Baby sister!

I'm officially old. My little* sister turns 30 today! Happy birthday karolines!

*By little, I mean younger. She's only three inches taller than me. :-D

Biking Day 6: Panniers!

It was a chilly morning, but last night I set my minimum biking temp at 50, and it was above that by the time I left this morning. I'm hoping by fall that I'll be used to this enough that I can drop that minimum temp. I was dressed just about right in a long sleeved t-shirt and fleece. I also wore Jeff's mesh safety orange motorcycle vest over my black fleece, for additional visibility. But damn, the hot shower was welcome once I got here!

The ride itself went fine. I played catch up and pass with a (polite) school bus for a while. I shouted at some kid waiting for a bus as I rode by, "TOO MUCH COLOGNE!" Because there was. Seriously, if I can smell your axe body spray as I ride by at 15 mph on a bike, 15 feet from you? UR DOIN IT WRONG. He should consider my advice a favor.

( noodlings on warmth, my new panniers (yay!) and hybrids vs. road bikes. )

These aren't getting too annoying, are they? I cut because I care, but it still makes a f-list scroll. I still have thoughts that I want to remember later, but in the future, I probably won't write every day that I ride.

Fur, paint, and zombies, oh my!

What stands out most in my head from this weekend, is that when the zombie apocalypse happens, I want Jeff by my side. That is all. If you were there, you'll know why. :-D

Saturday, we visited thatpotteryguy and smiep who were hosting the La Belle meeting at their house. Typical meeting, boys played, ate lots of food, etc. etc. Of note, I purchased 70 squirrel skins that were being sold for somebody getting out of reenacting. Pretty white bellies! The back skin is reddish brown, not grey, so it's not the preferred 14th century squirrel fur, but Veale (In The English Fur Trade in the Middle Ages) mentions other varieties of squirrel, including a reddish-brown one (redwerke), imported from Southern Italy. Now, just to figure out the cutting and the piecing that results in the right look, plus not a lot of waste. 70 little squirrels is not all that much, and I want to make the most of them. I have a couple of ideas, but the most economical way to get a basic vair look means that the fur will not all be running in one direction. I have yet to figure out if this is an issue (Veale doesn't seem to say). I'm leaning away from that, and dealing with waste. On the bright side, a more miniver path looks like it'll be less sewing. *sigh* More research... Naturally, googling for more info turns up articles that *I* wrote. :-D

The boys were... busy... but altogether pretty good. Henry had a grand time helping throw sticks on the big bonfire. He likes to help (and when it's just him, he can). We should have brought a longer shirt for Henry, as we let him run around naked from the waist down all weekend. My apologies to our friends, but ( Oh noez! Scary (not really) potty training stuff! )

We really needed that.

Sunday I painted my closet. ( Do I really want matchy matchy in there? Wood color conundrums. (just cut to take down the length a bit) )