Travelling Time and Space

It's over. Finally. Jeanne - after her mad coursing across the sea and trashing the Bahamas and Haiti - had her go at Florida last weekend and is now gone, gone, gone. Again, we were pretty lucky in Jacksonville which is geographically located in a way that in 99 of 100 cases it only gets brushed by Hurricanes. The real danger here comes from flooding and hurricane-spawned tornadoes - something new I learned :)

Anyhow, she's gone, the streets downtown are slowly de-flooding and despite lots of rain and lots of wind life this past weekend was pretty normal. We stayed inside and had plenty of fun family time together and aside from some flickering of the lights and a clean-swept porch with a tipped over chair all remained as it should be, the a/c running, the lights on, hot dinner and a good movie to follow.

Some well wishing for no more hurricanes would be really appreciated though. I doubt Florida - now called the Plywood State instead of Sunshine State - could take more damage :(

Our Panhandle Eventsite seems to be doing fine though; the siteowner sent us a very positive email telling us that ground and building and electricity are still there. How awesome is that ? *GRINS* After so many event cancellations [we had 4 hurricanes in 6 weeks and they all hit the weekends] Panhandle wouldn't have been rescheduled but cancelled for good. There're not enough weekends for all the other cancelled events to be rescheduled lready and we haven't had Crown Lyst yet. No heir to the realm ! Oh, the horror !

Maybe we'll have it at Panhandle ;) Now, that'd be cool *L*

It's saturday morning and we're now under Hurricane watch [for those not living in Hurricane central this means we're to expect hurricane conditions during the next 36 hours]. The 3-day tracking map puts us right into the path of the eye so this time it's going to get bad :( Really bad.

More tomorrow - maybe. That is if we still have power ...

After oodling and doodling about out on sea pretty much destroying Haiti while trying to make up her mind about what to do next Jeanne has finally decided to move on.

Where to ?

Well, guess ! I'll make it easy for you and give you three choices :

1) Florida

2) Florida

3) Florida

More on that after this $#$#^%&&**(( weekend

Hmmm, my writings here are again somewhat on the flakey side. Odd, since nothing is really distracting me :)

Last night we met with Tim's parents and brother in Daytona. They'd hoped down from PA for  quick visit and celebration of Tim's sister passing the BAR test [no, no drinking involved ...heh, at least not before the test *g*] and couldn't bear the thought of not seeing their grandkid when being so close. So we drove down, met halfway and had a fun dinner together with Finn making mad dashes towards the restaurnt kitchen after he'd had his share of food. I wonder what he wanted in there : the food wasn't bad, really ! *L*

Since we came back home awefully friggin' late last night, Finn was a tad out of the loop today : sleepy, whiney, hyper, goofy and cranky all at once. He demanded to be put into his crib at 6pm and now - 2 hours later - I can hear him talk to the plushdog that sleeps with him. Hopefully he'll go back to sleep because now -I- am tired and don't feel like entertaining anymore. Afterall, I did some laundry, some cooking, lots of cleaning up after the Finnster while entertaining him, gave him and the cat a bath [no kidding ! More on that later ;) ] and didn't have anytime to myself so far. Now it's time for a nice hot shower !

Tata !

 

Reading through my emails I just want to do one thing and that over and over again:

Bang my head against something hard like the tabletop or maybe the wall.

*sigh*

 

 

Forgot to tell you :

I now have a SCANNER ! *does the happy dance* Didn't cost a fortune, was quickly installed and works like a breeze :)

*happy sigh*

 

... is now in bed and asleep and so it's quiet and peaceful after a looooong day trying to entertain a cranky and whiney 1 y/o. It just wasn't his kind of day and it was raining so on top of everything we were stuck at home or else I'd have taken him to the beach. In that respect he takes after me : some beach, some shore and water and happy we are :)

Yesterday I had the first paint-a-scroll night over at our place. Tamara, Darlene and Martine showed up and except for two we managed to paint all the scrolls I'd prepared so far. 19 to count ! Awesome ! One more night and we're done with those Panhandle thank-you-scrolls and can turn to painting other scrolls. Wheeeee !

Hopefully, we'll be able to go to next week's meeting. It's odd that I'd at one point like going to meetings again but it's close to no bullshit/arguements/never ending discussions, I get to meet people that do not dabble in the fine arts of calligraphy and illumination and Finn loves to run after the other kids and to play with them while everybody else is having fun goofing around too. And then there are the classes after the meetings :) Sooner or later I'll end up teaching one too, heh *L* So far I've promised our MoAS to teach three classes

- drawing a medieval vine border

- buttonmaking the period way

- norse fashion

And yes, I'm insane ;) but I'm having fun !

