Monday's entry, a day late
Apr. 19th, 2005 12:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luciabWhat a pleasant weekend! (This was supposed to be Monday’s entry, but I had a hardware lockup—peripherals, not the Mac—and lost several well-honed paragraphs. I was not amused.) Nothing really exciting happened, but then again, it wasn’t dramatic, and that in itself can be wonderful. Just ask Brigida, who is so drama-ed out that she wants to come over next weekend for a couple of drama-free hours. She wants to sit in a white room, (that would have to be the studio, which I find inherently less restful than other rooms, but it doesn’t have yellow walls,) and talk about stuff that isn’t stressful, although even she admits it’s not always possible to predict what will trip her switch. We could eat white, non-exciting food and drink only white stuff. We had some fun creating the menu for this meal. We came up with pork (the other white meat,) mashed potatoes (no chives) and cream gravy, and cauliflower with white cheese sauce. We’d drink white wine, of course. For desert, rice pudding (maybe with almonds and golden raisins) and then maybe White Russians. All this reminds me of the meal Alfred Hitchcock is reported to have served once; all the food, including the butter, was dyed blue. His guests were said to have a hard time eating. This wouldn’t be quite as bad, but it would be pretty weird.
Tournament of Chivalry was fun. I would have enjoyed it more if I’d packed the night before or else gotten up early enough to make sure I had everything I needed before I left the house. (Duh.) As it was, I had to come back home (good thing I’m only a half hour away from site) and lost a chunk of time out of the middle of the event. I did get what I needed done, though, so I don’t have that hanging over my head for another day. I got to spend a couple of hours with Alianor, too. I’m doing a scroll for her, and she’s doing some stained glass in exchange, so I got to do some window shopping. Heh. (Couldn’t resist.)
I also got to see Livia’s two latest scroll’s and was very impressed and excited at her progress. Sometimes people talk about “progress” when somebody’s work starts out really sucky, but in this case it started out good, with great promise and is getting better, so I really am excited. Did I mention impressed? And excited?
After the event I went to dinner with Ysolt. Lots of times it’s fun to do a huge dinner and circulate between tables gossiping, but Ysolt really wanted quiet decompression time, I think. She’s been spending a lot of time with Geva, who’s just gotten out of the hospital and gone into a really bad nursing home. What with one thing and another, she’s wound up taking care of a lot of Geva’s financial details, too. The whole situation has been rough on everyone. Geva’s mother may be able to help more now, though she needs several months of R&R herself.
My mother called yesterday to say that she got the birthday package I sent on Saturday. Damn good thing the USPS was having a fast delivery spell, is all I can say. She actually got the package on her birthday! I sent a silk scarf from (you guessed it) Ten Thousand Villages and a card made from the original painting I used to make the self-portrait icon I’m using on LJ. I think she was as pleased with the card as with the scarf. She loves the medieval cards I make, and sends them to all her friends, and brags on how I paint them. They write back and say how they love the cards. Now if I could only make a living selling cards to little old ladies who like medieval cards. Hell, I’m not proud. I’d even sell to people who aren’t little old ladies.
I’ve been painting on Keith’s AoA scroll, which is about three quarters done. I pulled my old stunt of doing the main body of the text and then going directly to the illumination—in this case, a trompe l’oeil border, because that’s the fun stuff. I didn’t do his name yet, because I’m going to do that in red, and I didn’t have the red mixed up, and I just didn’t get the Rex/Regina and Heraldic confirmation part done, because I just wanted to start the fun stuff. Now I have to go back and do the rest of the calligraphy, which just gives me hives. It’s a Batarde, which is not a hand I’m comfortable with, and now I have to make the last part match the part I’ve already done. Erk. Stupid of me. Plus, I haven’t drawn the heraldry yet, and I’m not really looking forward to that, either. He doesn’t have simple heraldry with stars or wavy or anything like that. Nope, he has entwined snakes, owls, and apples, all of which are deeply symbolic. (Of course. Nothing is simple for him; everything is deep.) The real kicker is, at this point I wonder if he will even want the damn thing. I’m pretty sure he isn’t playing and probably won’t ever play. I’m not sure he’ll want a reminder of me hanging on his wall. Well, if it were me hanging, maybe…. Oh, nevermind.
I got registered for Pennsic yesterday. Whee! I’m looking forward to going after missing a year. It is at least theoretically possible I won’t be able to go, but the stars would have to align in a fairly rigid way for that to happen. If I can’t go I should know far enough in advance to either sell my space to someone else or get a refund. It’s also theoretically possible I’ll be traveling most of the month of August--to Kentucky to see family for a week, then to Pennsylvania. Hrm. Wonder if those could/should be back-to-back? Make a big loop instead of going to Ky, coming back here, unpacking, repacking, then going to Pa? Wonder what the relative sanity factor is? Shit, there’s a pun in there, isn’t there? Haw, haw.
The kittens’ distinct personalities are really starting to come out lately. If one of them jumps into my lap and immediately starts purring very loudly, it’s Carmen. If one of them jumps into my lap and wants attention it’s Miranda. If one of them tries to leap to my shoulder from the floor, it’s almost certainly Miranda. The one who is most likely batting stuff onto the floor while looking innocent is Miranda. Really, it’s like it took two kittens to make up Niccolo’s personality. One of them has taken to sleeping under the covers, too, but I haven’t been awake enough to find out which of them it is.
