And not actually too bad.

Ok, I know it’s been a while since I’ve written anything here.  It’s surprising how little time I have now that I’m working again. 

I’m still only doing 6.5 hrs, 4 days a week, but the cost to me is that I’m in bed most nights at the same time as Hurricane Owen in order to have those hours to put in.  I’m still struggling with constant joint pain, and, this week, have been off for days again.  It seems I ignored a cold, and with no immune system to stop it, have managed to end up with another kidney infection (the steroids and immunosuppressants leave my kidneys weak, and very vulnerable, it seems) and a touch of pleuresy.  I *almost* made it to work Monday morning before the kidney pain got so bad it left me seeing stars and sent me to the doctor instead.  Rather like being stabbed in the back. 

So, sorry I never got back to you on Monday, Aunt Kate.  That’s what happened.

Anyhow, 48 hours into steroids again and a high dose of antibiotics and everyone waiting to see if the combination is going to trigger another bleed or just help restore balance. 

I’m feeling MUUUUUCH better now.

Oh well.  I still don’t have to look to far to find a lot to be thankful for.  The health concerns have become so commonplace that they’re little more than a nuisance most of the time. 

Besides, chemo drugs are a great weight loss programme.

In other news, Hurricane Owen is growing like a weed, and doing amazing new things every day.  He’s learning to read, using the potty sporadically and all but changing his own diapers when he doesn’t.  He uses words like “useful” and “wierdo” quite correctly, and sings almost constantly.  It figures the rude songs are the ones he learns first.

I wonder where he got that from.

He also does some very puzzling things. 

Monday, he got his ear stuck in the baby gate. 

I have no idea how, I’d stepped out of the room for about thirty seconds to answer the door when I heard the crash. 

One pressure mounted baby gate lying on the floor, with a very surprised Big Cat under it, and Owen on top, with his left ear stuck in it. 

If I’d asked him to do it, he’d never have figured out how. 

As it is, he hasn’t been able to tell me what it was that he was doing that led to him having his ear stuck in the gate in the first place.  Judging from it’s position after the crash though, I’d say the living room telephone had something to do with it.

Today, he’s been very quiet, which is how I’m able to be updating.  It’s been a rainy day, so I took him to Mick-A-Donals for breakfast and to play in the “playland” instead of trashing my living room.  He came home, read his books, watched a Maurice Sendak video and put himself down for a nap. 

So yeah, aliens have stolen my baby.

If he’s not back after naptime, I will be off kicking some alien butt someplace. 

For those who have been wondering though, we’re still hangin’ in.  Our little nation of three is the same as ever.  Sweet Hubby is still his sweet self, and things have been unusually peaceful in the Howard House for much of the summer. 

That’s right folks, Nero’s Fiddle (Formerly the Trillingham Ladies’ Chorus) will be performing at the Royal Medieval Faire in Waterloo on Saturday September 23.  It’s a disappointingly uninformative website, but a great little community faire, run by lovely people.  Why not come and check us out.  We’ve had a minor lineup change, and some new material, but still the same Dockside Doxies you’ve come to love.

We’re on at 1:00pm and 2:30pm. 

In the tavern, naturally.

Come later if you like. *ahem!*

But we’ll already be done. ;-D

Then hopefully a busy winter of arranging and recording ahead. 

Stay tuned.

With a two hour drive on either end.

Next time, we go back to Guelph. 

More train action.

Smaller crowd.

MUCH cheaper.

Only 25 min from home.

And Adam, as usual, is taking brilliant pictures.  I’m friends locking this post, because Adam is particular about un-authorized use of his pictures, but it was good, and I thought I’d share it here:

http://www.midnightclear.org/adam/gallery/sanfrancisco-2006/img_0001_004

Scotty, Chris, for some reason this made me think of you.

Damn but it feels good to have “Tudor Tan” again!

Our first show as Nero’s Fiddle was a success!

The pay was crap, but everyone had a good time, and our audience, while small, enjoyed  us immensely, and it looks like we’ll be invited back next year with better pay.  I’m very happy to welcome runesmith to the group as well!  You fit just as perfectly as I’d imagined, and everyone is happy to have you!  Hooray for just jumping in and going with the flow!  It was also great to see the_songbird and drtns out there with their beautiful new baby.  Our little family is growing!

Hurricane Owen was a gem for most of the day, and I shall have to add singing with the lovely ‘Ladies, in a shady grove, in a lovely park on a beautiful summer day while my happy baby curls up with his head in my lap and sings along, as one of those moments of perfect contentment that you hang onto for later, when times are hard and you need a touchstone.  Like when he tries to FORCE the big cat to share his lollipop, insists on wearing MY shoes before he’ll get in the car, or refuses to take a bath without his underwear on his head.

