Jax Con

OK--some internet connection problems, some way busy at work (so I didn' want to even look at a computer in the evening) and some just plain ennui--it's been three weeks since the last post.  So shoot me.

About the only big event of the last month has been the Jax Con  on Feb. 4--an annual convention of scale model builders.  Bob usuallly goes with his model making buddies.   This year, he and some friends decided that it might be an interesting idea to rent a sales table and perhaps downsize the various collections by sellling them off.  Of course, this created the problem of how to man a sales table while simultaneously wandering around looking at all the other sales tables and also admiring all the other models.

I found myself volunteering to go along to man the sales table.  Perhaps I was being haunted by the vision of Bob carrying his backpack through the Sheep and Wool Festival last May.

But it wasn't that busy--and a girlfriend of one of the other guys was learning to knit, so we had a small knitting circle and I got pink  scarf made.  It was originally supposed to be a gray beret--but after the yarn was spun it turned out to be more of a dirty off-white than gray, and the only dye I had mixed up was some used cochineal so the yarn came out a dusty rose, and I couldn't see myself in a pink hat so it's a ruffled scarf instead.

But I digree.  This is about Jax Con.   Bob entered 5 models--four came home with medals.  My favorite one didn't even place.  I think it's because it's a sort of "betwixt and between"  model--it told a story (being rusted and abandoned) but didn't have figures and not quite a complex  scenery to count as a diorama.  But it's still my favorite.

So he got to shop, and sell, and get awards.  I got a scarf.  We both got barbecue.  Not a bad day.

Garment Display

Catching up on some posts here--internet reception (and TV reception, and the phone reception) has been a little iffy for a couple of weeks.  Finally gave up hoping it would all heal itself and had the cable guy come out--turns out that squirrels like to chew on the cables.

In mid-January the Florida Retailers Federation had their 75th anniversary.  There were conferences and meetings and a reception/dinner party at the Governor's club.  We put on a display for the reception--as it was a 75th anniversary, I picked out clothing that was about 75 years old--the glamorous 30's.

For a simple display, it took awhile.  First I had to dig through the collection and find a half-dozen garments that still looked good--no stains or obvious tears.  Then I had to "audition" my various dress forms to find ones that fit.  Finally everything was boxed up, the dress forms labeled, and all hauled off to the Governor's club.

I know about historic clothing, but making things look nice is not my forte.  Because the clothes are somewhat fragile, you have to put the dress forms in place and then put the clothes on--no moving them around after they're dressed.  Fortunately one of the graduate students was helping me (thanks, Caitlin!) and with only my verbal description of the garments came up with a pleasing arrangement.  You have to use your imagination. (She also took the pictures with her phone because I forgot to bring a camera)

75-year old zippers sometimes don't work, so I had to do a little pinning.  Again--my job has brought me to my knees!

The finished display looked quite nice.  More of the graduate students "defended" the display (it's hard to resist touch the garments, and I cringed at every glass of red wine that approached) and talked about them.  All in all, it was a very successful display--which then had to be undressed, repacked, and all hauled back to the collection room (again--with my thanks to the graduate students, and to Ann Langston, who hauled down the dress form with me and got the back to the collection room the next morning)

Tale of Two Capes

OK--this time it's not my fault that it's been a bit since the last entry.  Internet at the house has been pretty iffy, and it took so long to load a picture that it would time out.  Turns out that squirrels have been chewing our cable line.

So will start by talking about capes.  Our neice Amanda has been taking full advantage of living in the middle of Europe.  Next month, she and a friend are going to the Carnival--in Venice!  (how jealous am I?).  And they wanted fancy capes to wear--purple.  And where does one get a fancy cape or two?  Why, ask Aunt Ann, of course!

Being as I was flattered at being asked--and I think it's cool that something I make will be going to Italy even if I'm not, of course I did it.   And I wasn't about to settle for "gather fabric on a drawstring and add a hood."  No siree.  Gotta be fancy.

So cape one is silver sequins, with a purple yoke and hood, and inset purple godets.

Cape two fell into the category of "what was I thinking?" (companion to "it seemed a good idea at the time").  It's a purple glitter organza cloud.  Looks effortless--but each little puff had to be hand-tacked into place.  And I was working on a pretty tight schedule, because I had to allow for shipping time to Belgium and really didn't want them arriving after the trip.

But they made it there safely, and on time.  Amanda--I know you read this.  I WANT PICTURES!

Aerial View

We indulged in Bob's Christmas gift yesterday--a quick trip to Wakulla Springs.  We've been to the Springs a lot--but always in a car, and we view things from ground (or water) level.  This time we popped into a wee tiny helicopter, courtesy of Tallahassee Helicopters.  Not quite a radio controlled helicopter, but not much bigger.

Takin off in helicopters is such a strange sensation.  In planes, even small ones, you have the race down the runway until you get enough speed to finally jump into the air.  In a helicopter, you just have the sensation that someone has a string on a fishing pole and is just picking you and and swinging you where you need to go (I keep thinking of the flying saucers in the old Ed Wood movies).

We flew over the forests--rather voyeurstically  looking down on the houses below--and could glimpse the coast.  Soon we were approaching the Wakulla lodge and the diving dock (hmmm--no one seemed to be swimming today--with the air temps in the 50's, you'd think the 68-degree water would feel warmer than it does in the summer). I have to admit to feeling a little smug because some people on the dock were looking at the helicopter with that envious "that's so cool" look on their faces--and *we* were the ones being cool.

  A sweep down the river showed a surprising number of manatees (you can see one in this picture) as well as the more expected alligators and turtles--and a lot of really annoyed birds.  The advertisments for the flight specified "low level" which turned out to be almost treetop height.  We have been to the springs many times, but it's a completely different perspective from 70 feet or so up.

