Fruit, craftiness and nurturing

Above: strawberries in a berry bowl that Luisa and I made.

One of the things I love about this time of year is the fruit. Unlike the anemic and cardboard-like winter strawberries, strawberries now are sweet and full of flavour. Ditto for oranges and raspberries. Apples don't seem to suffer much (my favourite type is Royal Gala) in the winter so I tend to overdose on those in colder weather.

I'm revelling in the variety now, though, and come home from the market laden with different kinds of fruit. I like to line up the apples and oranges along the sunlit kitchen window sill where I can see them; I love the contrast of bright colours against the dark brown.



I went to my first 'Beyond Beginners' sewing class last week. Each of us brought our own project; I chose a dress that I hope to wear to Rand's and Erin's wedding, but it will depend on how the project turns out.

There are only four people in the class. One person only started sewing last week and the other two have had sewing machines for a while but haven't sewed much with them. I love the class space; it reminds me of my home office, with lots of creative clutter (Jeff would have another name for it, I think :-)... Two big tables for spread out patterns and material in the centre, lots of smaller tables with sewing machines and sergers (sergers!) and other equipment around the outside.

I learned how to alter my pattern BEFORE I sew it, and found out why I've been having so much trouble making dresses that actually fit -- my top half is apparently 3-4 sizes smaller than my bottom half, at least in terms of standard pattern sizes. I'm definitely pear-shaped! The instructor, mistakenly thinking I was embarrassed about this, hastened to reassure me that this was common. I reassured her that it was ok, and that I just wanted the dress to FIT. :-)



I've added beads to my butterfly fabric painting. Next step: sewing the tank top pieces together.



I keep forgetting to post the photo above: as part of my birthday present, Jeff had four of my Letterpress cards custom matted and framed. I've been working on more cards for Blush Publishing; I've had six approved and am working on the last two designs this weekend. You can buy the first four cards in my Etsy shop.



The squirrels have held off their attacks for now, happily. Either they've been distracted by something else, or they're re-grouping. Hopefully not the latter.

I'm glad, because my seedlings are thriving despite being now moved outdoors. I know I could just spend the money and buy full-grown plants, but I'm getting huge enjoyment out of the whole nurturing process: planting the seedlings, watching them sprout, moving them outdoors. Here are pics of just a few of the plants I'm growing from seed...

Snapdragons:



Basil:



Baby tomato:



Nasturtium:



Parsley:






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Gaming humor & a boardgame survey

So I've been enjoying BoardGameGeek.com and have been posting since February. If you're at all interested in board games, I strongly advise you to check it out. I'm looking forward to attending BGG.con this November.



Thanks so much to Sonja Elen Kisa for creating a Geeklist just about my cartoons (the photo at the top of Sonja's geeklist was taken by Walter and features my friend Andy and me, trying to shoot each other in a game of Cash'n'Guns) And I just found out that Gordon Yu listed me as one of his Geek Heroes!



Anyway, I've been posting some comics and cartoon caption challenges on BGG. You can see comics posted so far in my Flickr set, and I've also included some in today's Blatherpost. Don't be worried if you don't get some of them; I had help from some hardcore gamers for several and they reference specific games.



Today's survey: What's the last board game you played?





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Healing vibes

Please send healing wishes to my friend and work partner Beckett Gladney, who broke her leg yesterday. :-( See her husband's blog for details. Beckett's surgery went well, but she'll probably be on crutches for 6-8 weeks.



I've almost reached Buffalo in my Virtual Con Walk, following the Niagara River. I've been listening to a lot audio during my walks, including going through the archives of Escape Pod and PodCastle.

My recent favourite: Come Lady Death by Peter S. Beagle. It's about 41 minutes long, and you can listen to it right on the website if you don't have an MP3 player.

I've also started borrowing audiobooks from the library. Most recent listen: Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. I've always been a fan of survival stories.

Most recent print book reads:

A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer. I very much enjoyed House of the Scorpion so was intrigued when I saw this book by the same author. Very different story setting but engrossing as well as inspiring. As I mentioned before, I love survival stories!

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (re-read). It's been so long since I had read this that I had forgotten many of the details. Yes, it's somewhat depressing (one of the complaints I've heard about the book) but it's SO well-written, and I found all the historical details fascinating.



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Squirrels, painting and FilKONtario

Thanks to Sherman Dorn for pointing me to the above image in Timothy Burke's blog.

The power went off again last night. It was back on by the time we woke up this morning, but I have little doubt what caused it.



After my post about squirrels vandalizing the local power generator, Shane McEwan said that in Australia, they have possum problems instead of squirrels. "As they're nocturnal they only attack at night. Usually they content themselves with just having a party in the ceiling above your bedroom . . . all . . . bloody . . . night! Sometimes, however, they get a little boisterous and start playing on the power lines. Roasted possum hanging by their tail from power lines used to be a more common sight that those pairs of sneakers you see hanging from the power lines in front of crack houses."

Had problems getting e-mail most of yesterday; turns out it was because I went over my mailbox quota. :-( Thanks to Bryan Fullerton of Samurai Hosting for the help in getting things sorted out again. I ended up losing some e-mail so if you sent me something and don't get a reply soon, please do re-send. Thanks!

Thanks for the encouragement re: my painted tank tops. I put one of the finished tops into the washer and dryer machines yesterday, and the painting came through just fine...yay!