Hurricane Owen amazed Sweet Hubby and I both by being an almost perfect angel all day!  He had a good time chatting with all the new friends he made and exploring the Faery Festival.  We had a bit of a cry when we dropped our snow cone, but got over it quickly.  Otherwise, a delightful child all day, who was chatty, friendly and POLITE, and I was a very proud mommy!  Sweet Hubby and I have said since he was about three months old and coming to Renaissance Festival rehearsals with us, that if it weren’t for him being so agreeable about our odd habits, strange costumes and unusual choice of hobbies, we couldn’t do half of the things we do.  Some of Owen’s favourite people are fire eaters, jugglers, sword swallowers, armourers, jousters and all other manner of misfits.  Fortunately, that includes us! 

We thanked him for being such a wonderful child by taking him to the other end of the park to ride the real life miniature train around the park.  Over and over and over.  I thought he would DIE from joy!  His mantra since getting off the train is now “Owen ride a REAL TRAIN!  Owen ride a REAL TRAIN!”  He chanted it in his sleep all night, those were his first words this morning, and it confused the wonderful women at daycare all day today.  If you have a train mad toddler, Riverside Park in Guelph is the place to go!

We got home around 8pm, exhausted, sweaty, sunburned and dirty, and it felt just like coming home on a Festival day used to.  We saw a lot of familiar faces from our old show, and it’s always bittersweet.  I miss them all so much, but no other show will ever be the same.  That said, I think runesmith said it best.  Lots of people from our Rennfest family are now basically just throwing a ton of stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.  The upshot is that we have a whole pile of little, one weekend faires popping up.  Some may make it, some won’t.  We’re all kind of sharing a common bond of perpetual hope mixed with a sense loss that’s still almost as strong now as it was the day we got the bad news.  It’s odd.

The next big milestone for us will be recording on July 8&9, then off to Royal Medieval Faire in Waterloo in September with cd’s to sell!

Off to go email another faire organizer regarding next year.

Watch this space for more.

Sweet Hubby never ceaces to find new ways to amuse, amaze and impress me.   His latest effort includes a set of Dr. Who handpuppet icons, which I thought I would share here.

Preview:
         

The rest are

  

This had me giggling half the evening…..Thanks Kate!

Well, ok.  I know it’s been a while since my last meaningful update. 
Sue me.  I’ve been busy.

I started back to work part time on Monday, and found things same old same old there.  More work than bodies to do it, so would you mind terribly just jumping in the deep end straight away please? 

You know.  The usual.

The good news is that I’m only on 4 four hour shifts a week, for now.  I’ll be adding an hour every few weeks as I feel fit, but won’t be back to FULL time until September.  In the meantime, I’ll just have to go, do my job and go home, and not let the cursed place trick me into thinking it matters in any way to the grand scheme of things. 

That’s when it gets stressful.

Otherwise, I’m handling it.  I’m a bit sore right now, but have been a good girl, walking RELIGIOUSLY for an hour a day since April, even if it kills me.  Hurricane Owen is napping, my best friends are playing phone tag with me while learning how to be parents to their beautiful new baby boy, I visited the wonderful Aunt Sissy and Uncle Adam on the weekend, and all is right with the world.  Even the looming family reunion picnic Sweet Hubby’s family has issued a command performance edict for this coming Saturday can wreck today.  We’ll deal with that when it happens.  In a pinch, a toddler is ALWAYS a great excuse for leaving early.

Still dealing with a bit of the “not inspired to write a damned thing” that always happens once I drop prednisone, but it’s been three weeks off it completely now, and I feel like I’m slowly regaining my equilibrium, and all the aches and pains that come with it.  That’s the price of getting off the drugs.  It seems I’m always going to be stuck with the devil’s choice:  Suffer now or suffer later.  For now I’ll deal with as much as I can handle and cut my risks of permanent damage to all the major organs and stay off the drugs.  We’ll see how I do.

The only other news is that I”m sitting in my LIVING room right now.  Yep, the main floor now has the Interweb.  It’s still not the wireless that Sweet Hubby promised, but it DOES mean that I can use the computer (thanks to Dad for the indefinite loan of the laptop) and keep an eye on Owen at the same time.   It was becoming problematic to run up or downstairs to use the computer, both because there are days when stairs are damned near impossible, and because Owen has developed the habit of either taking the living room apart or stashing things in the VCR as soon as I turn my back. 

Today I found a granola bar in it.

Off to go wake the sleeping boy now, as if I let him sleep much longer, I’ll still be trying to put him to bed at midnight.  I DO have to work tomorrow, you know.