The Blackburn Digest

I have served as President of my local miniatures club for two terms (4 years), and my loyal and supportive board of officers has backed me up throughout. I have cheerfully mangled Robert’s Rules of Order at each and every meeting, for the sake of swift-moving meetings and maximum time for projects and general mini-fun. Besides, rules or no, controlling a large group of gregarious miniaturists is much akin to herding cats! Why fight an uphill battle when humor works better than “rules”?

Before I led a larger-than-usual group through a lesson in miniature flower making today, there was the usual “Christy version” of a business meeting. Along with minutes of the last meeting, a quick report from our treasurer, collection of yearly dues and some discussion of upcoming projects and some good-natured arm twisting to produce instructors for said projects, it was time for a new board of officers to be installed. Well, that is what the calendar said, anyway! While I realized that the current board hadn’t had a single serious internal disagreement or ’spat’ over our four years, and everything has run remarkably smoothly, I assumed that the general membership was probably tired of my refusal to take myself (or much of anything else) seriously Um, wrong - LOL!

Well the title got your attention, anyway:)

As I was leaving our house to run errands and buy a few things I’ll need when I teach my class on Saturday, I noticed the big “automated trash pick-up” containers being distributed in my neighborhood. I hoped we would receive our *very own set* of 96 gallon containers (brown for trash and blue for all recyclables), but held the pessimistic view that they would run out of containers before reaching our street. Delivery of *any* goods or services can be a bit slow in Texas ~ it’s something about that ‘Southern cadence’ . . . I was introduced to that phenomenon in Athens, Georgia in 1968, and it truly hasn’t changed very much in forty years:)

I now have one less doctor on my “With whom/when?” appointment list. I wasn’t thrilled at the need for trekking across a fair amount of the city this morning to attend the post-op visit with my foot surgeon; the weather has turned freakin’ cold and WET the past few days. Wet is good. . . .wet is great, actually, as the Edwards Aquifer levels have been dropping near water-use restriction levels recently. In San Antonio, however, rain is best dealt with inside the safety of one’s own domicile. Our drivers seem blissfully unaware that a speeding car does not stop as quickly on rain-slick streets, nor does said car perform right-angle turns as obediently as it might in dry conditions. Coincidentally, they also are unaware that their cars (especially white & light blue ones) are much more visible in a heavy downpour if they Turn On Their Headlights. Sigh - with thunder rumbling and rain striking the roof, I was not happy to leave the house!

She is sleek and beautiful, has eyes that seem to follow me everywhere and poses with regal grace. I thought I had a name chosen for her, but she’s much too elegant for it ~ I shall have to think awhile. She is a birthday gift from my son, formed from an off-white modeling compound and tardy in her arrival because he spent many, many days painting/sanding/painting/sanding. She is worth the wait, for she looks as if she is sculpted in ebony! I would love to put a link right here to pictures of her, but that will have to wait until my new camera battery and battery charger arrive in the mail; at this moment, my Nikon Coolpix is a paperweight Thank you again, Thomas!!

Recently, I sent a few photos of my beautiful grand-daughter to friends who had asked (and a few who hadn’t. LOL!) This is what the wife of a high school friend did with the pictures of our soon-to-be 21 month old “Imp”. Can you see the mischief gleaming in those eyes?

Yesterday, I took a look at my calendar to see what this week held in store for me. Hmm, busy! An appointment with my Rheumatologist on Monday morning, another (the “re-do”) with the orthotics & prosthetics people on Tuesday, plus all sorts of errands which had been stacking up because I’ve been out of action for an entire month! I also have a deadline looming on a promise I’d made to a fellow miniaturist, but my tools and supplies have remained frustratingly out of reach, upstairs! (When I was preparing for surgery, I packed a box full of projects I could do in bed on a lap tray. Then I considered our three affectionate & very curious cats, took another look at the projects. . . .and unpacked the box!)

DH has been making frequent trips to the market for necessities since Oct. 30th, but we haven’t done a full food shopping since????? The pantry and refrigerator were looking quite bare, and DS will be here tomorrow for Thanksgiving dinner; it was definitely time to go to the market with a long list! My poor, much-loved Camaro hasn’t moved out of the driveway in nearly a month, so I asked DH if I could try driving to the store. . . .we needed its carrying capacity, and I could easily pull over and let him take the wheel if it hurt too much. I had an absolute blast! I’m not wearing shoes yet (that has to wait on additional healing plus the prosthetics), but I have my comfy/colorful socks and the protective post-op shoes/boots are comfortable. My feet are still tender, but accelerating and braking were just uncomfortable, not painful, and the feeling of regained freedom was exquisite. I used an electric cart to chase DH around the store, grinning like a fool the entire time. (Confession time - I bumped two stacked displays while trying to make the tight turns to transition from one aisle to the next - but only knocked one box off. I also ran right into DH’s butt once! LOL!)