The Sights of Reston

I got home at a good-enough time to go hiking, but Phoenix was still in bed for about another hour. Instead of hiking, we spent the day resting. in the evening, we found Trader Joe's and got some groceries (and my magnetic personality attracted some strange old guy who thought I was an expert on cat food because I was wearing an American Humane Society member t-shirt), and then took a nice long walk. The last time we walked around the community, we went through a nearby park and some nice town homes. This time, we went in the other direction, where we knew there was a nature center. We did not get to the nature center building, but we did find their trail network. Along one of the chosen paths was a quartz vein. According to the information plaque, there are quite a few in the area. Both Phoenix and I wondered if that had something to do with why we liked it there so much. We also found that the trails lead right to the town home development that's adjacent to our condo complex. Easy access to trails! Huzzah!

Next time we walk that way, we're bringing cameras. I especially want some pictures of the huge boulders of quartz that are protruding from the ground. (Huge is relative, I've certainly seen bigger boulders, but I've never seen bigger chunks of quartz, not even at the Smithsonian.) We also made our way to one of the many lakes in the community by way of those trails. I hope we can go exploring back there again soon.

Tomorrow's plans to go hiking have changed. Han got in touch with me last minute to say the little group that went to King's Dominion last year would be going again tomorrow. While it meant cancelling plans with Phoenix, she was very encouraging about it. We'll get a chance to go hiking before her Idaho trip and break-in her new hiking boots later. Han is going to drive all the way out here to get me in the morning, so I better start packing up and get to bed!

It Did Not Rain

All of you people who wanted to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival today but did not because you were afraid of the rain really missed out. It was gorgeous! It didn't rain on us at all. It wasn't too hot and there was a nice breeze.

Beautiful weather should have translated to a great big turn-out, especially on a holiday weekend like this. But, all because the weather reports were calling for rain, and some areas did get rain, people didn't come. Nothing keeps crowds, and therefore sales, and therefore how much money I make, down like the threat of rain. I hope the rest of the weekend will make up for it.

Prelude to a Weekend

Phoenix and I have been pretty good about working out every day, though we both worked so hard yesterday it's just not going to happen today. That's ok, the weekend proves to be busy.

I had a record boring day at work. No jobs for the project I've been working all month came in, and only a small handful of them could actually be completed. Very few of my regular jobs came in as well. When Adolf came by at 1400 to see how things were looking and how much more work I had to do, I said I'd been twiddling my thumbs for ten minutes. In truth, it was more like two hours. I got the all clear to leave then. I took a nice nap, and now I think it's time for dinner.

Tomorrow, I have work at the Faire. On Sunday, Phoenix and I plan to go hiking if I get home soon enough, or we'll do that on Monday.

Message to Fox

Thanks for the whistles, I really think they work!

Blue Ridge

While driving back from work and a quick stop at the store, I noticed something. On a stretch of road that I only drive when I run by the store after work, there was one little place where the trees broke and the blue silhouette of the mountains was clearly visible. I suppose it's about conditions being just right: the day being clear and humidity down, but I'm very glad they were right today.

I love those mountains, their quiet stillness and peaks rounded with age. And I love how they make their presence known even in places where I think I'm too far away, or there is too much in the way, to see them.

Waking in Shards

My very bad cat made a very big mess.

At just about 0300, Miss Luna decided she wanted me to be awake, so she tried to take the place of my alarm clock by knocking it off the night table. For about an hour and a half, I fought with her on this. At around 0430, I was wishing she would just lay down next to the dragons, like she usually did when she was hungry and wanted breakfast. I got my wish.

Now, I have a small electric light on that dresser. It's one of those candle-looking lamps that people put in their windows during Christmas time. Mine has a little shade on it. Miss Luna knocks this thing off all the time. Since I brought it, I've been telling myself that I need to tack it down because eventually she's going to knock it off the dresser and the bulb is going to break. When I picked it up last night, I didn't put the shade back on.

