All in a Garden Green

I'm in a good mood. There are lots of things to be happy about today.

• The bi-color hydrangea bloom by the waterfall at work makes me smile. :)
• It is sunny again! 4 days of rain are done, and the sky is beautiful blue, dotted with white fluffy clouds!
• Because it is sunny, and not too cold (though a little chilly), it is MOTORCYCLE DAY. October 5, still riding. YAY. A few extra layers, leggings under the jeans, fleece-lined hoodie under the jacket, and a neck scarf. But still VROOM. Only bike on the road this morning...
• Wonderful fencing practice last night! Wyatt came up, I got some lesson time in with my Don. He says I'm improving. I'm glad somebody thinks so and can tell... it's hard for me to see a difference. I'll just have to do more traveling and fence more people to test this theory. Delicious crab and havarti sandwich on sourdough bread for dinner afterward, too.
• More fencing! Headed to IDD next weekend for Fall Harvest, and BBM for Fall Feast of Simplefare the weekend after.
• Sadly, skipping the Endewearde Hunt this weekend to hopefully get the yard cleaned up finally, maybe get the house organized, hopefully get at least the sketch done for scroll #2 to go out at Crown. It would have been a nice relaxing weekend, but I have to be an adult sometime...
• FREE FABRIC! I finally have bought enough linen over the past 6 years to bump the credit transfer ratio to something useful, and I have $100 of free linen headed my way. I can make a new fencing armor shirt, new 14th c chemise, viking chemise (for Birka), and have a few yards of brilliant red to do... something... with. YAY.
• Projects to start, for crown. My part of one scroll is all done, waiting on calligraphy for scroll #2, and a sooper sekrit project that I need to talk to Her Most Excellent Excellency Baroness alysten about... I need some tips on doing some of that fabulous stained glass embroidery you just finished.
• It's Wednesday, and almost 11:00. Only 2 1/2 days of work left this week... that's definitely a happy thought.

Good things, mostly, this week.

+ 4 out of 5 days got to ride the bike! Could have, maybe, on Tuesday, but would have been COLD. And Wet. Even with rain gear. So it worked out OK.
+ Good fencing day on Tuesday!
+ Finally bought 'Sigh No More' by Mumford and Sons. For $5. mp3 Album from Amazon.com. LOVE.
+ Sunshine today, finally.
+ FRIDAY. Kinda. For me. First Friday of the week!
+ Lovely dinner at Blast from the Past with anna_mickel and Max tonight.
+ Rode home under a beautiful moon and indigo skies.

- Not going to be able to play in the garden much this weekend...

+ ...because I'm prepping stuff for Spring's Inspirations on Saturday! Paint and gold and friends and general SCA loveliness.

- Not sure if I'll have any sort of veggie/edibles garden this year... I gotta do something, I'll go nuts...

+ ...but I'm going to help S get a container garden going behind the restaurant where she works! Next weekend, we plant beets and radishes and STUFF!

- ...because she's still hurting from a rough break-up. I'm gonna kick K next time I see him... but not too hard... life will indeed go on. Gardens heal souls. /sigh.

+ Started some herb seeds in a little egg carton greenhouse. Hopefully will have some thyme, and basil, and borage, and other stuff coming up soon. Green. Need. Green.

+ Kitties happy. Got most of the mats (not too bad, but bad enough) out of Galahad's underside out. kurlon has to pay attention to the front half, while I work on the back half, and it's quite a feat of acrobatics when we get fuzzbutt up on his haunches so I can get the underside, but he's such a patient, calm kitty... thank goodness. No protesting, even when I know it pulls a little bit...

+/- We really need a garage door. There are birds nesting in the third garage. I think it's a Phoebe. Working on replacing, maybe, the one we lost last weekend...

Time to get off the computer now. Things to do! Busy weekend!

So, the snow appears to be done... 8-10" or so out there on the ground. I'm... almost disappointed. But not really. Light, very fine snow is still falling, but it's not going to amount to anything. Time to go clear off the walkway and driveway, I suppose.

Lancelot had taken up his usual spot on the back of the couch, looking out the window, watching the snow for a while, but both boys are currently curled up on the loveseat.

I'm gonna go get a baking pan, fill it with snow, bring it inside, and see what the cats think of it. :D

...is it sad that I'm looking forward to doing this, and finishing up what I can do on our taxes to avoid washing dishes and doing laundry? sigh...

- My cats really are perfect gentlemen... they (usually) wait for permission before jumping into a lap, don't play in the garbage, don't beg at the table, don't eat my plants (though Galahad will go after fallen leaves on occasion...). Now if we can just get him to stop his newest trick (horking on cue in the hallway if he thinks he's not getting enough attention RightThisMinute), everything will be good.

- Miso soup mix is amazing. Little packet of powder, funny little white things, and little specks of green. Add boiling water, and I get delicious broth, with big beany-things, and big pieces of seaweed floating in it! Hooray!

- Disappointed that Tazo Tea no longer appears to make 'Om'. Delicious. Green tea, little bit fruity... 'Zen' just isn't the same... I only have a few teabags left.

- Also, cannot seem to find International Coffees 'Mayan Chocolate' drink mix in the local grocery... will try some other stores this week. May have to order online, thank goodness for Amazon and free shipping.

