On the mend somewhat. . .

Thank you everyone for your wishes to get well soon. I feel much better this morning even though another day in bed would be great. However, we have only two days of the semester left, so I feel bound to touch base with my students, at the very least, before their research papers are due on final exam day next week. But the curative powers of old pizza and orange juice (along with Indian food for dinner -- yum!) are admirable, and I felt like living this morning when the alarm clock went off. Yesterday was a different story.

Today's classic Saint Nick is, indeed, a Dutch greeting card from 1904, featuring Saint Nicholas leaving toys and treats at the door of some deserving children. The cards says, "Greetings from St. Nicholas". I've always been partial to these older images of the figure in which ol' St. Nick wears a bishop's robes and mitre cap.

Saint Nicholas Day is, from what the Grand Duchess tells me, is December 6th. Kids who live in the parts of the worlds where this is celebrated leave their shoes to be filled with treats by St. Nicholas, for instance in much of Germany. And this year, I'm going to surprise the Grand Duchess with a few small things in a pair of her shoes on Saturday morning. . . she just loves chocolate!


Addendum. . .

Well, only two more classes to go tomorrow morning, and then it's just about over for another term. ALl that remains after that is read through about 45 final papers, tally, and submit course grades. . . but you can do all of that in your pajamas!

I did manage to steal away down here to Der Stollenkeller for a couple of hours after dinner last night (What can I say? I was tired of hanging 'round in bed.) and picked up the paintbrush for a bit of work on that large battalion of 80 RSM95 Prussian fusiliers that the Grand Duchess gave me last Christmas. Hmmm (scratches head), do I hear song by George Michael and Andrew Ridgely?

Anyway, the unit in question will be clothed in primarily white uniforms: coats, breeches, and waistcoats with mid-blue facings. The front of the fusilier cap, as well as the metal on the rear, will be brass. In keeping with the fairly simple appearance of Frederick's own "real" fusilier uniforms, turnbacks on the coat tails and the left shoulder strap will be white. So, my imaginary unit of Zichenauer infantry will look like a strange hybrid of French/Saxon and Prussian infantry.

I was able to paint the first two figures almost to completion in about two hours before it was time to go back to bed. My grand plan is to do this every evening during the Christmas and New Year's break -- about six weeks this year (yes, one of the perks of academia) -- and, thus, complete most, or all, of the regiment by mid-January. And then it's back to that final squadron of Revell hussars to finish the 11th (Prinz Albrecht's) Hussars.

That's the plan at any rate. Having these lovely figures sitting unpainted on my table since the summer has been gettin' me down. At times, it's almost as though I can hear faint voices saying, "Paint us! Please, paint us!" Or it could simply be the effect of the over the counter cold medications I am taking right now. I hope to get an early photo up here in a day or so. And of course there's that game between Jonathan and me that has to be finished too. ;-)