Warm!

So here we are on this, the last day of the year. The Abbey is silent as I write this, save the hiss of the over heater. The crews have today and tomorrow off so they can ring in the new year with a vengeance. Me? Only a few items on todays to do list and then I too will shift gears into celebration mode as well. I made a promise to some very good customers that they would have their rope in time for a party tonight and I am not about to let them down. Now I know I go on and on about how awesome my customers are, about how much I love hearing from them and seeing the joy on their faces when they use my rope. Most kink vendors would kill to get a look at my customer database, let alone have customers who so eagerly and freely thank them for the work they do. What can I say, I'm a damn lucky guy.

Then there are the rare breed of customers who go above and beyond, becoming more than just a good, faithful customer and go out of their way to show how much they care. I feel like I need to come up with some new classification for these folks, "good customer" seems so inadequate and "Super, awesome customer/ninja" seems a bit too silly, even for me. Their generosity goes way beyond just the value of the rope they buy. The title of "Patron" seems to gel with me when I think of them, folks who generously give of their time, homes and creativity.

With the bitter cold season in full swing, and lord how I have bitched about it here.. sorry, a few of these "patrons" have given me some wonderful gifts to help battle the cold. A reader, whom you may recall shared her sweet, beautiful body with me (and about 2 thousand lusty onlookers) at Folsom a few years back, sent one of these to the Abbey last week. Talk about a cool toy, pop this guy in the microwave and 3 minutes later you have warm hands (or warm whatever you place against it). Right now it is sitting against my lower back as I type this. I fear I may have to hide this from the rest of the crew, save they do not start a riot over it when they all return to work next Wednesday.

Now there is no worry about sharing the other item. Check these out, hand knit wool socks. How fucking cool is that? I have a serious weak spot for hand made things so these are just about the coolest thing in the world. Perhaps part of the charm was in the process. Katie, the sweetheart who made them for me first had to fit them to my feet. One chilly fall afternoon she came, knelt at my feet and gently removed my well worn lug boots and eased the half finished socks onto my feet. Touching and making tiny adjustments to her pattern as she stroked the soft wool against my sore feet was... well it was damn near orgasmic to be truthful. She is going to get extra points in Pervert's Heaven for this one, I assure you.



The finished product? Bliss, pure and simple.

Funny, here at the end of the year I am reminded of just how lucky I have been. So many of you have shared so much of yourselves with me, in stories, in gifts and in the biggest gift of all, you told others about us and spread the word about this quirky guy from Seattle and his little rope company. Sure I grumble about the cold or about having too much work to do, but at the end of the day?

I'm one damn lucky sob.