Crochet

 Here are some happy things from today:

• Leaving for work in the middle of a clear night allows me to view the stars.  The Big Dipper was overhead and Orion to the west as I paused to look up before entering my car.  I wonder how different they will be as I go on my long hike.  
• Bel and I now have a couple of start date options for the hike.  It looks like we might have a little less time, like a week, for the first part of our excursion.  Then come back for the SCA event where Keziah and I will step down as Baron and Baroness.  We will then head back to where we left off to resume our hike.  This will give us just enough time to work out whatever seems wrong on the trail.  We will be back in the real world to resupply, get things we need, and leave what we don't need.  
• There is Open Studio time at DIY Craft & Thrift on Thursdays.  People bring a craft, sit around a table, and socialize.  Tonight was the first time I went to participate.  I got some yarn and started crocheting.  Then I got a text message reminding me of a meeting.  I took my crochet to Zed's office and listened to the meeting while I crocheted.  I almost finished two granny squares!

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Currently listening to: To the Woods: A Journey Along the Appalachian Trail, by John Scott.

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

 

Snowy Morning

Wednesday already!  Here are some happy things from today:

• It was snowing while I listened to my audiobook and drove to work last night.  It didn't seem like there was too much snow, so I drove myself in my car.  The last time it snowed I asked someone with a better snow car to drive me in.  By taking it slow, I made it into work okay.  The audiobook I am listening to is about hiking the Appalachian Trail.  Timing being what it is, last night I listened about storms in the mountains and how hikers can be caught unaware in the White Mountains when there will suddenly be a snow storm and how people die enough on Mount Washington that there is a plaque to remember them by.  All of this is to say that I'm really glad I made it to work safely.
• Since my car is not a winter car, when I got home, I didn't turn into the driveway full of snow.  I parked the car on the side of the road, walked in, and did a few things inside before heading back out.  When I got outside, Bel had started shoveling!  I helped them finish up the rest.  It reminded me of when they were much younger and used to help me shovel.  With the driveway shoveled, my car made it up the hill with no problem.

• Friends have been posting about getting sick after Birka with one thing or another.  Somehow,  I'm still okay.  One more day of work, then I can rest.

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Currently listening to: To the Woods: A Journey Along the Appalachian Trail, by John Scott.

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Time Flies

Here are some happy things from today:

Yesterday, right before bed, I remembered that I misplaced my wallet.  I'm very thankful that Keziah found it in my jacket in her van.  Partially because of that, I had a hard time sleeping.  I'm so glad my wallet was found!

The work day seemed to fly by.  That was nice since I didn't get enough sleep.

Sunset!

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Currently listening to: To the Woods: A Journey Along the Appalachian Trail, by John Scott.

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Wicked Short

Today was a day of rest.  That is what Zed likes to call it.  I said I was being lazy when I spent the day on the couch.  It was a busy weekend and sometimes doing nothing is okay.  I played games on my phone and watched a movie.  

Then there was a sunset.  As usual, my phone camera doesn't do it justice.

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Currently listening to: To the Woods: A Journey Along the Appalachian Trail, by John Scott.

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Birka End

Here are some happy things from today 

• This morning I woke up earlier than I probably should have and went to the hotel gym.  I was definitely feeling guilty about not doing the stairs as much as I wanted to and not getting my step count.  Yesterday I had at least 8 hours sitting in court or meetings. At the hotel gym, I learned that I don't really know how to use the machines.  It isn't that I don't know how to use them at all, but that I don't know the best way to get them to let me move at my own pace with what I choose for an incline. I did a couple of short workouts, I'm glad I did.  If I don't get out and do more hiking on my days off, I really should consider joining a gym for a month or so.  Before 8 AM I had over 4000 steps.  Yay!
• There isn't as much that happens on Sundays at this event.  There was one meeting that I knew of and some of the merchants remained open.  The rest is clean up time.  I attended the meeting and wandered the merchants.  Keziah and I selected the winners of the Baron and Baroness Merchants Choice Award.  I didn't spend as much time helping with pack down as I expected, but they seemed to have everything under control.
• Right before I left someone came up to me to let me know that for them, the event was an enchanting and magical time.  That one comment was just what I needed to hear.

One of the two machines I exercised with.

Keziah got a dragon!

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Currently listening to: To the Woods: A Journey Along the Appalachian Trail, by John Scott.

