One project down... ??? to go...

So this past weekend was Cattle Raids.  I spent the week before getting very little sleep while finishing this hat.  It (now) belongs to Maddalena (it was made because she got Laureled), except I need to take it apart to resize the band a bit (it's a bit small for her... darn). 
Anyway, I entered it into the Baronial Artisan competition, not that I won of course, but at least I got fairly decent scores for a first attempt.  I'm definitely going to have to do another willow/reed supported hat, because it was *amazingly* light for its size.

Of course, getting one project done doesn't really ( shorten my project list much. )

Other than the hat, Cattle Raids was fun, if something of a blur from lack of sleep.  idonealuv's feast was incredible, as many people have mentioned (and I don't say that often).  Court was *very* long, for a non-Royal court, but a lot of people got a lot of awards they deserved (although I've always been a bit weirded by the same person getting more than one award in one court - it seems like it's better if they're spread out - I still hate that I got my AoA/KH/Boreas so close together). *shrug* Royal/Baronia whim though, and better to give deserved awards than not to give any...

It's amazing, and very cool, how many college students we have in the group now...also, it was nice seeing algedonic and gwenifyre at the event.  (side note, if one of you is reading this - when do we want to get together to pick up the "project"?)

Work has been a touch frustrating lately - though the raise heps make up for it - the half boring, half frantic nature of it does get to me...

Edit:  This entry was written last night at 7:00 - I'm not backdating it because that means no one will read it, but I really don't care about anything in it right now.

Athena Soucy ??-September 27, 2004

She was already a wise cat when we got her - the vet believed she was 4 years old, the mother of several litters of kittens.  She was such a sweet cat that the animal shelter refused to let her be put down, and placed her at the pet store for us to find.  When we first met her, she was butting her head against the cage door insisting that we take her out and pet her.  So we did, and that was that - we were hers. Taking her home was a new experience - neither of us had ever had an indoor cat before, so we didn't know what to expect.  We certainly didn't expect her to have a hissing fit about the mirror!

She was a tortoise-shell cat, with somewhat odd markings, and green eyes.  She really wasn't fat, she was just fluffy though I suppose she did earn her nickname of "Cannonball Butt".  No wonder really, as she was a little tiny thing when we got her, and regular meals were still a novelty in her life.  She was most definitely a priss - she didn't even like walking across the bed because she didn't like the feel of the comforter under her feet. 

  Athena was very insistant about when she wanted to be petted - in fact, she would bite you (nicely) if you weren't paying enough attention to her. And if you did pet her? Oh, she was a cuddle-slut - her favorite things in the worldwere chin scratches and ear rubs, and she would spend hours sitting on you and kneading your legs if you would provide them. She could be very matronly - I used to think that Gandalf never actually had to lick himself, because she did it for him. All in all, she was a cat who knew exactly what she wanted - and wouldn't take any shit from anyone, human, feline or canine. (When we first got Caitlyn, she spent a few weeks launching herself hissing across the room whenever she saw the poor puppy - she wanted the dog OUT of her house...)

Although she had been acting a little odd the past few weeks, she started being herself again over the weekend, and I thought it was just a mood she had gotten in (she did that sometime, spending weeks at a time avoiding us and the other cats and then coming back as if nothing had happened).  We think she passed peacefully in her sleep, as we found her in one of her favorite napping spots.  We weren't expecting it, though we should have been - she was at least 8, possibly 9 or 10, which was old for a stray.

We will miss you, Athena.