Late July 2011 Update

Hmm. The day job is cutting into blogging time. So some quick updates:

• The Pearwood Pipers went to Canterbury Renaissance Faire. In addition to singing The Oyster girl in drag, there was a need to fill out a women's chorus of Oaken Leaves, so Molly got a new sister named Inga.
  
• I bought a new scholar's hat. At least it's supposed to be a scholar's hat. I'm trying to find documentation about how to wear the hat.  I remember seeing a portrait from 1500-something of a man in mostly black wearing a jeweled, square fabric hat with a wire or string between a break in the brim, but it's not any of these pictures
  • http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/european_paintings/portrait_of_a_cardinal_probably_cardinal_don_fernando_el_greco_domenikos_theotokopoulos/objectview_enlarge.aspx?page=39&sort=0&sortdir=asc&keyword=&fp=1&dd1=11&dd2=0&vw=1&collID=11&OID=110001015&vT=1&hi=0&ov=0
  • http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/european_paintings/portrait_of_a_young_man_bronzino_agnolo_di_cosimo_di_mariano/objectview.aspx?page=3&sort=6&sortdir=asc&keyword=hat&fp=1&dd1=11&dd2=0&vw=1&collID=11&OID=110000235&vT=1&hi=0&ov=0
  • http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/european_paintings/portrait_of_a_man_andrea_del_sarto_andrea_d_agnolo/objectview.aspx?page=2&sort=6&sortdir=asc&keyword=hat&fp=1&dd1=11&dd2=0&vw=1&collID=11&OID=110002063&vT=1&hi=0&ov=0
  I know there's a picture of him somewhere, maybe in a Sister Wendy book... but until I see what he did, I can't fix the hat so that the brim stops making me look like Cruella DeVille when I wear it front-wise.
  
  
• Saturday night, in a pine grove, I saw a bat flitting about eating bugs underneath a starry sky.
  
• I also saw the Summer Triangle for the first time this season, along with Arcturus, Spica, and Antares.
  
  
• Eugene continues not to live up to its image as a bike-friendly city: Last week I was nearly side-swiped by an SUV as it rode the white line between the motor traffic and bicycle traffic lanes. For an encore, the SUV failed to signal right as it turned (right in front of me). This morning a city bus turn right, right in front of me (at least it signaled). I am considering attending various city committees' meetings.
  
• After (Don't. Do. The. Math) Many Years' Service, the futon bed-couch frame is literally falling apart. I'm afraid to sleep in our bed. So we're getting a new frame.
  
• My story submission cycle is at an ebb. I'm working a short story right now, and various critiqued drafts need final tweaking.
  
• Google-plus has made FaceBook a little less interesting, but time spent on social media has gone up. I suspect that upgrading my cell phone to a smart phone would help.
  
• OMG, I still have a cell phone. Everyone at my new job has a smart phone. I would like an iPhone, but I think it's too much for my data plan.