When Miss Luna jumped up, she knocked it off, as usual. It hit the bed just right, breaking the candle part clean off and shattering the light bulb all over me, who would otherwise have been sleeping soundly in bed. I grumbled, turned on a light, and started cleaning up. I was picking large and small bits of glass from the floor, my slippers, my shoes, the mattress, my pillow, my hair. I never knew a tiny little light bulb could break into so many annoying, taunting pieces of glass. There was no going back to bed, so I just got ready for work with intent to wash my sheets when I got home.

I've a few tiny cuts on my fingers and I think I spent the day with a little piece of glass or glass dust in my eye. You can squirm, I'll wait.

I just dowsed my eyeball with tons of stinging water and I hope that will do. In fact, I think I'll go do that again. At least I know enough not to rub.

That little black cat is a terror! But a cute and fuzzy terror. And I'll look for a much heavier lamp to put there.

Twitch

I wish I had my hot water bottle, because I think it would help.

I didn't sleep very well last night, which made no sense because I was exhausted. My body just wouldn't settle down. Today, one of the muscles in my left thigh has been twitching like crazy. It's not painful, just funky, and it's been that way for a few hours. Maybe I should drink some water.

I've been spending much of the recent days at work filling myself with coffee. I've only had one cup today, and I'll have tea if I want more. That's got to be better for me.

Uncooperative Project

I woke up pretty late this morning (comparatively speaking), and threw some laundry in the wash, emptied the dishwasher, and went through my fabric. I have a tone of this gorgeous plush velvet, and that's inspired me to do another doll. The velvet reminds me of a nice warm cloak, so I want to do a winter doll (which will probably translate into all four seasons). Unfortunately, I only have black, green, and burgundy in this velvet; I really wish I had some blue. That would make it perfect.

In any event, I went through my fabric. I probably won't end up using the plush velvet at all, but I do have a nice white crushed velvet that will make a fine winter cloak too.

The base dolls that I've been able to find lately have all had this super-annoying glittery make-up. It's really really hard to get glitter paint off a doll and, while I was working, the black eyelashes smudged into one of the doll's eyes. That means the entire eye will have to come off. I tend to do partial repaints, that is, painting over the factory paint where I can because it makes the finished paint job much more symmetrical than if I did the whole thing free-hand. What's extra annoying about this is that the other eye did not get smudged with black and did not have to be completely removed. So, I have two options. I can re-paint the removed eye using the factory paint eye as a guide, then remove that and re-paint that one. Or, I can scrap the winter doll and turn this one into a pirate. Phoenix and one of my coworkers both suggested the latter.

I've done a complete re-paint before, on one of the dolls that I don't have pictures for yet, but I just don't prefer it. Maybe I'll give it a try and if it doesn't work, I'll go with the pirate idea. I've seen some people do truly horrible full re-paints on their dolls. I refuse to produce anything like that. Whatever ends up happening, it will work out just fine, even if plans have to change a bit.

Tolls Again

While I thought I drank enough, and I'm sure I ate enough, I did not escape a little bit of heat exhaustion. Neither did Phoenix, but it hit her sooner and she recovered before the end of the day.

By the end of the day, I felt quite ill. We made a quick trip to the house, fed and shot the Callie-cat, de-corseted, downed an Excedrin; and then Phoenix drove us home, I just couldn't do it. We could have stayed at my parent's place, but if one of us had the energy to drive home, why not do it? It's always better to be in your own bed. While both places have a bed for me, I understand why Phoenix wanted to be home.

Halfway here, I started feeling better. Maybe it was the pill, or the rest, or the cool dark night. I'm actually working next week. I'll be sure to be more careful.

Tolls

Overtime is taking its toll, and I knew it would. I'm too tired to work out today. I bought a couple more dolls for some projects I have planned, and I hope to get started on Sunday.

I didn't win The Dreamer fan art contest, but that's quite alright. It was really an excuse to answer my muse, and that inspiration has yet to die out.

Tomorrow, Phoenix and I will head to the first day of the Maryland Renaissance Festival. It should be fun, and maybe even not too hot.