Conclusion--if you have to get from Point A to Point B and time is important, then a plane is the way to go.  For sightseeing--go for the helicopter!

70 years later . . .

January 4, 1942.  World War II has started and young men will be heading off to fight in foreign lands.  A young couple in love go to the movies--and it's sold out.  Al asks Pat what she would like to do until the next showing, and she replied "get married."  So they did (I must remember to ask the details--did they go find a justice of the peace?  Was the courthouse still open?)

Being good kids who do not tell their parents an untruth--and they had told them that they were going to the movies--they went back to the theater and watched the show.

Would they have ever dreamed that 70 years later they would be able to watch the same movie, now on a little flat plastic disc, on a screen in their apartment?

A long, full, rich 70 years.  And yet--Busby Berkeley productions are still lavish, Judy Garland still has a great set of pipes, and Al and Pat are still in love.

The good things last.

2012

And we have a brand-new fresh year!

Although making resolutions is a bit of a cliche--and why should we pick one calendar day over any other to get a fresh start--it's not bad to ponder what you'd like to improve in your life.  Mine?

1.  Get over myself.  Too often I find myself doing stuff that I really don't want to do--because it needs to be done and if I don't do it, who will?  And the answer is--if it's important enough, then someone will.  Specifically, I really don't want to do all-day (or all-week) camps with kids.  I don't mind doing hour-long programs, but I find being with children all day to be completely exhausting--the last day camp I did (two days after Christmas) I came home, drank several glasses of wine, and slept until it was time to go to bed.

Teaching--will probably continue to teach  until Bob retires.  Don't particularly like it (mainly because the classes are 100+ students, who don't really want to be there), but lots of people have jobs they don't particularly like.  Bob's retiring in less than three years, and plumping up the nest egg might be a good idea.

But, in general, if I don't think of myself as Mighty Mouse--here to save the day--I can do more of the stuff that I like.  I think the problem with saying "No" is that I'm very bad at asking for help.  If I do finally ask for help, it's an act of desperation.  So I assume that anyone who asks for my help is in a desperate situation.  That's likely not the case--I might just be the most convenient person to ask.

2.  Watch less junk TV.  There are shows that I like (mostly the Cooking Channel) and I don't begrudge the time watching them.  The problem is when I sit there and settle for whatever is on because it's easier than getting up and doing anything else.  Which leads me to

3.  Eat dessert first (metaphorically).  Many times there are things that I want do to--maybe sew, or weave, or read a book--but I don't because I feel I should do my chores first.  When the reward for getting off the couch and away from the TV is that you get to  clean the bathroom--well, you definitely settle for whatever is on the tube.  So the chores are still undone, and I'm frustrated because "I don't have enough time" to do anything I like.  Well--as long as the laundry isn't being put away--I might as well be weaving.

4.  Start a project notebook.  I did this some years ago, and enjoyed it, but didn't keep it up.  I post some works in progress and finished work on this blog, but it doesn't have the details such as size of needles used or patterns or how the loom was threaded.  Like the blog, this would take some time, but it would be worth it.   And I've managed to keep the blog going for a couple of years now--keeping a diary was one of my resolutions, and it seems to be working..

So those are my goals--nothing earth shaking, but we'll see how it goes.

Winding Down 2011

And there goes another year.  Looking at the  pictures on the camera I found a few things that haven't made it into the blog yet.

Pershing Rifles.  When I left home for college back in '71, I was of course a bit homesick.  And the world was big (There were more students in some of my classes then there had been in my entire school).  So, just to find My People, I joined the ROTC--after all, I had been around the military my entire life.  Women in ROTC were new--this was the first year that female cadets were accepted.

But it was still not My People--the majority of people were in ROTC because it was a way of avoiding going to Viet Nam.  Still in search of My Tribe, I pledge the Pershing Rifles, an ROTC organization.  Pledging was hard--I was the First Woman Ever to pledge, and some people didn't like that.  And the pledge program was very demanding.  But I liked the people, made some good friends, and eventually married one of my pledge brothers.

Forty years later, I find that I am an Icon.  Part of the current pledge training program is to learn that Florida State University had the first female member in history.  And every couple of years the pledges are sent to find me--to poke me and see if I'm still breathing, and to tell stories of the Good Old Days.  So here I am with this year's crop of pledges.

Apache:  if you look back at the blog posts for March 2010, you'll see pictures of Graemalkin in her basket on the counter--we had given up the battle of "try to keep the cat off of the counter" and not only put her basket up there, but built a set of steps so she could get to it.  Alas, time took her away from us.  But we didn't move her basket--somehow it was a shrine to a tough little cat that we both loved.

Well, maybe a shrine to us--but it looked like a comfy bed to Apache.  Cats are such opportunistic creatures.  So, once again, the bed (with the heated pad) has a fine cat to sleep in it.  This odd pose is a favorite of his.

And Projects (and I swear I took pictures before they went off to recipients, but don't seem to find them).  Despite the busyness of taking over a class, I did manage in the last month to spin and weave an alpaca scarf, knit another alpaca scarf, make a set of finger tip towels of handpun cotton (a gift for my boss at the Museum who is retiring--the cotton was grown on the farm there), and a pair of alpaca mitts (I at least got a picture of  those).  I've got another warp ready to go on the loom--but that's another post.


Birds, revisited:  A couple of posts ago I wrote about seeing thousands of birds when out kayaking.   It was so breathtaking that we went to the same area again, just to see if it had been a fluke.

No fluke--it's a winter roost, and once again we sat enthralled as birds beyond imagination came flying in.  OK--so Bob had to take a shower when we got home--it's a small price to pay.

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