It's a Green Day on Wall Street and Main Street

Spring is such a beautiful time of year, especially here in Vermont. This despite the fact that it snowed yesterday and we will have a hard freeze tonight. There's lots of stuff popping up in the garden - lettuce, onions, chives, etc. Of course only an idiot would plant tomatoes this early in the season......ooops...guilty.....

And today, even Wall Street started the morning in the green for the first time in a while.

So let's have some more green:

Traditional Green Thank You

Trailing Vines

Bird of Paradise

Bryanna

Making Fine Stationery from Crane Paper - 1926

A little while back, I posted a video of a film showing paper being made at Crane's Bay State Mill in 1926. Here is Part Two, which shows how Crane paper was made into Crane stationery.

Enjoy!

Paper Machinery is Cool. Here's One Favorite

I've always had a soft spot for machinery, ever since my parents took us kids on a string of factory tours many years ago. So you can imagine that a place like Crane, which makes stationery and currency paper and a bunch of other stuff using machinery that probably can't be found many other places, holds a continuing fascination for me.

Crane stationery arrives at the store in boxes. One probably takes boxes for granted. They hold your stationery; big deal. They're really not worthy of further consideration. After all, they're just boxes.

Oh Yeah?

Check out Crane's Box Machine:



Did you see the guy in the blue shirt about 3/4 of the way through the video? He's an Adjuster. Yup; Crane's Stationery Factory has a staff of Adjusters. They Adjust machines. They are really good at what they do. I am seriously envious that they get to spend all day Adjusting Machines.

Crane CEO Spotlighted in New York Times

Happy weekend, everyone.

I just wanted to let you know that Crane Chairman and CEO Charlie Kittredge is the subject of the Saturday Interview feature in the New York Times.

Here's a link.

Summer, Fall Collide in Bursts of Color

Early September is a wonderful time to be in Vermont. Summer is still with us, but the anticipation of fall is in the air as nighttime temperatures dip into the 40s. It's a time of transition, not just with the weather, but with explosions of color, two of which struck me this morning.

Tomatoes and maple leaves; from green to red. It's not every year that we get a solid crop of red tomatoes here in Vermont. But I don't believe there's ever been a year without a solid crop of red leaves.

The change from green to red on the tomato vine is celebrated over fresh lettuce, in a sauce pot, with a dab of mayonnaise, or just a salt shaker. It's a wonderful time, but we know what's coming.

The change of green to red on the trees is also celebrated in Vermont, as it's our best tourist season, the kids are finally back to school and there's an abundance of good sleeping weather. It's a wonderful time, but we know what's coming.

Here are some fall-inspired stationery sets to celebrate the bursts of color before you-know-what arrives:

Top left: Engraved Sunflower Tangerine Notes. Top right: kate spade lemon framed small correspondence cards. Bottom left: Engraved Palmetto Red Correspondence Cards. Bottom right: Raspberry Mixed Thank You Notes.