Here is a neat old image of good ol' Saint Nick that appeared on postage stamps here in the United States in 2001 although I can't recall ever having seen it at the time. Still, blue trimmed with brown fur, so what's not to like?
Oh no. Not butterflies of the wargaming kind. Don't worry. I'm not heading off into the Crimea or anything like that quite yet.
And neither the Grand Duchess, nor I appear to have succumbed to anything. But the Young Master seems to have come down with a small bug. We are chalking it up to the excitement of the the day yesterday and little quiet time during the second half of the afternoon, which we encourage although naps are a thing of the past now. Quiet reading, play, or contemplation in his room between about 3-5:30pm each day that is. But he does not always cooperate. In any case, poor Young Master Paul. He seems to be better this morning and is at the breakfast table with his mother right now, which must be a good sign.
And neither the Grand Duchess, nor I appear to have succumbed to anything. But the Young Master seems to have come down with a small bug. We are chalking it up to the excitement of the the day yesterday and little quiet time during the second half of the afternoon, which we encourage although naps are a thing of the past now. Quiet reading, play, or contemplation in his room between about 3-5:30pm each day that is. But he does not always cooperate. In any case, poor Young Master Paul. He seems to be better this morning and is at the breakfast table with his mother right now, which must be a good sign.
And if that were not enough, one of our cats, Onyx, the truly gentle, sweet, and shy cat of the pair, somehow found a plastic shopping bag somewhere yesterday evening and got tangled in it. He is fine now, but it scared him to death yesterday evening since he thought something was after him, and it took us about two hours to actually catch him and remove the offending bag. He is still clearly upset this morning and weary of everything and everyone except yours truly. So, guess who came down to the basement and joined me here to Zum Stollenkeller (where, contrary to recent practice, I let him in to sit on my lap since I felt so sorry for him) and was immediately spectacularly ill everywhere? Yep. You guessed it.
Sigh. I hope these two events are not some kind of strange indicator of how the week will go. Ugh!
On a more pleasant note, I managed to sneak down here after supper yesterday evening for some brushtime at the ol' painting desk. I'm currently working slowly away at a base of four Minden Prussian staff figures (two mounted and two on foot) and one Fife & Drum English infantry officer. Time permitting today, I'll finish the reins and harnesses on the two horses today and then concentrate on detailing the uniforms of the various officers. Watch for some in-progress photos here shortly. Once these are finished, then it's onto a smaller base onto which a Prussian cuirassier officer and a dragoon officer have been attached and had their basic colors applied.
On a more pleasant note, I managed to sneak down here after supper yesterday evening for some brushtime at the ol' painting desk. I'm currently working slowly away at a base of four Minden Prussian staff figures (two mounted and two on foot) and one Fife & Drum English infantry officer. Time permitting today, I'll finish the reins and harnesses on the two horses today and then concentrate on detailing the uniforms of the various officers. Watch for some in-progress photos here shortly. Once these are finished, then it's onto a smaller base onto which a Prussian cuirassier officer and a dragoon officer have been attached and had their basic colors applied.
A busy day today here at Stollen Central though, since I must post my grades for my three courses this past semester, resend a document with comments and suggestions to a friend in Hungary who asked me to look over her article draft, and then we are fetching in our Christmas trees and wreath this afternoon, which we'll decorate this evening. Whew!
That, and I have to start on a special Christmas gift for the Young Master today. At the moment, he is fascinated by vehicles of various types. Nothing odd there. However, the four that fascinate him the most are the garbage truck, the mail van that our neighborhood mail lady drives, FedEx Trucks, and the big chocolate brown UPS (United Parcel Service) trucks. Since I have not seen anything like these for sale on store shelves, I will be making these for him from blocks of wood, wooden wheels that should arrive in the next day or so, and acrylic paint. It should be a fairly straightforward job with a few clever cuts with the saw to provide the basic shapes, some sanding to round off the corners, painting, and then attaching the wheels. I'll post additional photos of these as they progress for your perusal.
The wooden blocks all cut out and with the edges lightly sanded. From back to front, they are destined to become a UPS truck, a garbage/refuse truck, a FedEx truck, and a United States Postal Service neighborhood delivery truck. I'll go ahead and begin on the painting while I wait for the wheels to arrive.
The basic truck shapes above look pretty good for doing it freehand and by the seat of my pants. Hmmmm. Was being one of Santa's elves in the job description for spouses and dads though? Silly question. Of course it was.
Comments
"Was being one of Santa's elves in the job description for spouses and dads though? Silly question. Of course it was." Absolutely! Nice work on the vehicles so far. looks like you have the makings of a good elf! :)
I look forward to seeing the wooden vehicles progress- a great idea indeed.
Enjoy yourself!
Love the Stollen shots as well. Happy Holidays.
Don
Greg