October was full of fun activities.
We got goth for a visit to the gravesite of Edgar Allan Poe.
I got to eat some delicious tapas with the girls
So much good vegetarian option.
The antique pan heated faster and was lighter.
The apple varieties were British Bramleys and French Calville Blancs .
I couldn't eat either because I am still in my year of no dessert but the family said that the Bramleys turned mushier and was more tart while the Calvilles were firmer and more caramel.
I got the idea for experiment from the orchard guy Rob at the DLC distillery orchard that I have been going to. He said that before Covid he had a group of pastry chefs that would come every year and run a tarte tatin competition among all the apples deemed best and that the Calville apples won hands down each year. This makes some good sense as its an old French apple in an old French apple recipe but I wanted to see it for myself. I put them up against eh Bramley because those are my favorite baking apple.
I've decided to make a quilt. When I was living at Scearce's back in the day there was a quilt that had many denim patches that was heavy and warm so I am trying to make my own version of that.
I've been saving jeans as they go out of rotation due to holes and stains and rips and now have enough (I think) to make one of our own.
I'm not great at sewing by a long shot but have YouTube to keep me going and its cold enough to be personally motivated.
I decided to get charm packs (colorful squares that are precut and color selected) of an orange hue to contrast with the blue in the jeans.
Kiernan has gotten into his first D&D game. The Haven Guys are running an interesting spooky themed short game called Mist Hunters (click here to read about it). I take him in every other Sunday at 2 and then bring him home when they are done, usually around 5.
As I'm at Haven for that long a time I decided to take advantage of the leatherworking station and start making a viking bag.
I ordered a pattern from DarkHorse workshop that my friend Geoff showed me.
I used the laser to engrave a that dragon pattern and then did the rest by hand. I am hoping to do more of the next versions on the laser as the punching of stitch holes took weeks and even then I broke a needle.
After blacksmithing or D&D I usually take Kiernan out to eat. This bathroom has a sign that he loves.
It says we don't care who uses the bathroom here just wash your hands.
I continued to work on my learning to blacksmith. Most of the time I am working on making S hooks. I am doing this for two reasons. The first is that that is a recommended beginner project and the second is that I could use some S hooks for a tripod I made back in summer camp hat I still have.
Special shout out to David.
I am making a star wars costume or maybe two. I printed out this female Mandalorian helmet. this is what happens when you run out of gray filament and switch to black. I'm going to paint it so this shouldn't matter. I need to put some foam or something on the inside as its shakes around too much when I turn my head but its a nice start.
Here is DLC orchard
They sell apple wine and cider and vinegar and stuff like that.
Also they sell lots of cool varieties of apples including some antique and even ancient types.
I like their dog.
October is also Inktober. I love Inktober. It is a daily challenge throughout the month. They give you a word and you draw it in ink on that day. Its a fun creativity exercise.
I have decided to start eating eggs. I hate eggs but think I am goo picky an eater so at least once a week I will have an egg dish. These are mini omelets in tomato's from the garden.
blech!
I got my flu shot at work.
I printed a skull mask for the Haven Halloween party whose theme was "The Tomb".
We went to Baltimore to visit the site of Poe's original burial.
This was a haven trip and we took my friend Luero with us.
After that we ate good food and went to the Walters to see some good art.
I started cooking all the many apples I bought.
Ebleskevier for breakfast.
Meg decorated the entire house and yard for Halloween.
We got to hang out with Opa.
I found a ton of 4 leaf clovers.
and even a 5 leaf clover
The helmet coming together.
A goof ball:
I shall name no names.
We got some cousin play time in.
I learned about and became semi obsessed with the Camino de Santiago.
I got many books and went to a talk and watched a movie and lots of YouTube shows on it.
I would like to try the Frances version with David. We would walk across northern Spain for 500 miles and so I would get my big Applicachian style hike and he would get his actual beds and bathrooms. I need to work on my Spanish.
I am religious enough to find pilgrimages really appealing on that level as well and Spain has so much history and the pilgrimage path is so popular that the infrastructure is well established and comfortable, in as much as a 500 mile walk is comfortable.
Shout out to my goofy children.
I started getting some seeds for next year. I am moving more and more to perennial edibles. I haven't even heard of some of these but am certainly willing to give them a go
Garden tomatoes diod really well this year. Lots of them volunteer.
I went to a harp event/workshop/miniconcert.
Megan got some beautiful hair color.
She also started her violin lessons.
We tried a scary thing on my lyre.
Originally the tuning pegs were from a zither but David thought the tuning stability would be vastly improved with guitar tuners.
So I ordered some tuners and took out the zither pegs and David cut and filed the new ones down to size.
We put them back in and strung it up and he was definitely right.
I painted my printed mask. First I painted it subtly but then saw that it didn't read well across a room and went back and put in some very bold lines.
Worked more on my quilt project.
Got more apples.
Drew some more Inktobers.
Had a massive lab clean out day.
Megan had her 10th birthday.
She got some very fancy earrings.
A very fancy cake.
I made some Pho.
Mom went to Time Bomb and got her first Tattoo at 70!
We carved Jack-o-lanterns
Then Megan went to Time bomb for her new piercing.
They did a great job and she feels very fancy and tough.
This was her birthday present from us. Aunt Pammy really hit the mark with her earring presents.
I started planning our next Disney vacation. I want to take us all to Galaxys Edge and to stay at the Star Wars Hotel.
I am very excited about this plan.
Every year Megan askes me to make her fancy pancakes. Last year I bought some squeeze bottles so that I would be ready when she next asked. She hasn't asked me since. lol
So for Halloween I took matters into my own hands and made pumpkin pancakes with pumpkin butter and food coloring.
They worked pretty well
We went to see Opa for his Halloween birthday. He took us to this neat park in Hagerstown.
There are all sorts of wooden sculptures made out of the downed trees and stumps. Then there is playground equipment worked into the area.
We had a nice meal and hung out and sang happy birthday.
That evening for trick or treating I put on my spooky costume and went out into the world.
Megan wanted to go without us and Kiernan wanted us there so we walked the route clockwise and they walked counter clockwise. When we eventually got to each other Megan had only 1 shoe...
Trick?
Megan was a cat girl and Kiernan was the Ghost of Elvis.
Anyway they got lots of candy
I went to the Haven Halloween party and hung out with Lucero who was an excellent vampire.
We did a scavenger hunt and some medieval dances and took spooky pictures and listened to music and ate potluck food.
We were all very spooky.
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