A February Painting Challenge Update. . .

This is the sight that greeted us Thursday morning. Time to fire up the snowblower. We had about 12" on the ground before it was all over.

Well, sir. . . We're down to the last couple of days in the current painting challenge, and I have just about finished those 22 Minden and RSM95 Prussian/Austrian musketeers except for the sword knots on two of the ensigns and, of course, the flags and finials, which I hope to address tonight and tomorrow (Sunday the 28th). Naturally, my camera is not charged, and my phone is two floors above me in the bedroom at the moment, so be sure to check back here for some photographic updates later. With any luck, glossing and basing will follow later in the week, and then it's onto several camp follower vignettes among which lurk a few surprises.

Right now, it's a waffle breakfast and then off to ski/toboggan with the Grand Duchess and the Young Master before all of our snow melts. We had about a foot of the stuff Wednesday and into Thursday here at Totleigh-in-the-Wold, but, very sadly, the weather forecast predicts rapidly rising temperatures well above freezing for the next few days, which means that much will melt, and what remains will refreeze and become crunchy. Hardly optimum for cross-country/Nordic skiing, so it's time to take advantage of what could be our last snow of the winter season.

-- Stokes

Still my little old '98 Corolla to dust off. I attended to that later in the day once the snow had finally petered out.

And I could hardly post photographs of our recent snowfall without documenting THE BEAST, shown here without its coating of snow before use that Thursday morning. Almost as soon as we accepted these new jobs here in Michigan last spring, we looked at each other and said simultaneously, "We'll need to buy a snowblower!"

Skiing in Lower Michigan, Saturday, February 27th. There is a park about five minutes from us with all kinds of trails and loops to explore. I was out for about two hours and never repeated a trail. Slow going at times, and I am definitely out of shape, but the glide wasn't bad for wet, ungroomed snow, the temperature was pleasant, and it was absolutely quiet except for the sound of my skis. Delightful!

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!

Having a "No Day". . .

F or the almost 20 years that she lived in Mexico, one of my late mother's Irish friends frequently mentioned having a "No Day." A day with no social obligations, chores, tasks, or other work that interfered with whatever personal interests took one's fancy on the day in question. Since today -- a gray and chilly Saturday -- is Mom's birthday, the Grand Duchess is out with friends, and the Young Master is ensconced on the sofa in the TV room with a cold, yours truly is taking his own such No Day. I think Mom would approve of my decision to make the world go away, as the old Eddie Arnold song intoned, even if only for a little while. So, I will spend Saturday afternoon focused on that first squadron and small regimental staff of Eureka Saxon cuirassiers. These have stood waiting untouched over on the painting table for almost three weeks while we skied and otherwise gadded about with snowy, winter outdoor activities. I hope to share a painting update Sunday a

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 her

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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