing up the leftovers with rice and onions so we would have something nice to take home. *