Chinese Fortress

Posted on February 9, 2021 by vanbraman

Since I had a on-line meeting with colleagues in China earlier tonight I am thinking of a Chinese Fortress that I built recently with Ankerstein.

ankerstein, building blocks, chinese fortress, hobbies, jena, germanyI first saw this building in Jena, Germany when I first discovered Ankerstein. The builders were building with Set 24. At the time in 2004 it was the most recent set added since the re-introduction of Ankerstein.

ankerstein, building blocks, chinese fortress, hobbies, jena, germanyFinally this year I am building with Set 24. During the Covid time I have slowly been building through all the sets in the series.

This building is know as Chinesische Festung, or Chinese Fortress.

ankerstein, building blocks, chinese fortress, hobbies, jena, germanyThe fortress is really large and takes up a lot of space on the table. I now have to be careful how I position the buildings on the table to make sure I have enough room and can reach everything.

ankerstein, building blocks, chinese fortress, hobbies, jena, germanyI also have to be careful what is in the surroundings as my background for taking pictures is not always big enough now.

Maybe I can wait another year for the Hobby Lobby to open here in town or perhaps just go visit the other craft store.

ankerstein, building blocks, chinese fortress, hobbies, jena, germanyThis one was a bit tricky to build, and I had to be careful. The walls were not very sturdy as they didn’t have the mass to hold together quite as well. Little bumps to the table would often cause stones to fall.

I still have five sets of stones to build through before reaching the end of the series. Will I keep with it to the end? It may depend on how long I work from home, or when I start traveling again.

Steven

 

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Hobby Lobby Coming Soon

Posted on February 8, 2021 by vanbraman

Rumors have been circulating that a Hobby Lobby is coming to our town.

hobby Lobby, Norcal, Tracy, New store, Hobbies, memoriesThere are already Hobby Lobby stores in Northern California, but none are nearby. There is one by my office, but I have only been to it a few times. When work is over I want to head home. Plus, I have only been to my office once in the last 10 months.

hobby Lobby, Norcal, Tracy, New store, Hobbies, memoriesWith Hobby Lobby posting a job for a Tracy location the rumors were fueled even more. Finally last week they confirmed with the local newspaper that they would open in the old JC Penney store location. However, not until sometime next year.

I am looking forward to having a much larger hobby store close by that has a much better selection.

hobby Lobby, Norcal, Tracy, New store, Hobbies, memories

Picture from Google Maps.

I remember many visits to the Gladstone Hobby Lobby when I lived back in Missouri. I bought quite a few craft supplies there that I still have 🙂 However, I can no longer go back to the Gladstone store as the location has closed.

With a local Hobby Lobby I could have searched for the yarn that my sister could not find back in Iowa.

Now I am wondering which hobbies might tempt me if I have a better source for supplies nearby.

Should I organize my coins and currency from around the world? Should I pull out my stamp collection? Maybe I should do some leather work or perhaps some drawing or painting.

hmmm….

Steven

 

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