Great Weekend

I drove down to White Oak Friday night. I left a little later than I'd planned but on the bright side, I didn't get lost this time. This is despite my TomTom telling me that no route existed to get to my destination. Liz gave me good directions and I wrote them out with a magic marker on notebook paper in really big letters. I knew it was going to be dark by the time I needed to look at the directions so I wanted something that I could see by streetlight.

The Living History weekend started earlier than the Heritage Day, so we got ready earlier. I washed my hair and immediately put it up. The water weight did make a difference but I managed to get it all to fit in the bun cover anyway.


There were more people and vendors at Harmony Hall this year. There was even one fellow who was a stonecarver.

I didn't get as many pictures as I'd planned. I completely missed, again, getting a picture of Liz's mom in her outfit. I barely caught Squirrel and Liz. Once again, no picture of me. I only got “Capt James Robeson” from the back. The gent in question is a descendant of the real Jim Robeson and was presenting a picture from the era, to Harmony Hall. He based his outfit on that same picture.

I got a lot of tatting done, but it didn't amount to much. I made a few butterflies and tried to some pieces from Beetons Book of Needlework. Translating from 1870 to modern tatting lingo is not as easy in some ways, and not as hard in others, as you'd expect. For example, on one motif, there's bare thread between flowers but modern tatters are more likely to tat a chain there.

I had planned to come home Saturday but I stayed a little to help Squirrel with the book of embroidery that I gave her. She took her first stitches. By the time that she was finished, I was suddenly exhausted. I left early Sunday morning.

I spotted a wild turkey alongside the road about the time that I got to I95. There wasn't much traffic until then, either. Despite TomTom not being able to find a route to Liz's parents' house, it could find the route home. It started raining when I hit I95 but it didn't get bad until I hit Raleigh. Then someone opened the floodgates. I was doing 50 in a 65 zone, with my hazard lights flashing. The flash ended by the time I got off the highway to go to David's.

I met the others at David's house. Richard was running chapter 5 of the Embers series (Living Forgotten Realms). I played my bladeling druid again. It's the last chapter until the level 11 special at Origins. Or maybe it's at Gencon.

After the game, Richard got out Maya's unicorn and, per a contest, I took a picture of the shirt that I'd won, with the unicorn wearing it. It's a large unicorn. It had a chain shirt, but that's disappeared.

Well I made it to Charlotte in good time. Spent some time talking to Liz, Leela (she burbled a lot), Alysa & James. Then it was off to bed. The next morning we left bright & early to go to ConCarolinas. I made it in time for the RPGA: Living Greyhawk interactive, Promotion Review Board. It was very tense. Since my success rested all on my own efforts, instead of being shared, I had some serious adrenalin moments, vicariously. I did okay on the written portion, started out decently on the obstacle course (in the lead by a considerable margin at first) & would have ended better if I'd remembered to take 10 on the ride test, did well on the command portion & acceptable on the interview. Nadia was one of the 2 corporals at the board trying to promote to Sgt, both the only women there & both vastly overqualified to be corporal. I ended up playing with the other newly-minted Sgt plus other high level pcs (even the 2 cohort people outleveled Nadia). Poor Nadia, half-experience & half-gold again; 9th lvl pc at an APL 12 table. Wheee. But it was interesting.

I had two players for my evening game because no one showed up for a D&D game that the girl was waiting upon. So I dragged her in & she really liked it. I ran them through Cup Quest. I finished up a little early (12:30 instead of 1 am) & drove back to James' & Liz's. Up early the next am & barely made it to the con by 9 am. So I was a little late for my game. The girl (maybe 12?) was there again. So I know she liked my game. Metra & Chasarae showed up (Rae played last year) late but I got them involved. Then Hoss showed up & I added his character. I ran the Rinaldi adventure. Poor girl, her character Enaid, had the flaw romace but she didn't specify. So I chose for her. Her character, a baroness & distantly related to the Rinaldi family, is now engaged to Don Fabrizio.

After that I attended a panel on 'D20, is it dead?' Answer, d'uh, no. But we talked about some of the D20 stuff, like hype vs. backlash etc. Since there were only 5 of us, including the 2 panel members, it was a very informal talk. More of a discussion really. Then I toured the dealers room & spent too much money. As usual. I did find a nice coin scarf to wear to the Living Kalamar interactive at Origins.

Made it home by 7pm tho very tired. Read Ring of Fire, one of my dealer room purchases, until midnight. Bad girl, I need my sleep. Oh well. I'm off home, I need to clean up enough to play Jadeclaw tonight.



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Saturday's outfit: black skirt, black half-boots, muslin blouse, red plaid bodice, cream colored apron, and muslin cap. Can you tell that I was garbed ~Colonial? I was at Harmony Hall in White Oak, NC (near Fayetteville) as part of the yearly celebration. I tatted on the front porch (facing the river) while Liz wove on her inkle loom (that I gave her years ago). Leela was greatly admired. There weren't great crowds as it rained off & on. But a few people showed & were greatly admiring. I did get a new question: 'is that real lace?'

