Now that things are back on track. . .

A snowy pre-Christmas Market scene in Bolzano, Italy. This is a part of the world I have yet to visit, but one day we will. A few years ago, I tried repeatedly to convince the Grand Duchess to chuck it all and move lock, stock, and barrel to the city. A place in the north of Italy where German is the second language with mountains (for her) and snow (for me), plus the cafe culture we both love, and at least two universities for employment possibilities. And the opportunity to learn Italian on top of that. What could be better? My efforts thus far have been, sadly, for naught.

Let's finish the run up to Christmas this year with a few carefully chosen, quiet seasonal and Christmas-related pictures, a December tradition of long standing here in the Grand Duchy of Stollen. The Grand Duchess informs me that her authentic Dresdner Stollen will be delayed by a bit this year given the interruption in our lives caused by the move to Michigan from Illinois last June, hanging around in space since then, and our just-this-Monday move into the new house finally. However, with any luck at all, there might -- just might -- be a fresh stollen baked by the Grand Duchess (assisted by the Young Master) by Christmas Eve or during Christmas Week.

-- Stokes

Comments

Unknown said…

Sounds like you're settling in well. I bet the Grand Duchess' Dresdner Stollen will be particularly delicious this year.
Best regards,
Simon

2:28 PM

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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