The Blackburn Digest

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!!

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.

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!