Thank you Sakina, Curlgirl and Trisha.  Sorry I haven't been on-line, but am frantically busy.  Teaching 3 classes; norm is 2.  This is the first short summer semester, 6 wks instead of 15.  I have a ton of paperwork to grade in a much shorter time frame.  In spring semester I was working 15-hr Mondays with chorale practice on Tues nites, and was looking forward to having nites off.  The Fri before this semester started, the secretary called me and asked if I would the nite class as the person who was supposed to teach it, couldn't.  So instead of working 15-hr Mondays and Tues nites, I am working 14-hr Mondays and Wed. nites.    Let's see, I went into teaching so I could have summers off????  Only 1 more week, then I will be teaching one class that meets Mon and Wed ams.

Have been wearing my hair in a coiled bun.  Looks pretty nice, if I do say so.  I center part it and sweep it back over my ears, then make a low bun.  Sometimes I pull out the ringlets over my ears and let them dangle.  Have been attempting a braid and now that my layers are pretty much grown out, it makes a decent braid.  May try braiding it with ribbons and see how that looks.

More later. My hubby is home

Thank you, Drear.  It is fortunate that my hair is wavy/curly so the coiled bun works really well.  The only thing I worry about is that my hair is so fine that I have to use bobby pins.  I hope they aren't damaging my hair.  I have some leather barrettes that have the sticks that go thru the holes.  I have had them for at least 20 yrs.  Some bamboo ones, too.  I have been wearing those, too.  I have to pin my hair and put the barrette over the pins, to keep it from slipping.  I will see my hairdresser next Sat, and will ask her about it.

Saw Letters from Juliet tonite.  It was very good and I recommend it.  Of course, with Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero, I was pretty sure it wouldn't be a bad movie.

Franco Nero is Italian and about the same age as Redgrave.  About 30 yrs. ago he was every woman's heartthrob, and for an older man, he is still very attractive.

Have been using the Burt's Bees conditioner full-strength because I thought my ends looked a little dry, but it is making my hair limp, so diluted it half & half tonite.  We'll see if that solves the problem.  Dealing with fine hair is difficult.  It is wavy/curly and humidity makes it frizzy, but too much humidity makes it limp.  I will get color on Sat, so that should put some body back in.

We are having thunder and lightening, but the storms are moving north and south of us.  Drove to school in the rain today and drove home tonite under a towering black cloud with lightening flickering behind and thru it.  I love a good storm.  It is so exhilirating!  Where we live seems to be in a weather dead spot, we never get a good rocking thunderstorm.  I miss them.

I am in the throes of finals for the 1st short summer semester.  The paperwork is snowballing.  I have to turn in grades on Fri and start the second short semester next Mon.  Thank heaven I am only teaching one class that meets twice a week.

No wonder they looked so in love and good together. 

I'm glad to see you're having some time to yourself, you deserve it.

Huzzah, Renn Faire!  Will you be working at the jewelry booth again, my lady?  I'm still waiting to see pics of your garb!!!

Yes, Sakina, I am working for Pendragon, but only part time this year, just 4 hrs most days.  Last weekend was nice altho' hot.  I wore court garb both days with a hoop.  It wasn't too bad.  I took my bodice chiller, but didn't need to use it.  This weekend temps will be near 90 with thunderstorms predicted for Sun.  So Sat I will wear something fancy, but lightweight, with a hoop skirt and Sun I will wear something that can get wet without ruining it.  And I will take my bodice chiller.

I ordered 2 new chillers, one in red and one in blue to match my gowns, and I left the black and gold chiller to have the lip gilded.  I spend $250 on Sat.  Picked up my new royal blue silk hat which Pam at La Paloma made for me out of the royal blue silk skirt that got ruined in the rain 2 yrs. ago.  Bought a new bodice from Felix Needleworthy in black and gold brocade to wear with a red linen skirt trimmed in black velvet with black and gold ribbon and black braid.  The underskirt is black damask in the Waverly Capulet pattern.  The overskirt is done, I just need to get the trim on it.  Had intended to wear it this weekend, but it will be too hot on Sat and too wet on Sun for velvet.  So maybe next weekend.

Am sewing like a fiend now that Faire is here.  Have several alterations and 3 new gowns to make, and I also need to replace some bloomers and chemises that have seen a lot of wear, not to mention sewing for other people, too.  So far, I have replaced the ribbon on the green moire court gown, made the black damask underskirt and pink moire taffeta underskirts.

Next week, I will sew for other people and I hope to get a couple of things done for me, too.   First and foremost, the red linen skirt, then I hope to transfer the embroidered black corduroy trim from the old green skirt to the new green and black striped skirt and take apart the matching bodice (which is too small) to make a matching front panel for the black suede Elizabeth bodice.  That would be nice for the 3rd weekend, if it isn't too hot and doesn't rain.

Last weekend it rained both days, altho' not until the end of the day, which did, however, put a damper on last-minute shoppers.  I hate when it rains on the weekends.  And it seems to do that here more often than not.

I know I haven't posted pictures.  Sorry.  I still haven't taken the time to put a new battery in my camera and figure out how to post the pictures.  One of these days.

Scotchgard works pretty well unless you get a really heavy rain.  Or you can use lighweight canvas, if you can find a pretty and appropriate pattern.  A tightly woven wool is also good, but none of these will work as well as a rubber cape in a downpour.  The primary thing is to be sure to take the colored feathers out of your hat if you get caught in the rain.  The dye will run like mad if it gets wet.

So far we are 1 for 4 for rainless days.  It's a bummer, but at least we haven't been flooded out yet, which happened 2 yrs ago on a Sun.  The Sanitation truck came in on Mon to clean the privies and got stuck in the mud.  Then a tow truck came in to retrieve the San truck and it got stuck in the mud.  So they called the elephant trainers who brought the elephants to pull the trucks out.  It was all captured on film and posted to the Renn site.