Your Brain Usage Profile:

Auditory : 12%
Visual : 87%
Left : 55%
Right : 44%

You are somewhat left-hemisphere dominant and a predominantly visual learner, an interesting blend of characteristics!

You are an intensely visual person, active and continuously searching. As such, there is no rhythm or beat to limit your learning. You are constantly absorbing and imaging. Your tendency to be left- hemisphere dominant, however, creates some difficulties. You continue to attempt to structure all that input and categorize it, at the same time continuing to seek out new input while "reflecting" in what you have already gained.

When faced with situations where you have to rely on verbal input exclu- sively, you may find yourself needing to work more on maintain- ing an "overview" or perspective in order to fully grasp the material. It is likely that "sketching out" a representation of material that you are listening to will enhance your understanding and recall of the material. Drawing diagrams and note- taking allow you to "see" the relationships and absorb them more fully.

You tend to focus on details and are generally logical and organized. You have an intensity which is evident to others and yet can feel comfortable with the applied aspects of learning, the practical.

 

http://www.mindmedia.com/brainworks/profiler" title="http://www.mindmedia.com/brainworks/profiler" target="_blank"http://www.mindmedia.com/brai...

Now it's back to writing up the handout for the "Norse Fashion Show" - among other projects. So far I've almost covered the whole female part of the fashions and the male dress is next followed by a collection of patterns. When I'm done, I'll cut and edit to have a smaller handout for a shire class held after one of the next meetings.

I'm really getting into the whole teaching aspect of SCA life. Who'd have thought -that- ? *L* Although, it does get me into some sort of identity crisis : does that make me an apprentice or a protege ? *scratches head* Or just a nut ? ;)

Anyhow, I'm having fun, and there's going to be more ! I might actually kick off the whole fellowship idea [if so, more on that later] and there're two webpages that need some coding. Yesterday, after the scribal tea we posed for pictures for the scribal webpage. Awesome, I tell you ! We hd so much fun *L* I think we should do that more often :)

Tonight, however, I think I'll finish painting some more kingdom scrolls. Time to turn them in :o)

Okay, so thursday was our Shire's business meeting. Short and sweet - just how I love it. I announced my scribal tea for sunday and came home pretty late making Finn happy all the same because his Daddy was there when we got home and he was allowed to stay up a bit longer for some father-son-games.

Friday was Tim's birthday. He now belongs to the club of the oooold people since he hit the thirties *g* oh, and he's making always fun of me being 2 years older than he is so it's only fair I now get to return the favor. Finn and I woke him up singing "Happy Birthday" and carrying a muffin with  candle [ a cake is just too much to eat ]. Finn helped Tim unwrap the presents :o) he remembered that part from his own birthday two weeks ago.

Today, saturday, after much needed sleeping in and napping we went to the Riverside Art Festival. Finn had a blast climbing the structure on the playground and sliding down the slides with Daddy. He'd have had even more fun if we'd allowed him to eat the woodshavings but we insisted on 'real' dinner for our munchkin. Tim and I had fun looking at all the different kinds of art; we loved the renaissance-style green man fountains and plaques the most. They'd look awesome in a nice backyard. Yet another reason to rent a house when we move :o)

That's it for today. Finn's splashing about in the bathtub under Tim's watchful eyes and having a great time. It's almost time to get him ready for bed and then we're in for a laaaazy evening with a movie and good food.

Weekend ! Enjoy yours :o)

 

Tonight I finished my handout for the second illumination class on sunday and tested my instructions on hubby when he came home.

It worked !

My beloved guinea-pig managed to draw his first medieval-style vine border and was surprised how simple it was. And that's my point - it is not as difficult as it seems and with a little practice and guidance everybody can do it !

So I'm looking forward to sunday and the fun-time all those scribal people and I have together. We are going to take pictures for our webpage too. Now I only have to come up with an idea for food ...

Tata !

Not really. Actually, considering that I usually start working on my classes and their hand-outs a week before the actual date of the class one might assume I'm rather fond of deadlines. Tight ones *G*

So after dealing with the Frances aftermath cleaning up the house, doing laundry, discarding unsafe food from fridge and freezer and replacing them - as far as possible - with new stuff from the supermarket [discovering that milk was out among other things, and the shelves looked pretty ransacked too] all the while entertaining the Finndragon who now can't stop walking following me around the house in his drunken sailor swagger I finally sat down tonight and started laying out the basic concept for my second class on illumination for my next scribal tea.