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Birka Day Two

 It was a long and full day.  I limited what to write about.  I'm so thankful to all the friends who helped out today.  Here are some happy things from a very long and tiring day:

• There were two large Royal courts today.  In all honesty, the day is a blur.  There were many wonderful people that received well deserved awards.  Some of the awards that stand out are the peerages.  There were two Pelicans (service), a Laurel (Arts), and a Master of Defense (rapier).  I know them all, but the Master of Defense and Pelicans the most.  One being a member of my SCA household and the others often camp with us at Pennsic.  
• The event this weekend, Birka, is the result of one man's dream over thirty year's ago.  Baron Olaf wanted an event that revolved around merchants.  It grew to become the largest East Kingdom non-war SCA event.  Baron Olaf passed away around ten years ago.  Today Keziah was given some pins that Olaf made many years ago.  We gave some of them to the event stewards from today as well as two from previous years.  Olaf was a dear friend to me and my family.  I think he would have been happy with how we presented them.
• The Barony was given an award called the Company of Fellowship.  That is a large honor for our group.
• We have a large amount of banners that hang at Birka every year.  Each one represents someone from the Barony of Stonemarche.  They add so much to the atmosphere of the event.  These are mostly the result of one woman's work.  Today she was made a Tyger of the East which is an award of honor.  I believe this is the highest honor that one can receive in the East Kingdom.

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Currently listening to: To the Woods: A Journey Along the Appalachian Trail, by John Scott.

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

First day at Birka

Happy Friday!  Here are some happy things from my day:

• Yesterday I posted about Keziah's store being on NH Chronicle.  The new link is available, so if you haven't seen it and are interested, this one should work: DIY.  Since Keziah and I are at an SCA event this weekend, she hasn't been to the store since the program was aired.  From what we heard, there were quite a few people that stopped by because they saw the segment on NH Chronicle.  I'm very happy for her and this business that she created.
• For some reason my day started out with me being very anxious about getting ready for the event.  I don't know why, but it led to me getting side tracked.  I left later than I had hoped, but I didn't need to be there as early as I arrived, so that was fine.  I said one stupid thing to someone that I hope didn't go over too poorly.  In the end, I don't know why I was so anxious, but I am, thankfully, more relaxed now.  
• When I got to the event things seemed to go well.  I saw some people I wanted to.  I even got to hang out with a friend from Connecticut that I really only see at events.
• The gifts that I have been working on are coming together.  I'll be happier tomorrow when I no longer have them in my possession.  
• There was a Royal Court tonight.  This is the first time this event has had a Friday evening court.  When I first heard about it, I thought it was going to be short.  I was wrong.  It was nice to see so many people get awards.  I have mixed feelings about having so many courts, but many people are getting awards that are very much deserved.  That is what is important.

The message from my tea bag this morning.

The devices of Their Majesties, the Barony, and myself and Keziah.

Devices from most of the former Barons and Baronesses.

The view outside my window.

The rest of the pictures are from the Royal Court.  I didn't get many good ones.  

In this picture, the person on their knees in front of Their Majesties is swearing an oath of fealty. 
They asked to have the sword like that, it is a choice.

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Currently listening to: To the Woods: A Journey Along the Appalachian Trail, by John Scott.

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Cousin Visit

Thursday! That means that today was the last day of my work week. I worked on Monday, which I usually don’t do, so my week has been a little off. Here are some happy things:

• Work went well. It was quite a busy day back in the Problem Solve Area. Thankfully I was only a few minutes late leaving. At the end of today I have 44 minutes of overtime.
• After a short nap at home, I started getting things ready for the weekend event. I forgot how much stuff I bring to SCA events! Three days of clothes are a lot when they are long gowns. I didn’t finish packing though because I needed to go to Keziah’s store. Packing will happen in the morning.
• Keziah’s cousin C wanted to meet today for a quick visit. It turns out, they also brought their sister, cousin D with them from Idaho. It was great to see them all. We visited at the store until after Keziah’s time on TV happened, then we all went out to dinner. I wish I could say I got pictures. It was wonderful to see everyone.
• DIY Craft & Thrift was on NH Chronicle tonight. It seems that the link I had doesn’t work the way I had hoped. I know the show will be available online again, it just doesn’t seem to be ready yet. They did a wonderful job of showcasing why the business was started and many of the little things that they do there. I cried when they showed the four generation picture with Keziah as a little girl, me, my mom, and my grandmother.

Keziah hugging her pillow right before the show aired.

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Currently listening to: To the Woods: A Journey Along the Appalachian Trail, by John Scott.

