Has it been three years already?

Today is the Young Master's third birthday! Bells are chiming in the capital city Krankenstadt this morning, and the Grand Duke Irwin Amadeus II (with the help of his trusty valet Hives) has declared a national holiday throughout the Grand Duchy of Stollen, which will be marked by a large parade of troops through the downtown area mid-afternoon and an opulent costume ball at The Residenz this evening.

Here in our little neck of the woods though, where in the heck has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday -- and at the same time like it has been forty years -- that the Grand Duchess was wheeled away into the delivery room for preparation at an extremely early hour, and I was handed some scrubs to don before following to hold her hand throughout the procedure that brought us young Paul. How funny and strange the passage of time is, and nothing makes one realize that like having a child and watching him or her grow up.

We are off to an area zoo today since our weather is bright, sunny, and cool. A wonderful autumn day! Lunch at a Middle Eastern restaurant will follow since the Young Master loves hummus and pita bread. After the return home and a couple of hours of the usual "quiet time" in his room with a few books in bed, we'll enjoy some pizza (another Paul favorite) with chocolate cake for dessert, and the opening of several gifts to Paul from us and his grandparents. An hour or two of play will follow before pajama, toothbrush, and story time. A full day indeed, but a much needed respite from the frustrations of Monday through Friday life.

The Eventual Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. . .

The Anhalt-Zerbst regiment musters in the drill square to sort themselves into platoons and companies during the coming weeks Fall maneuvers if you will. A large dose of real life the last few days with the start of classes next Monday, various preparatory meetings, and finishing up a few other things this week. But, I managed to sort out 60 or so Minden Austrian infantry from the pile and get 'em stuck to temporary painting bases. Must carefully drill out the hands of several NCOs for flagpoles and pole arms this weekend before the usual basecoat. I'm thinking of mixing the usual white gesso with the usual light gray to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Applying both base- and undercoat in one fell swoop as my grandmother used to say. In the meantime, the recently finished squadron of Saxon cuirassiers has been placed carefully in one of the clear acrylic boxes on my shelves until I have the suitable flag to affix. -- Sto...

Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!

Continued Regional Map Revisions. . .

F ooled around a bit more with the revised map just before and after dinner this evening, using the Fotor app to reinsert missing text . I also removed a few other things using the 'Magic Eraser' function, which works surprisingly well. Now, we're getting somewhere. I just have to figure out how to ensure that the text is all a uniform font style and maybe figure out a way to add a few bunches of trees to suggest forested areas, Ninja AI is not always entirely cooperative to the tune of "I'm sorry Dave. I can't do that." -- Stokes

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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