This sunday *G*

It's going to be on the actual drawing-part and I hope that by the end of the class each of my "scribalees" are going to be able to draw a little border illumination.

Wish me luck !

Life with electricity is so much better !

Thanks to Frances we lost power on sunday night, just when the storm over Jax picked up and dinner was cooked and Finn was on his way to bed. Having no a/c sucked big time as the humidity crept into everything and made you feel hot and sticky and sweaty and didn't really let you sleep through the night. It rained all day, but it wasn't too bad. I didn't really expect to see uprooted trees nearby and was quite surprised seeing them at the entrance to our apartmentcomplex. Nothing bad happened though and on monday night at around 9pm we got our power back - whee !

So today it's all about cleaning up, restoring the storage room that was turned safetyroom and replacing the food that's gone bad in the fridge and the freezer and inviting people over who're still without power over for a hot shower and a cup of coffee.

Talk to you later !

Nope, not gone. Still there, teasing us with deliberate dawdling over the Bahamas.

I mean, c'mon, it's "moving" at 6mph [that's about 9 km/h] that means it's more or less rotating on the spot, still big, still bringing lots of rain and wind and damage and danger. It just takes Frances -ages-.

Instead of early saturday she's now sort of expected over here by monday because she won't get around to do landfall before tonight or maybe even tomorrow morning. Let's just hope she's not your typical girl prepping up and getting ready for the rendezvous. That would suck. Right now she's down to being a cat 2 storm which is only bad because she's so slow. She is doing less damage than a cat 3 or 4 but since she's moving so slow she's got more time to do damage, basically accomplishing the same in the end. More or less.

Unfortunately, and some will say it's like that with all girls, hurricanes are not very reliable fellows slowing down and speeding up and changing directions just how and when and where they like, so keep your fingers crossed even though they are probable slowly starting to go numb from all that finger-crossing for the past week. It's not over yet ...

This morning the phone rang at 8am. It was my Mom calling from germany to get the latest update on Frances ploughing through the Bahamas on her way to us Floridians.

Nevermind the fact that at 8am - if Finn's been merciful - we're usually still in bed and haven't had the time to check the news or radio or online *G* So I sat down talking to her and found out that Frances had lost some speed and had been downgraded to a Category 3 storm. Well, that's still bad since it still means lethal danger for lives and property, but it's a little less bad than a Category 4 or bigger storm ravaging the lands. And you have to keep in mind this thing is just mindblowingly huge. It's tropical storm wind radius extends a 185 miles from the eye ... Florida's penninsula is 150 miles wide.

Yep, coverage is still good.

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v53/miolfhiodh a/frances090104-1215z.jpg" title="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v53/miolfhiodh a/frances090104-1215z.jpg" target="_blank"http://img.photobucket.com/al...">

More later !

The weatherchannel and the latest news on the  http://www.noaa.gov/" title="http://www.noaa.gov/" target="_blank"http://www.noaa.gov/
 webpage have become my favorites. It's just like you have to keep an eye or ear or both on what the storm is doing and how close it's going to hit.

Because, it is going to hit. I mean, it's a ridiculous 185 miles wide. Florida's tip is a mere 120 miles. What does that tell you ?

Good coverage.

For now my curious and adventurous side is getting the better of me, and in the past I usually was at my calmest and most controlled when the stress was the worst. I finished setting up our safety room so Finn and I can cuddle down with food and water while the storm rages through Jacksonville. If it hits us during daytime, hubby is going to be at the newspaper which is as safe. If it happens during the night it's going to be rather cozy because the little storage room is really not that big *G*

Just keep your fingers crossed that "Frances"

a) will lose some of her 'drive' before landfall and doesn't hit as a Cat 4 or worse storm

b) nobody will be without electricity and water for too long

c) it will not change course

Thanks :o)

 

We have another hurricane coming our way and this time it seems that it's going to hit us - or at least hit very very close.

Frances is on her way and we're getting ready for the worst. She's currently a category 4 hurricane and looks more widespread than Charley. People expect her to hit the Jacksonville area by saturday or sunday. At the moment she's brushing the caribbean islands and ruining their weather bad.

So today I'll be doing some hurricane shopping and stock up on edibles and water and maybe try to find a cheap propane stove thing, just in case. We will wait until tomorrow evening before deciding wether Finn and I are going to leave Jacksonville for the weekend or if we're going to stay with the option of seeking shelter at the newspaper. It's a rather sturdy building with a bsement, you know, and you can't write news if you're dead ;o)

Anyhow, it's going to be one hell of a weekend. Too bad Frances is going to ruin the labor day weekend though :o(

I'll keep you uptodate ! Tata !