Skip to main content

Report from Michigan. . .

The third and fourth companies of that monster 80-figure regiment I began last winter.  Mostly RSM95 figures with a couple of Minden Austrian standard bearers at right.  Now, if I could just find my paintbrushes and the rest of my (acrylic hobby) paints.

A bright, cool and breezy morning outside today after heavy rains yesterday afternoon and late last night.  Feels like Northern Europe if I you'll allow me to be so bold.  Good thing too as the trip to Berlin is fast approaching.  I've already got Deutschlandradio Kultur on the computer to begin brushing up on my German.  I can understand (in speech and reading) quite a lot actually thanks to years of studying other languages in the same family plus three semesters of German for Reading knowledge.  I always laugh and say Norwegian is like Low German but with easier grammar and a sing-song accent, but my speaking vocabulary in Standard German is still kind of limited.  Ah, well.  Nothing that seven weeks won't help a bit.  "Poco a poco" (little by little) as they say in the Yucatan in Mexico.

The most necessary unpacking and apartment arranging is just about done, and things kind of resemble an antiseptic version of home.  We have, however, made the decision NOT to unpack our books, furnishings, and so forth since we are very limited on space, and we want to reduce what must be repacked once we find a house.  Amazing what you can store in the garage when everything is packed in boxes and neatly stacked around the walls.  So, our living space feels more like a large hotel sweet with some of our furniture, kitchen, bathroom, and clothing items, but still generic and lacking in personal touches if you know what I mean.

On the soldier front, I managed to find and unpack just a few things yesterday afternoon, which should help keep things moving forward somewhat once I find the wooden box containing my paintbrushes and Citadel hobby acrylics plus the front rank finials and brass rods which will eventually become flagpoles.  It might just be easier right now to purchase new things rather than try to find this stuff though since I have no clue where the particular box is that holds it all.  Probably at the back of my clothes closet beneath the still sealed boxes holding the various Styrofoam peanut filled plastic tubs of painted soldiers.  I also located my tubes of oils and the box containing my various paint cleaners and mediums plus my cutting mat though.  

Finally, one of my folding tables from Zum Stollenkeller has been covered with a large batik tablecloth, brought to me 20+ years ago from Indonesia by good ol' Mom, and now resides in one corner of our bedroom as a makeshift (computer) desk/painting table/photography area.  Hopefully, I will be able to resume a bit of painting during the evenings once we return in mid-August.

-- Stokes

Comments

Ahhhh moving......may I never have to do it again!
Glad to hear your getting a bit more settled in to you new location , Tony
Der Alte Fritz said…
Sometimes it feels good to just have a few essentials unpack and ready for use.

I would probably create a Go Box containing paints and brushes plus some figures to work on. I'd have a few books such as Savory, several Duffy titles and The War Game on hand for some reading material.

Jim
Bloggerator said…
Fully in agreement with all your correspondents so far Stokes.

I'm off on a weekend away "up the snow" and will be taking my own version of a travelling hobby box for those early mornings. 4-5 Willie Cavalry, just enought paints, files and glues to do them and a couple of brushes.

Just the thing.

All the best,

Greg

Popular posts from this blog

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!

Keepin' an Eye on the World Going By My Window . .

'The Nap at the Palace' by Jose Triado Mayol N ot much in the way of hobby-related activity happening here in the Grand Duchy lately.  Sigh.  And no surprise there really since there are only so many hours in the day, only so much mental and physical energy to spare, and you sometimes simply just have to give in and know when to say, um, "When!"  A glass of wine and/or evening yoga by the hearth with the Grand Duchess (who has practiced for over 20 years), and then off into la-la land.  Zzzzzzzzz.   More immediately, I'm recovering, mentally speaking, from a grueling Friday in which I was involved with three (online) conference sessions, one right after the other, followed by a 90-minute meeting at the end of the day. Also virtual. My brain has been mush ever since, so an easy, completely unproductive Saturday watching intermittent snow fall outside (no accumulation however) and drinking coffee while the visiting handymen completed some repair work down h...

And It's the End of September!!!

  Saxony's Ploetz Cuirassiers, an illustration lifted from the Kronoskaf website, which has thus far guided my spectacularly glacial painting of 30 28mm Eureka Saxon cuirassiers purchased all the way back in October 2016. A gray, cool Saturday here in Mid-Michigan with rain in the forecast. The Grand Duchess is away at a conference, so it's just "The Boys" here at home. The Young Master (almost 15) has retreated to his room for something or other following breakfast while I have stolen back down here to Zum Stollenkeller (masquerading as my office) with a second mug of coffee and both cats comfortably ensconced nearby. Enjoying the late morning and still in my pajamas! Not much planned for today beyond designing a couple of promotional flyers for workshops my department is presenting (small parties we will throw?) in October and November.  With maybe a bit of on the next podcast script. More important,  I am toying with the idea of returning for an hour or...