I’ve got a good mix of CDs in my player, on random play. It’s kept me entertained for a couple of days so far. It includes Johnny Cash, Warren Zevon, Bonnie Raitt, the Putomayo American Blues compilation, the Allman Bros, Patsy Cline, and Toni Price. The only problem I’ve found with it is that it’s pretty hard to paint those fine details when I’m dancing. Heh. They might call it “blues,” but baby, if Taj Mahal singing Cakewalk Into Town doesn’t make you feel happy, maybe there’s something wrong. Or, to put it more bluntly, mebbe you jes cain’t feel.
I think I should take advantage of this dancety feeling to get some dishes and cleaning done. Later, gators.
Tournament of Chivalry was fun. I would have enjoyed it more if I’d packed the night before or else gotten up early enough to make sure I had everything I needed before I left the house. (Duh.) As it was, I had to come back home (good thing I’m only a half hour away from site) and lost a chunk of time out of the middle of the event. I did get what I needed done, though, so I don’t have that hanging over my head for another day. I got to spend a couple of hours with Alianor, too. I’m doing a scroll for her, and she’s doing some stained glass in exchange, so I got to do some window shopping. Heh. (Couldn’t resist.)
I also got to see Livia’s two latest scroll’s and was very impressed and excited at her progress. Sometimes people talk about “progress” when somebody’s work starts out really sucky, but in this case it started out good, with great promise and is getting better, so I really am excited. Did I mention impressed? And excited?
After the event I went to dinner with Ysolt. Lots of times it’s fun to do a huge dinner and circulate between tables gossiping, but Ysolt really wanted quiet decompression time, I think. She’s been spending a lot of time with Geva, who’s just gotten out of the hospital and gone into a really bad nursing home. What with one thing and another, she’s wound up taking care of a lot of Geva’s financial details, too. The whole situation has been rough on everyone. Geva’s mother may be able to help more now, though she needs several months of R&R herself.
My mother called yesterday to say that she got the birthday package I sent on Saturday. Damn good thing the USPS was having a fast delivery spell, is all I can say. She actually got the package on her birthday! I sent a silk scarf from (you guessed it) Ten Thousand Villages and a card made from the original painting I used to make the self-portrait icon I’m using on LJ. I think she was as pleased with the card as with the scarf. She loves the medieval cards I make, and sends them to all her friends, and brags on how I paint them. They write back and say how they love the cards. Now if I could only make a living selling cards to little old ladies who like medieval cards. Hell, I’m not proud. I’d even sell to people who aren’t little old ladies.
I’ve been painting on Keith’s AoA scroll, which is about three quarters done. I pulled my old stunt of doing the main body of the text and then going directly to the illumination—in this case, a trompe l’oeil border, because that’s the fun stuff. I didn’t do his name yet, because I’m going to do that in red, and I didn’t have the red mixed up, and I just didn’t get the Rex/Regina and Heraldic confirmation part done, because I just wanted to start the fun stuff. Now I have to go back and do the rest of the calligraphy, which just gives me hives. It’s a Batarde, which is not a hand I’m comfortable with, and now I have to make the last part match the part I’ve already done. Erk. Stupid of me. Plus, I haven’t drawn the heraldry yet, and I’m not really looking forward to that, either. He doesn’t have simple heraldry with stars or wavy or anything like that. Nope, he has entwined snakes, owls, and apples, all of which are deeply symbolic. (Of course. Nothing is simple for him; everything is deep.) The real kicker is, at this point I wonder if he will even want the damn thing. I’m pretty sure he isn’t playing and probably won’t ever play. I’m not sure he’ll want a reminder of me hanging on his wall. Well, if it were me hanging, maybe…. Oh, nevermind.
I got registered for Pennsic yesterday. Whee! I’m looking forward to going after missing a year. It is at least theoretically possible I won’t be able to go, but the stars would have to align in a fairly rigid way for that to happen. If I can’t go I should know far enough in advance to either sell my space to someone else or get a refund. It’s also theoretically possible I’ll be traveling most of the month of August--to Kentucky to see family for a week, then to Pennsylvania. Hrm. Wonder if those could/should be back-to-back? Make a big loop instead of going to Ky, coming back here, unpacking, repacking, then going to Pa? Wonder what the relative sanity factor is? Shit, there’s a pun in there, isn’t there? Haw, haw.
The kittens’ distinct personalities are really starting to come out lately. If one of them jumps into my lap and immediately starts purring very loudly, it’s Carmen. If one of them jumps into my lap and wants attention it’s Miranda. If one of them tries to leap to my shoulder from the floor, it’s almost certainly Miranda. The one who is most likely batting stuff onto the floor while looking innocent is Miranda. Really, it’s like it took two kittens to make up Niccolo’s personality. One of them has taken to sleeping under the covers, too, but I haven’t been awake enough to find out which of them it is.
I’ve got a good mix of CDs in my player, on random play. It’s kept me entertained for a couple of days so far. It includes Johnny Cash, Warren Zevon, Bonnie Raitt, the Putomayo American Blues compilation, the Allman Bros, Patsy Cline, and Toni Price. The only problem I’ve found with it is that it’s pretty hard to paint those fine details when I’m dancing. Heh. They might call it “blues,” but baby, if Taj Mahal singing Cakewalk Into Town doesn’t make you feel happy, maybe there’s something wrong. Or, to put it more bluntly, mebbe you jes cain’t feel.
I think I should take advantage of this dancety feeling to get some dishes and cleaning done. Later, gators.