Sunday's outfit: new green Celtic knot tree (w/ sun & moon caught in branches), jeans and loafers. I had fun at the picnic, after I woke up. At quarter til 4, I had to get up & answer mommy Nature. Then when the tank started to refill, the air in the pipes made them knock. It sounded like someone hammering on the wall. It completely woke me up, especially as I couldn't i.d. the noise at first. By the time it was over, I was starving. So I got up & grabbed a bite to eat. Chris dragged me to breakfast at Bob Evans (yay French toast). After that I napped. I woke up when the sun almost came out & didn't get to the picnic until 12:30 or so. Saw people I hadn't seen in months. Denise is moving back to Oregon & she's 5 months pregnant. It's a surprise as she'll be 41 next birthday.

Today's outfit: black half-boots, black slacks, lavender polo, Bronze Rose hairclip, onyx ring, silver braid band, flower band, violet bead earrings, & tri-fem pendant.

I got 9 inches of lace tatted since Friday. It's the really small white thread, too. I think that this year I will have trim on my clothes (Village of Yesteryear). I lost my little crochet hook though. I'm back to using my full length one.

When I was lying there, sleepless Sunday morning I thought of a direction for the time travel story that I started. So, it wasn't all bad.

Yesterday's outfit: grey polo, black slacks, black loafers, celtic knot pendant, celtic knot post earrings, onyx band & silver band plus braided hair.

Today's outfit: blue chambray shirt, navy slacks, brown loafers, carnelian band, silver band, celtic knot earrings (small dangle), ring & pendant, flower ring & braided hair.

Friday I went directly to visit Steve & Anitra. I met the new redtail hawk and identified the raptor I'd seen Monday as a peregrine. Anitra & I talked until late, so I slept on their couch. Anitra loaned me her book on 19th century tatting & a set of Colonial style clothes. Steve gave me an editor's copy of Dawn Rising.

I wasn't feeling 100% so I postponed my massage session. Chris & Rosemary came by briefly, from Bark around the Park, on their way to a Living Greyhawk game (that I'd already played). Then Mike & Kelly showed so we drove to Charlotte. We ran into a little traffic on the way, plus stopped for supper & reached Chantells & John's apartment a little later than we'd planned. We, plus Jeff, ate & talked before beginning the reading part of Polidori (sp). I read first & it was received well enough. It's a very incomplete story, more an introduction really. We finally left about 11 pm & dropped Kelly off at 2 am. I had slept for the past 2 hours but stayed awake to talk to Mike & keep him awake until he dropped me off at home.

Sunday, Mom stopped by on her way home from visiting her sister near the coast. She caught me up on a bit of news and then left herself. The first gamer for the 2 pm game showed just as Mom left. We played until 8:30. Partially as a result of that, I neglected to make a very important phone call. I did not call the Durham Co Gov't about jury duty. I did not even remember it until I saw the note in my dayplanner this morning.

I made three wrong turns on the way to Red Cross this morning. None of them were irreparable, just annoying. I still made it there by my appointment time at 8:00 am. They had problems finding my veins, as usual. So I didn't get up from the chair until 10:30 am. I did get to watch Zorro the Gay Blade. That's one of my favorite movies.

I returned to work at 11 am & went almost immediately to lunch. I met Allen & Metra outside. I'd seen them as I'd gone into to work. It was nice to see them, especially as I may not see them again until next semester.

I wrote a letter to my Aunt in Florida yesterday. I also started one to my mom. I need to finish hers. I also need to work on a present for Squirrel. I'd like to make her a blue-grey kitsune, with 2 tails. But I may not have time.

If anyone is reading this, then I apologise for not updating for sooo long.

I have been quite busy. I was on vacation/holiday from Friday the 19th until Monday the 29th. I did not spend much time on the computer, so no blog updates. I managed to weed out the spam & that's about it.

I am in Charlotte, right now. I am at my friend's James house for the annual post-Christmas get-together. We've been doing this since Christmas 1986. Bill, Keith & I came home for college & got see James again (he was in his senior year of high school). We played roleplaying games for a few days. It was great fun. Our lives & locations have changed but we're still good friends.

The bummer is, no sign of Bill this weekend. Where the bleep is he?! Keith was only here from 2pm Saturday & left at 7:30 this morning. I barely got to see him.

We did get to play word association last night. Comparatively small crowd: Russ, Billy, Valerie, James, Liz, Alysa, Chris, me, Keith & Ian. Technically, Squirrel, James & Liz's daughter was there, too but she's pre-verbal.

Got to go. People are here & I want to socialize.