The Blackburn Digest

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed an article in our local paper about a yearly Antiques Show -or rather a huge group of shows in and around Round Top, TX. It was going to run Sept. 30th thru Oct. 4th, featured 350 dealers from all over the US (and some from Europe!), and I realized this was the show I’ve read about in several major magazines as “One of the Best”. Tom & I used to love poking through antique shops, (especially the dusty, quirky ones), but it’s something we haven’t done in a very long time. Sounded like fun, and I made an idle comment to Tom about it. Before long, Tom was talking about taking a couple of vacation days and asking whether I wanted to go antiquing. It’s something we used to love doing, something we haven’t done in ages, and YES, let’s do it!

I took one of my favorite T-shirts out of the closet a few days ago, looked at it, and then put it back on its hanger. The shirt is black, with white lettering proclaiming “I’m Blogging This”. I haven’t written a blog entry since late-March, and need to re-earn that T-shirt! (So much for “Blog 365″!)

A passing glance at what has been happening in my world since the last post:

- I have *started the ball rolling* on the hideously expensive dental surgery which will (I hope!) end my on-going war with my upper dentures! Oh, it fits fine - it’s just that the palate plate and my over-developed gag reflex (coupled with the ever-present Texas allergens) are making making me miserable:( This will be a long-term project, since it involves consultations, scans, impressions, more scans, evaluations and more consultations before the actual surgery.

Guinea Pigs are a “good thing”! Abuelita’s Casita (in its present incarnation), takes two very long days to complete. The Guinea Pigs departed TGFT workshop around 7 PM with the wiring to be done as homework. We were a tired but happy group, our various adobe treatments look awesome. and The Guys now know they need to pre-finish some areas, send the Day One students home with a work assignment or otherwise pare the class back to its planned 1.5 day length. I’m confident I can complete the wiring at home and I have never seen “scale adobe” look this realistic - collectors are going to love this workshop!!

Awoke stiff and sore (the expected result of yesterday’s long drive), but eager to go through the boxes of miniature treasures I brought back and carefully return them to the Conservatory and Oak Shadows. However, I had a trek across San Antonio to make first, to deliver my friend’s room boxes. Driving was the easy part; removing the Very Large (did I mention heavy?) box from The Lady and helping N. carry it through garage, dining room, living room and hallway to its new location was a real test! Took my usual tour of her huge collection, showed her where to dock her camera’s memory card (”No, the port won’t be on the keyboard.”), then had to go poking around her system trying to figure out just where the pictures had been saved to! G-d, I hate Windows Vista!!! LOL! Eventually found enough energy to point my car towards home and “play time”. . . . . .or not.

I put nearly 500 miles on The Lady’s odometer today, and now feel like I put twice that mileage on me! (Dealing with miles of Houston-area traffic added to the *thrill factor*.) Despite the “little football players wearing cleats” which are now running around vigorously on my upper back and the new expletives my wrists & legs seem to have learned, I am a very happy gal!

Being an impatient sort (hehe - that shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows me!), I arranged to drive to Dickinson, TX to pick up my newest miniature treasure -a “Lady Jane” Conservatory - rather than (shudder!) trust the postal system to deliver it to me swiftly and undamaged. I left Casa Blackburn at 9 AM and located the Elmer’s (of “GweChe Collectibles”) driveway a little before our agreed upon 2 PM arrival time. Visited with Carroll & Gary Elmer (delightful people, attendees of many Castine workshops and well-known among discerning collectors of miniatures for many decades. Gary is an IGMA Fellow.) and thoroughly enjoyed a tour of the remaining (and still stellar) collection of artisan’s creations, many of which they are re-homing prior to moving/downsizing.

Spent the AM attempting to do catch-up reading of my various on-line miniaturist’s interest groups. Took myself off to the optometrist’s for my 2 PM appointment, to see what had changed since my last (2005!) exam. Answer: very little, which is Good News! It seems that my oddball “deep astigmatism” is still being counterbalanced by the normal ageing process;)

I am definitely back in mini-mode: SAM’s BD in Tomball this past weekend, more work accomplished on that project this morning, a road-trip to Dickinson, Texas scheduled for Thursday (more about that later) and a 1.5 day workshop with the “TGFTGP” (The Guys From Texas Guinea Pigs) in their New Braunfels workshop this coming weekend! Sort of wears me out thinking about it, but I shall muddle through and enjoy!