Reports of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated. . .

'Tafelrunde' by Adolph von Menzel.  Very loosely translated, the title means something along the lines of dinner table conversation.  In any case, a pleasing representation of ol' Fred, Voltaire, and others chewing the fat during a meal.

Here we are.  Almost May, and I realize that I have done nothing hobby-wise since late February.  The usual onslaught of family and work life as I have written many times before along with a health scare for ol' Mom in March.  Things have settled down in recent weeks however, and there is some light at the end of the tunnel.  Classes for the spring semester are now over, and barring a few last pieces of final grading, an approaching conference presentation, the conclusion of a hiring committee, together with a faculty mentoring group I've recently been part of, it's time to dive back into some toy soldiering.  

So, where am I again?  Well, besides picking up the paintbrush to finish the last few items on that composite battalion of Minden Austrian bear-skinned grenadiers, I need to gloss those two squadrons of RSM95 French heavy cavalry in bearskins and that Soubise vignette.   Next I'll tackle a composite battalion of Minden Prussian grenadiers in mitre caps since a batch of roughly 3o infantry seems to take shape pretty quickly.  I'd also like to add two or three new buildings -- a village church, a half-timbered warehouse, and a mill with a water wheel -- to the collection of tabletop structures, and at least make some inroads into another two-squadron regiment of cavalry before the new academic year begins in late August.  

Oh!  And one more thing.  In July, when The Grand Duchess and Young Master visit her parents in Seattle, I plan on a solo game or two as well.  Maybe a small preliminary skirmish followed by a larger set piece affair a day or two later?  Charles Grant scenarios, of course, tweaked to fit my available numbers of troops.  That's the hope at any rate.  Keep your fingers crossed, and let's see how things go.

In the meantime, to get myself back into the right frame of mind, I've revamped the look of The GD of S blog, this time opting for a clean template that does a better job of filling the computer screen with larger text.  Readers should have a somewhat easier time, too, with navigating through and to previous posts.  While I've occasionally tinkered with the look of the blog over the almost 13 years it has been in existence, this is really a major overhaul in appearance.  

Sadly, the large photograph at the top is now gone, but I'm basically pleased with how everything looks, and how easy Blogger made it.  We all know that Blogger has many frustrating quirks that can come out of the woodwork now and then, but this time was not one of them, and the change in appearance -- a few necessary compromises notwithstanding -- was accomplished without too much trouble.  The old template, or at least my tinkered with iteration of it, was pretty cluttered, so it was time to borrow a page from the Swedes and their concept of 'death cleaning' to spruce things up a bit.  A spring cleaning if you will.  

I hope you might agree that things look fresh and revitalized.  Be sure to check back for a painting update or two during the next week or so.

-- Stokes