I wore it to an Urban Tapestry get-together last night with Allison and Jodi. We're already starting to make plans for next year's FilKONtario (April 3-5, 2009 in Toronto), where we're the Filk Waifs/Toastmasters. This is our VERY FIRST Toastmaster gig and it's going to be soooooooo fun, so make sure you come.

Heather Dale will be the Guest of Honour, Gerry and Sandy Tyra will be Interfilk Guests, and author Robert Sawyer will be the Author Guest. And Urban Tapestry will be the Toastmasters/Filk Waifs, of course. :-)

For more info, please see the FilKONtario website.



Urban Tapestry performing in Rochester. Photo by Korak.



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Balticon (part 7): final wrap-up

Photo by Korak

My Balticon report posts so far:

Balticon 42 - Part 1
Balticon 42 - Part 2
Balticon 42 - Part 3
Balticon 42 - Part 4
Balticon 42 - Part 5
Balticon 42 - Part 6

Allison's Balticon reports: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

I need to wrap up my Balticon report, though I could go on (and on) about all the cool people I met and wonderful things I saw. Clearly, I need to go back someday. Many thanks to the Balticon concom for inviting Urban Tapestry as Music Guests Of Honor. We had a fantastic time!

And here are just a few more personal highlights from the convention....



Photo by Korak


-- Dave Clement's concert. I always love hearing Dave sing any time, any place. His guitar broke a string partway through, but Tom replaced the string as well as lending Dave his own guitar until Dave's was ready. Yay, Tom!

-- Thanks to the generous France, who kindly offered to do a mini grocery run for us and bought fruit, cheese, crackers and other snacks. This ended up saving our bacon several times when got hungry, especially later at night when restaurants were closed.




-- 'Twas great to see so many people in the open filk each night; apparently this was fairly unusual for Balticon. From the Balticon Livejournal: "Sunday evening at 10 PM we had four (4) major activities that were all very well attended: the Sunday Night Film Festival, a book launch party with a concert by a local band with music written for / inspired by the book, George Hrab in concert in the hotel lounge / lobby, and an open filk circle with close to 50 people. On a Sunday night we had four events that had significant attendance."

Sadly, we ended up missing a few songs from a rock opera version of Dune in open filk; I hope we run into them again some other convention.



-- Balticon's con suite (above) was AMAZING. Holy cow....it was certainly the largest con suite I've ever seen.

-- Hearing Danny Birt (below) perform Tom Lehrer's Masochism Tango in open filk.



Photo by Korak

-- Seeing Debbie M. again; Debbie gave me a hand-designed card thanking me for supporting her in her walk for cancer in Relay For Life. One of these days Debbie and I have to sit down and have an actual conversation. We Debbies have to stick together, after all. :-)

-- Finally meeting Kathryn Cramer in person (we had crossed paths several times in Facebook).




-- Attending the Balticon Masquerade. As guests, we got prime seats in the front row, woohoo!



-- Loved the variety and creativity of all the costumes.



-- My favourite entry was the fairy tale theme Sleeping Beauty entry (above), not just because of the costumes but also the well-written and entertaining presentation. It ended up winning top prize in the Masquerade.

I especially got a kick out of the kids' masquerade entries. Some, like Erin (below), were a little shy. :-) Erin ended up being led across the stage by her parents, and she beamed at the audience the whole time as if she was thinking "hey, they're all looking at ME - how COOL!". Cuuuuuute. :-D



-- I was especially impressed by how much Masquerade event time was devoted to the Jack L. Chalker Young Writers' Contest, which is sponsored each year by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Marty Gear was an excellent Master of Ceremonies throughout:



-- I enjoyed Kallisti Tribal, both the music and the mesmerizing performance. What I loved the most: the joy in these women's faces, and their confidence in their bodies.



Photo by Allison

-- Another open filk highlight: hearing Gary sing a song he had written for Sheryl. It was great to be able to spend time with Sheryl and Gary at the beginning of the convention. Thanks also to Gary for taking us to The Walters Art Museum, where we saw a special map exhibit that included maps by Leonardo da Vinci, J. R. R. Tolkien's map of Minas Tirith, and Thomas Jefferson's map of the proposed contours of the states of the Union.



-- Gary was a WONDERFUL guest liaison, by the way. Thank you, Gary! Below: during the Filk 101 panel on Friday night.



Photo by Korak

-- Thanks also to Crystal (below), for helping us get us and our luggage to the airport on the way home. I've also been very much appreciating Crystal's sewing tips recently, and I asked her for more in the car when we were on the road.



- Another open filk highlight: hearing Maugorn perform his Cthulu reggae song.



But I have to stop now, else this Blathering (and this con report) will end up way too long. Ok, maybe it's already way too long. :-) I blame Balticon. Let me just say that Allison, Jodi and I enjoyed ourselves tremendously at Balticon as Music Guests Of Honor.



Anyway, I strongly encourage you all to check out Balticon when you have a chance. There's something there for everyone; browse through this year's pocket program (still online when I last checked) if you don't believe me. I hope to go back someday as a regular attendee. :-)

And once again....THANK YOU to the Balticon concom and volunteers for making Urban Tapestry feel so welcome!



Jodi, Allison and me, holding roses from Tom & Sue.



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