- Recipe for delicious dinner. Take: 1 crockpot. Add: enough potatoes (cut or whole, depending on size of pot, and number of eaters) to cover the bottom, and 1 duck (stuffed with as many apples and onions as you can cram in). Surround duck with more apples and onions, if there's room, and some garlic. Put lid on, set to 'low'. Cook for at least 8 hours. Come home, roast some asparagus, have some friends over, and eat a delicious meal. Then make soup out of the carcass, save some delicious delicious duck fat for roasting potatoes later, and sigh, contented.

- Slowly but surely, the house is getting Christmassed. Candle lights in the windows, little lights on Sam the tangerine tree (our Christmas tree. It's apparently tradition now. And I'm good with it. No needles to deal with!), the skirt went around the pot this afternoon... ornaments will get put up on Monday. Still need to find an outdoor extension cord and figure out if my other sets of lights are outdoor or not so I can decorate the little trees along the driveway. Holding off (mostly), even though I've got permission this year, till after kurlon's birthday, because I can... I'm strong... the Christmas music has come out, though. I couldn't wait any longer for Mannheim Steamroller or TransSiberian Orchestra (who, I note, is not coming anywhere NEAR Maine this year... Boston's too far for a weeknight, and Rhode Island not so much fun either. BAH.).

- Tonight is both the first and last chance to see the Geminid meteor shower... supposed to be cloudy/rainy/snowy for the next several days, so this evening promises to involve a hot tub and some snacks and delicious beverages.

- Winter is coming too, in fits and starts. No accumulation yet, but we awoke this morning to snow-covered ground. Gone now, since it warmed up to 40 degrees this afternoon, but more is coming...

- And I am upset with this USPS. Specifically, our mail carrier. Who did not even make an attempt to venture past the top of the street this morning to deliver the long-awaited package containing the top to my soon-to-be-created Wardian Case. Simply left a 'attempted to deliver' note in the mailbox, and moved on. This ticks me off. We know for a fact that no attempt was made, thanks to the light coating of snow on the road, beautifully smooth and unmarred by any sort of tire tracks, save for right by the mailbox. I will have words (polite ones, not getting upset and cranky at the poor postal worker behind the counter who had nothing to do with the delivery...) when I go in to get the package. Mail carrier needs to do his/her job, thank you very much. I am far more irritated than I possibly should be by this, but what if the package had contained something *important*?? Now I can't pick it up till Friday, thanks to needing to sign for it... BAH, I say.

Started as rain yesterday, leaving New Hampshire. Changed to snow around the Wells exit on 95, and hasn't stopped since. We've got about 8-12" of the fluffy white stuff on the ground, and it's still coming down... Don't have to go anywhere tonight, though. Can stay home and putter/sew/relax.

Some good things; the office wasn't plowed out right away this morning, so I got a little bit of extra sleep. It's still snowing, so the guys are out plowing, and I get the office to myself. No boss to bug me. And I have new jeans that fit me perfectly. Hooray for Tractor Supply Company in NH, boo that they only had one pair. I'll try the one up here sometime.

Lego Rock Band is also made of Awesome. So cute. Good music, and silly silly challenges that give alternating band members a rest and chance to see what's going on in the background animations.

The search for good sizing for gold leaf continues. alexsaintpierre was having issues with what we'd thought we'd found for a good replacement, which I had found and used and got to work, but not well last night. Frustrating. This looks like a promising substitute, assuming it's usable on paper. Gah, gold leaf sticks to everything except what we want it to, and the sizing we have, everything sticks to, including the tissue paper backing on the gold leaf. Causes issues when I want to put gold on that spot... We'll figure it out, hopefully before the last of the good stuff has been used up.

So... there's a hardscape supply shop (several locations) that has a very similar name to our business, but apparently they are not in the phone book. Any of them. In any phone book. If I had a dollar for every phone call we got for them, I would not have to work here anymore. Finally got my brain in gear earlier this year and printed out a list of their locations/phone numbers so I could actually help these people, but for heavens sakes... look at the number and name of business you are actually calling, and don't get upset at me when we're not who you want us to be (that has only happened twice...).

Fell asleep at my desk after lunch, too. Whoops. Woke up when the heater kicked on and the phone rang (another wrong number...), after about 15 minutes. Thank goodness I'm alone in the office, but it was a rather nice nap. The heat works really well here when it's on, but this place gets cold fast...

All of this is making it very difficult to write about birch trees, but I shall continue to give it my best shot. Only an hour and a half to go before I get to jump in the truck and pick up the boss, who is pushing back snowbanks in the loader, far, far away from me here. This is good. I can make it.

Just bitter, bitter, bone-chilling cold coming in the next couple of days. I can't wait. *shiver* Ah well, I enjoyed the 40 degree temps last night. Didn't have to go out and shovel (though that didn't stop me from waking up at 5 AM, all paranoid that I'd missed a phone call... gah). Returned the truck this morning, got my car, went shopping... boy what a fun day. Forgot flour. I think I'll have enough to make another batch of cheezy bread for tonight. If not, Shaws is right up the street. Ah well.

Took recycling out again... I do not know how two people can come up with so much cardboard in the span of a month. Aiee.