Bon Vivant, Glamour Girl and International Woman of Mystery

(Note: Part of a series of entries from my handwritten travel journal.)

Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Awoke at 5am this morning and the boat wasn't moving. Woke up again at 7am, not moving, lots of fog. We were put behind schedule by the fog so we won't land on Kizhi Island until 8pm, well past our scheduled 4pm stop. ( Read more... )

(Note: Part of a series of entries from my handwritten travel journal.)

Sunday, 28 July 2013

We had a tour of Yaroslavl. ( Read more... )

(Note: Part of a series of entries from my handwritten travel journal.)

Friday, 26 July 2013

Today was the big Red Square/Kremlin tour with the group and guide. We got to go inside St. Basil's Cathedral (btw, in Russian it's not Basil, it's Vasily), which I didn't even know you could do! ( Read more... )

(Note: Part of a series of entries from my handwritten travel journal.)

Wednesday, 24 July 2013.

After a nap from 7-9pm we woke up and decided that we weren't likely to get another chance to be in Moscow anytime soon, so instead of laying about in bed like we were inclined, we got up and went out. It was still light out so that was a good start! ( Read more... )

This morning when I got dressed cathyn said, "You should remember that outfit!" so I told him to take a picture. ( Fripperies )

Stand back, I'm doing Science!

As I mentioned last week, I set out to do some experimentin' this weekend. The question: Would starch tinted with beets wash clean out of linen? ( Make your wagers now! )

We've got these high ceilings in our house, and not enough art, so many of our large walls have nothing on them. I've been staring at the large empty wall in our bedroom for almost 10 months now thinking, man, that's a huge space just waiting for some large piece of art, but never finding anything that was 1) a good fit and 2) aesthetically pleasing to us both and 3) affordable.

Well, the last week or so I've been off work, and I'll admit that over the last 10 months I've though to myself several times, "If I only had the time I'd just get a giant canvas and Do Some Art myself for that space." And then last week I thought, "Why bother with the canvas? It's my house." So Monday as we were driving home from a Labor Day BBQ with some friends I screwed up my courage and said to cathyn, "Would you mind if I did some art on the bedroom wall?" I didn't expect the response I got. I have to admit that because of past experiences (which never seem to go away and haunt the subconscious forever, apparently) I expected a negative or lukewarm response. He said, "Have at it! That would be awesome! Do you want me to drive you to Michael's for some paint, or supplies? Rock that shit!"

So I did. I went to Aaron Brothers (because Michael's is where creativity goes to die) and grabbed about $30 worth of paint pens.

Me: Hi, do you have paint pens?
Young Clerk: Yeah, we have the Sharpie ones here, and back here are the graffiti paint pens...
Me: Why, do I look like a criminal?
YC: Uh..er.. no, um... (panics)
Me: It's ok, I totally am.

Poor kid. Anyway, Aaron Brothers totally hooked me up. And I spent yesterday and this morning making the wall less boring. ( I did an Art! )

I'd approximate that it's about 8 feet wide by 4 feet tall. I know you can't really see the details, it's hard to get it all in one shot and get the details. It's black paint pen with silver metallic paint pen for contrast. I think the silver gives it a slightly ethereal quality, which is great for a bedroom. Anyway, if you happen to stop by feel free to ask to come up and see my bedroom wall if you like. I won't take it the wrong way.

I don't know if it's good or bad, I try not to pass judgement on my own stuff. I just know I enjoyed making it, and it beats the hell out of a blank wall.

The really great thing, other than creating something, was cathyn's response when he saw it. He was so enthusiastic and supportive. He apparently had no idea I had this in me. I did, but obviously it's not something one has the opportunity to do very often. Obviously, if this whole IT thing doesn't work out I can look into a career as a graffiti artist. I hear the hours are terrible, but the pay is awful.

And of course, I still have the pens so tweaking may occur over the next few...well, until Cathyn takes them away from me.

Thanks to the enraged Protestants of the 16th Century, we know that the great ruffs of that era were dyed a rainbow of colors. According to Philip Stubbes, in his lengthy (and hilarious) polemic The Anatomie of Abuses the great monstrous Ruffes were "of all colours and hewes, as White, Redde, Blewe, Purple, and the like."

When I initially contemplated adding color to my starch I was thinking blue or yellow because those were common - blue using smalt or yellow using saffron (particularly in the early 17th Century if the frothy climax of Protestant indignation over the saffron dyed ruffs peaking around 1620 is any indication). And yet every time I talked about it with people invariably the thing people wanted to see was pink or purple ruffs. Me too!

( Yeah, it totally worked! )

On our last day in Greenland we had enough time to go for a final hike, to properly bid it farewell. Much as I love Greenland, I cannot honestly conceive of a scenario in which I would visit again, I mean, without becoming some kind of obsessive weirdo. ( Read more... )

Today we took an 8-hour boat ride, we visited a village located on a glacier fjord, then we cruised through the icebergs. But the first thing we saw was a humpback whale:

( Motorboating Greenland!! )