The Blackburn Digest

I feel like a wimp when I write about long hours and minimal sleep; DD & DSIL have been coping with the combination admirably for 11+ months now (they have an infant - nothing messes with sleep requirements more than that does! However, they are near half my age, and healthy.

No, it is really not a good idea to start your day at 3:30 AM when you have good reason to believe it will end around midnight! Sometimes, you simply have no choice. Very little went according to my (somewhat sketchy) plan, but it all worked out. . .somehow!

My long-awaited copy of Rob Rummell-Hudson’s book Schuyler’s Monster arrived today! DD began reading his blog before Schuyler ( pronounced Sky-ler) was a *grub*, and recommended it to me several years ago. I’m ready to dive in and not come up for air until I reach the last page, but there are other things which must be accomplished first. I have to pack for my overnight trip to Tomball, TX and Saturday’s 8 hour miniatures workshop & play-time (clothes are easy, choosing the right tools is always more difficult) and get to sleep early, as DS is flying back to Sand City (yeah - again) tomorrow morning.

A busy news day: Space Shuttle Atlantis returned to earth this morning; once again making “flying a falling rock” look supremely easy! After the shuttle and its crew were safely out of the target area, the US Navy shot down an ageing satellite which might have returned part of its toxic fuel load back to earth upon re-entry. Wrapping up the day was a total lunar eclipse! Although a low-level layer of patch clouds obscured some of the *action* and there was some haze, it was still an awesome sight!

Punxsutawney Phil has predicted several more weeks of winter. The WeatherBug is predicting fog, showers, thunderstorms. . . .your typical Texas winter mix. However, there is a ray of hope visible in our very own front yard (and another one in our back yard, too!) The Redbud trees are covered with buds, and a few early-bird blossoms are in evidence on the one near my greenhouse. Maybe, just maybe, I will be unplugging the heater, emptying the greenhouse and putting plants back on the patio and the bench under the crepe myrtles soon! The pansies (my usually reliable *winter color*) didn’t do at all well this year, so I’m really aching for bright greens, reg begonias and multi-colored coleus to fill the view! I think I may be enjoying a bumper crop of gardenias, too. I’m positive that bush has doubled in size since it took up residence in the greenhouse!

Husband and son had today as a holiday- son only because his “10 and 4″ rotation nightmare worked out right! Meanwhile, for son-in-law, several friends and my rheumatologist’s office, it was *business as usual*. That meant no lazy sleep-in time; I had to make myself presentable and get to my appointment with “Dr. Penny”. Exam-check. Lab-check. Cortisone injection. . . .huh??? Oh, well - - -yeah, the left wrist has been worse than usual for awhile, but…..!

Bit of a lazy morning; I tried to reduce the message count in my in-box and catch up with my on-line miniatures groups - even sent DH off alone to Office Max! That’s unusual behavior for me; even when I was a kid, I had more fun in a stationery shop (sigh - those have almost completely disappeared!) than I did in a toy store!

Daughter and Grand-Daughter were here at Casa Blackburn by the time I had worked my way down the list of digests to February 4th or 5th. My attention was split between catch-up reading (there are entirely too many great links in those digests to just delete them!), talking with DD & DH and watching Miss Sara explore; it took several seconds to realize that several people in the Roomboxes Yahoo group were complimenting me on “Rose Colored Glasses” - my shop/display of Philip Grenyer’s miniature cranberry glass art! Why?? I had to backtrack to find the moderator’s announcement; RCG was picked as the cover photo!! I cannot claim I’m not enjoying the attention: she even put the link to the CDHM article in her introduction to the photo:)

Up early enough this morning to spend some time at my computer while the morning meds kicked in. Then it was time to restock my tool-box, re-read my lengthy notes, get dressed and start the long drive across town to Terrell Hills. Having consulted the Weatherbug (which was remarkably free of possible ‘events’), I wasn’t prepared for the quite dense and drippy fog I encountered between house and car, home and club meeting site. Ah, well - it kept me from dwelling on the meeting.