3 April 2009
The first Friday of the faire season for me. This is a jewellery mannequin that, during faire, holds jewellery for both Marita Beth & me.

Over the last 25 years, we’ve gathered quite a bit of faire-specific jewellery, so this little mannequin is quite useful in addition to being fun to look at.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 7 April 2009)

Listening to:
The Bottom Line by Big Audio Dynamite
from The 12" Singles

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 160
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

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7 April 2009

This is a photo of our shiny new water valves that feed water to the washing machine. That is the short explanation of the plumbing adventures had today. The long version includes MaritaBeth trying to save an $80 service call on something she thought she could fix, and discovering instead that the pipes and fittings and valves in our house are so old, they fall apart rather than allow themselves to be handled. So, nearly $500 later, the plumber is gone and the $80 service call for the washer still happens tomorrow! The good news is that the very nice plumber said it’s a blessing in disguise that I caused this leak today. It being that easy to manifest, it was close to happening even without human intervention, and then I’d have had a slow leak I probably wouldn’t have known about, gradually soaking the drywall in at least two or three walls!
Or worse . . . so woo hoo! It’s just so hard to get enthusiastic about home repair bills!

In the workshop, there are sleeves and codpieces and pouches happening. I thought perhaps I’d actually finish something today, but I am simply too tired. I’m going to step outside and soak in a little full moon magic and then go to bed.

~MB

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6 April 2009

One of the many, many things that bonded Ginger and I to one another years ago, was the fact that we are both April babies. Her birthday was today, making her twelve days older than me.

I snapped this photo during the dessert course of our little dinner out at Italianni’s. It started as a photo of the yummy and decadent dessert I shared, and ended up as a really cute birthday portrait of a sort.  Unfortunately, I actually forgot my camera, so I took this picture with Ginger’s little Sony camera.  I’m pretty sure its format will be totally different from every other photo I’ve ever posted to Flickr or The KRuMB—but, oh well.  At least it’s not a day without a photo!

Dinner out was the culmination of an interesting day. I actually had a productive, and fun day. I did a bunch of paperwork, phone calls, and computer work dealing with both Pendragon Costumes and East Wind Games business, had lunch with friends at a great little Mediterranean cafe and hookah bar, had a nice little visit with Kathel about a hat, and even got some sewing done before donning a velvet dress and heading out to dinner.

Kyle, however, had the day from hell at work, missed his soccer game due to a 6 p.m. meeting, and never got home ’til after nine o’clock! He was long asleep and trying to forget the day by the time I got home around eleven.

Tomorrow will be better for him. Besides, today was for Ginger! Happy Birthday, sweetheart!

~MB

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5 April 2009
Sunday

Pretty sad when you’re surrounded by the loveliness of faire all day, and what you’ve photographed at the end of it, is nothing but string lights and a plastic bottle!

Sunday of opening weekend was quite lackluster in comparison with both Saturday and our expectations. It was cold and windy, and the crowd was small. We managed to pull a decent day out of it, but it wasn’t much fun. The highlight of my day was actually the quiet, peaceful dinner I enjoyed with only my husband, at Chili’s on the way home.

~MB

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4 April 2009
Opening Day Scarborough Renaissance Festival

The fruits of my recent efforts—-Joe and Cindy showed up at faire today, looking amazing! I am very proud.

My two completed performing company members also looked grand—Frank got a couple of good shots of them for me, that I look forward to receiving.

Opening day was beautiful—fabulous weather, happy people, and sales at Pendragon to be celebrated! East Wind Games will have to wait for its stellar sales weekends until later in the show, if this year is true to form. But, at least we all had fun! And, my new staff did a super job of jumping right in and learning and doing, and making the customers happy!

Next weekend . . . the wedding!

~MB

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3 April 2009
Friday

I slept last night—a full seven hours! Of course, that put me almost exactly seven hours behind! My patient friends Joe and Cindy sat here with me in my dining room while I finished the hand-sewing on her bodice, so they could take their otherwise (mostly) finished order away with them and wear it to faire on Saturday morning. They look amazing in their new duds! I am quite proud. This photo is of Joe in his ensemble, standing in my messy living room!

Next week, I’ll get some of the items back from them, so I can add some embellishment and attach Joe’s codpiece. But, for now, it’s done, and they will look like visiting royalty at faire tomorrow!

~MB

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2 April 2009
Marita Beth rightly decided that my shop at faire was entirely too devoid of signage and decoration. I mentioned earlier that a focus would be on decoration, but appropriate signage will play its part, too. Thus, this photo.

I have "Treasure Maps in a Bottle" that I sell. It was badly in need to some sort of sign. So, I launched Photoshop, loaded a a Ancient Maps brush set I picked up at DeviantArt and went to town. The font is Black Adder and sits on top of a slightly faded world map proudly boasting Treasure Maps £10. I then burnt the edges with a lighter and smoked the face by holding it over a lit candle. I’m quite fond of the result. The composition of the photo, however, is quite an accident showing my wine glass in the photo.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 6 April 2009)

Listening to:
Fill the Void by Oingo Boingo
from Good for the Soul

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.1 sec (1/10)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

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1 April 2009
April Fool’s Day – and the birthday of my favourite barkeep. Happy Birthday, Trista!
Day at work followed by birthday party at bar followed by going home having forgotten completely to take any photos at all.
0805 Selfie (which has not been nearly as consistent as I wanted) to the rescue.

I placed the camera inside the lampshade turned it toward myself and glared through the dangles. The result amuses me.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 6 April 2009)

Listening to:
La Pared by Shakira
from Fijacion Oral

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: +1/3 EV
Flash: Off

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2 April 2009
Thursday

I am always embarrassed that although I have an April birthday, it’s usually about April in the year, when I start forgetting other birthdays. I start off strong . . . but . . .

I do really well with January and February and pretty good with March. My brother is 11 February; my mama is 27 March. But, by April—and there are SO MANY—they start to fall through the cracks of my mental calendar. So, to all those I love whose birthdays fall in March, or April or May . . . I suck, I’m sorry. I hope you know I love you even if you don’t get a card or an email telling you specifically, “Happy Birthday!”

Of course, it could be that part of my forgetfulness is caused by the sleep deprivation that is typical in my March and early April each year.
I guess I cannot claim a total all-nighter last night . . . I did fall asleep for about ten minutes! I crawled in bed and curled up next to my warm husband at 6:45 a.m., having been unable to keep my eyes open to sew on beads! It took a few minutes for the buzz to quit in my brain, and then the alarm rang at 7 a.m.!

This is a close-up of the fabric I worked with much of the night—Joe’s Tudor doublet. By tomorrow . . . hopefully . . . I’ll be done looking at it for a while!

~MB

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1 April 2009

April Fool’s Day
Wednesday

I am staring another all-nighter in the face . . . right now there’s no time to sew my new booth curtains, but the fabric is in the washing machine.

~MB

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