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Icicles

Here are some happy Wednesday things:

• Since Zed and Gideon are still the only ones who got sick and they seemed to recover quickly, we think they are not contagious.  They are still quarantined until tomorrow. I'm happy they are on the mend and the rest of us seem fine.
• The house has icicles hanging from the porch on the south side of the house.  I know they can be bad for the house, but they are so pretty.  This particular roof is not insulated but the sun heats the room up a lot during the day.

• Keziah has been sleeping at the studio.  She is doing this partially because of the quarantine, but mostly to sew.  I went and visited her for a little bit and did some things to help organize the gift bags.  I'm very grateful for the things people are giving me to add to these gifts.  They will be complete on Friday.
• A friend got me a gift!  It is an ultralight first aid kit to take on our hike.  It seems to have everything we might need.  Hopefully, we won't have to open it. 

• Sunset!

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Currently listening to: To the Woods: A Journey Along the Appalachian Trail, by John Scott.

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Trying to Stay Healthy

Zeke and Gideon have been sick.  The rest of us are anxiously waiting to find out if it is a transmittable sickness or if they ate something bad.  They are in quarantine, and the rest of us have done cleaning.  However, here are my happy things from today:

• Other than a brief meeting, I wasn't in Problem Solve today.  When I got home and checked my step count, I had about 27,000 steps.  I think I did some walking.  😉 My feet were ready for my comfy sandals when I got home!

• The brief Problem Solve meeting was the first one.  The Learning Coordinator plans to have a meeting every other week.  This is great because things change there often.  He asked me to speak about a fairly recent change in a program we use.  I've been there a lot recently so I have a good grasp of it.  Others taught me things and I taught them.  It's a good team.
• Sunset!

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Currently listening to: To the Woods: A Journey Along the Appalachian Trail, by John Scott.

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Studio Time

The most important happy thing from today is that I arrived safely at work (the roads don't get plowed much at 1 AM) and the friend who drove me got home safe too.  Other happy things from today are:

• One of the things about going to work on a day that I don't usually do is that I never know where I am going to be assigned.  Today that meant I went to stow packages.  I tried to stretch well before going to my assigned aisles.  Within two minutes I was asked to go to Problem Solve.  It was a good day at work. 
• After work and lunch I headed to the studio to try to put together the gift bags.  I've decided that I need to make some little bags for the earrings and maybe some larger bags for the wine.  If I don't make the bags, I will at least get some fabric to cushion all the things.  
• Keziah is making some garb for some friends.  One of them came by the studio for a fitting.  For me, it was a good visit with someone I didn't know very well.  

Keziah!

Sunset!

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Currently listening to: To the Woods: A Journey Along the Appalachian Trail, by John Scott

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Woods Walk

Yesterday ended with rain.  Today started sunny and will end with a snow storm.  The snow storm is something I forgot completely about when I decided to go into work tonight.  Here are some happy things for today:

• The friend that is staying with us offered to drive me to work.  Their car drives well in the snow, mine does not.  I'm very thankful they are willing to do this for me.
• This morning we tried to do some AT planning.  A list was made for more direction as to where we are going.  Unfortunately, the start date is still up in the air because of an SCA event I need to be at.  It falls after the date I wanted to start.  Still, progress was made.
• This afternoon I went on a five mile walk.  When I left, that isn't what I had in mind, so I didn't bring a backpack or water.  I ended up walking through a conservation area not far from home.  There were different intersections that I kept taking to try to find another way out.  In the end, I retraced my steps and didn't find the loop that I'm fairly certain exists.  It was a lovely time out in the woods.

I love New England stone walls. 

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Currently listening to: To the Woods: A Journey Along the Appalachian Trail, by John Scott

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Vaccinated

Happy Saturday things:

• This morning I had an appointment to get another covid vaccine.  Somehow, I was able to get myself out of bed and out the door in time to walk to the appointment.  I used Google maps to give me the estimate of time it would take.  I was able to knock off a few minutes by walking briskly and having the traffic lights on my side at intersections.  The river was lovely with the sun shining.

Footprints 

• From the pharmacy I walked to DIY Craft & Thrift.  I did some prep work for next week's event.  I have business cards that I added some beads to.  These will be given to some of the artisans at the event.  Usually I'm anxiously doing this the day of the event when time is short.  It is nice to be prepared.

• There is another set of royalty that will be at the event next weekend.  I put together some more earrings for their gift basket.  I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it.

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Started listening to: To the Woods: A Journey Along the Appalachian Trail, by John Scott

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!