AETW: 707

Chiro appt this morning. I’ve tweaked a nerve in my neck/right shoulder, but they didn’t get it put back yet. Owie. Must sit in hot tub again! Then I went to pick up one of the sergers, but it hadn’t been brought back from the repair place yet because the driver’s car was totalled. It should be in this afternoon, and I’ll go back out to get it. Then I went to B&N to pick up a book I’d ordered: Mirror Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales. My my. I just should not be allowed in B&N with a credit card. I also got Reading the Vampire Slayer (essays about “Buffy”), Words on Witches (stories and essays by modern witches), Wet: More Aqua Erotica (the second of two waterproof books of erotica), and a present for Ken’s birthday. Eek.

So, the weekend. Well, I was in a happy mood when I posted to this journal on Friday. Things immediately went downhill. I popped e-mail one last time to receive a rejection for “Feline Design” from the Spirits and Sleuths antho. He just didn’t like the plot. Fair enough, I suppose. I still have time to write a new story with the antho in mind, and that should be fun. Then I accidentally shut Grimoire’s tail in the study door. He yowled a good one, and I freaked out because I didn’t know if I’d broken his tail. Before I could check, Eostre came barrelling down the hallway to attack him. Much more screeching—and worst of all, they went under the bed to continue the fight, so I couldn’t get to them. I finally got Eostre (who got a nice slash to her upper lip) out of the bedroom, but couldn’t get Grimmy out from under the bed. I was in tears by that point; I didn’t know if I’d hurt him, and I couldn’t get him to come to me. Finally I went out and filled up all the cat food for the weekend, which brought all the cretins running. I managed to examine Grim’s tail (‘though he wasn’t pleased) and it seemed fine. Deep breath. Okay. Then I remembered that I had to clean the windshield so I could see when driving into the sun. All I had was 409, which helped, but streaked. Argh. Off I went.

I made it to the airport in far less time than I expected (especially after leaving 15-20 minutes late), parked, and sat down to write. I helped an Asian lady, who didn’t speak much English, make a phone call, which made me feel good. Got a couple of small notebook pages filled before Ken showed up. Much smooching, and then we headed out. We went to Olga’s for dinner. Olga’s is a chain of pseudo-Greek food, but there’s only one in CA, in Thousand Oaks. Cat and I used to eat there all the time. I swear there’s an addictive agent in the salad dressing. I had an original Olga (meat, lettuce, onion, tomato, and yoghurt sauce in a warm soft pita), a bottomless salad (lettuce, tomato, onion, and feta), and we shared a basket of snackers (Olga pitas cut into bits and cooked with seasonings, so they’re almost crunchy, but not quite). Major yum. I’d missed this place.

Then we made our way to Camarillo and the home of our friends Elyramere and Sean and their daughter Janet. We spent the rest of the evening sipping chilled, dry white wine and having a lovely chat. It’s good to see them again.

We were up early on Saturday and made it to the site by about 8:30 a.m., where we helped the Baron and Baroness of Gyldenholt put up the baronial pavilion. Well, Umberto helped. Wicked Red’s bodice was a wee bit tighter than she remembered, and she couldn’t really bend over, or walk to fast because she couldn’t get a deep breath of air. This did seem to loosen a little throughout the event, though, as least for breathing purposes. J

We bought lots of tickets for the raffles—fighters for each of the three styles, as well as a hand-woven shawl. I won one heavy fighter, two shinai fighters, and two rapier fighters (although, sadly, not Umberto. He said I’d already won him…), so I spent the day running between the three fields trying to keep tabs on the fights. One of my shinai and one of my rapier fighters made it into the final rounds in their respective lists, but didn’t win in the end. Ah well. Ken had a blast fighting, and we both enjoyed hanging out with friends: Eilidh, Caterine and Emrys, Thomasina, Ismay, Kelly and Richard, various members of Gyldenholt… We would have loved to spend time with Caelfind and Eoghan, and Albra, but they were pretty busy; and although I said a fly-by hello to Debbie/Lucia, we never did find Kelvin.

After the event, we swung by Thomasina’s house because we’d never seen it, and I changed into a tank top so that I’d be able to actually fit dinner in me. I still wore the leather-and-chains choker, big silver hoop earrings, black-and silver belt, black skirt, and fishnets and pirate boots (although the latter two were mostly hidden under the skirt), and discovered it was a pretty spiffy outfit! Then about 50 of us adjourned to Pirate’s Grub and Grog (or something like that) a local restaurant/sports bar. What a blast. Lots of laughing. A guy who makes balloon animals made hilarious hats for people, and we took pictures…

Then it was back to Sean and Elyramere’s for more lovely conversation. We slept well that night, and Sean made us waffles in the morning before we headed out (although because I don’t like sweet things in the morning, I opted for cereal).

Ken and I had spent some time looking through their copy of Duc de Berry’s Tres Riche Heures, which is the theme of Twelfth Night 2003, and were fired up to work on the garb for that event. To that end, we swung by the fabric district in LA on the way home. We didn’t find what we wanted, although we found some things that were close, and one of the best stores wasn’t open on Sunday, so we’ll have to go back. He did pick up some stretch denim in red and black to make a pair of parti-coloured fencing tights.

Amazingly, because we’d gotten up so early, we were still home by early afternoon and we managed to get a lot done. First we unpacked the car (ice chest, etc.) and then dove into the pool for a nice, long, cool swim (it was beastly hot, esp. in downtown LA). Ken spent the rest of the day working on the library, sanding the walls so they’re ready for the panelling. I couldn’t help—only one sander—so I did some computer work and then went food shopping and made chicken quesadillas for dinner. (We had leftover chicken from lunch at the event.) May I be so bold as to say that I make absolutely killer guacamole. (If you like lime and cilantro, that is.) Avocados, tomatoes, red onion, 1/3 of a fresh jalapeño, lime juice, and chopped fresh cilantro. Yum. We watched “Charmed” and “Angel”, and then I typed up what I wrote on Friday while Ken did more work. Eventually he dove into the pool again to rinse off, and we sat in the hot tub for a bit before going to bed. Could a day be any better? Not much in my book.

So, now it’s after 7, and I’ve got a quiche in the microwave (bacon and cheese and green onion), and folks will be showing up soon for sewing. Hey! They never called me about the serger. Damn. Now I can’t sew. My neck hurts too much, anyway.

Oh, before I forget, something historic has happened: The first woman to ever get a pole position for an IndyCar race. She’s in IRL, and she’s only 21! Total yay for her!

Amy was the only person who showed up for sewing, so we hung out in the living room. Watched Hollywood Squares because Anthony Stewart Head was on it. Talked about jobs and cool children’s books. Reminisced about Shaun Cassidy. Amy agreed to be our retainer for Crown Tourney, since I’m being fought for and will have no brain. Cool (about being our retainer, not about me having no brain).