I was almost blown away yesterday, and I don't mean in a good way. Wind gusts up to 63mph in this area. Plus scatterings of rain, which made the walk home last night interesting. I was once again wearing not-quite-suitable shoes and the rain was enough that I took off my glasses and then often had to close my eyes to protect them from the stinging rain. Thank goodness Mom bought me that flashing safety light. The earphones on my iPod protected my ears and a scarf protected my neck. By the time I got home, I was damp and half my face felt frozen. At least the temps were below freezing. Of course, if they had been, I would have been dressed differently. With more scarf for one thing.

Tatting: I finished the body of the dragon and now it's time to start the wings. I didn't feel like pulling up the PDF to do them so I started another dragon in burgundy.

Nod to politics: NC has its first female governor. Or will, as of Saturday.

Gaming: Wukon's venue has been changed. The hotel changed hands and the new management have the option of honoring the contracts; assuming that they didn't get lost in the changeover. Something similar happened to two other cons that I know of in the past 7 years. One had to renegotiate the contract as the new management knew nothing about it and the other had to change hotels when the new management decided not to honor the contract.

However, the organizer was not able to find a new hotel when he found out last week that he no longer had a valid contract. So we'll be gaming at Denny's. At least there's no worries about getting food.

BTW, strawberry cider is good if very sweet. I wonder how it would work in cooking. Not that I have enough left to cook.

Weather: It rained this morning. It wasn't cold enough for snow or sleet or even freezing rain. It just came down wet and dreary. Alas, I wore the wrong shoes for this weather and ended up with one very wet foot. I had to set the sock and shoe aside to dry this morning.

Gaming: This weekend is Wukon. I was hoping to play some Witch Hunter but it looks like it's going to be an all LFR (Living Forgotten Realms) weekend.

Would you like to see a picture of a cloud-draped moon? I had the hardest time standing still enough to get this shot.

Weather: 3rd day of fog. Whee. How very...seasonal. Somewhere.

Chris made me almost squee today. He gave me the final present from him; Manga: the Monster Book of Manga Girls. Of the presents from co-workers, one and only one has not been chocolate-based food. One person just came back from visiting Hershey so that really should not have been a surprise. Actually, I lie, I got 3 non-food gifts. One is a lovely ornament (handmade and dated) and the others were hand lotion & scented liquid handsoap. But the latter came with candy. So I'm undecided whether to really count them.

I gave Chris the tin of ginger cookies tonight (after he gave me the book). He likes ginger cookies and there are at least 6 packages/tubes in the tin. He usually gets a single one from the booth at the State Fair and makes them last a couple weeks.

I gave out the hangers that mom made yesterday. They were a real hit. It's not cheap to get good hangers. Mom takes good metal hangers and then weaves/covers them with yarn. That pads them and makes them quite pretty. She also puts tubing or something similar over the hook. I gave out 3 per person, but Emily got an extra 3, child-sized ones. She announced, last week, that she's pregnant.

Mom called tonight. Thank goodness. I've been trying to reach her unsuccessfully (once was a busy signal so I wasn't worried or anything). I'll be seeing her Christmas Day. All her friends are working (yeah, nurses) so she's free. And I had hoped to see her Monday & Tuesday (go see Dad on Sunday, then spend the night with her Sunday and go home Tuesday) but she's working.

Saturday I go get Dad's present & wrap everything. I really meant to wrap stuff last Friday but just didn't get it done.

Plans are made for the New Year get-together. I'll need to make certain that we have everything for that. I haven't bought Keith's calendar yet. I've been buying him a T&A calendar for over a decade. I'm not certain how he'd react if I didn't give him one. I have most of them but I need to check that I haven't forgotten anyone.

Gaming: I've registered for WuKon. I changed one game; in part so that the game that Chris & Rosemary are playing will make. I emailed one of the organizers and it looks like I will get a chance to play Witch Hunter. He asked for games that I had not played, as suggestions for what to get.

Tatting: I'm still doing snowflakes but Jane, that naughty Jane. She has tempted me. She has a new technique for beaded picots & I soooo want to play with it.

I had this lovely post in my head and all ready to write it. Then mom calls. Aunt Evelyn died Wednesday. I never sent her Christmas present. The funeral's tomorrow. Wukon is this weekend. I'm so conflicted. And I keep crying.

clothes: silk blouses all week, yesterday wore a skirt, Wednesday wore a scarf in the metal hairstick (almost mantilla like)