(no subject)

Belated happy birthday to Tim of timcharmorbien! I'm slow, but I get there in the end - hope it was a fantastic one!

Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird, is it a plane....

We got our first snow of the season this year.

While I was out in the nearby but not completely local Other Town doing saber/smallsword fencing (which went well, save the chill of a poorly heated gymnasium).

I discovered today that I CAN drive in snow - not well or quickly, but I can get from A to B.

Other discovery, though this one should have been obvious had I thought about it: while Ikea is FABULOUS if you have time and/or are browsing, it's a rat's maze when you're looking for only one thing (in this case, light bulbs). And much as I love Ikea, once you've been touched by the Strudely Appendages's lightbulbs, you never go back - for one reason or another I am never able to find bulbs that fit their lamps anywhere else.

Back to fencing - it went well :) We did dueling saber drills for the first time in.. I don't know how long. I sometimes forget how damn FUN saber is, with lightning moves and CUTS (mine wants to be called "Jack", as it's a dashing and slashy weapon)!

Smallsword continued at a good pace. In addition to parries, we learned the volte and demi-volte, voids that remove the body from the opponents point in rather the same way as displacement (modern foil) and the girata (rapier). Also learned that retreats have to be as broad a step as advances, or you lose distance, which is crucial in smallsword (once your opponent is inside your point, they're safe).

Smallsword can be practiced with a short (child length?) foil, but given the different cross-section and length I still prefer working with a replica smallsword. Give it time, give it time.

After working out for 3 hours in cold conditions I drove crawled home and ate a huge plate of feta pasta, so I am pleasantly full mellow, and tired. Despite complications it was a good Sunday :)