AW WIne Auction Night

Brenda Beck hosted the AW Wine Auction and Social. She has a marvelous house for a party - and 45 wine glasses! (I offered to bring some but she thought she might have enough.

Here I am enjoying a taste of one of the wines while conversing.

The chapter members with our scholarship award winner.

Beloved Daughter enjoying some wine and appetizers. I brought stuffed grape leaves and BD brought veggies and dip. For the wine, we brought Jarhead Red and some Ommegang beer, for those beer lovers who just don't care much for wine.

Cragin was helpful during the wine auction, holding a water pitcher and the Spit Bucket for rinsing out of glasses.

Catching Up

Out of order pictures, to catch up with the ones on the camera.

Daisy in the snow. There wasn't much snow, but Daisy loved what there was. The cold weather invigorates her.


The side bed covered in snow, which didn't bother the plants in it at all.


This is a later meal, because I bought this tshirt at Marscon. I'm not sure exactly what I've cooked, but I'm well enough to cook again at this point.


Now this is an old picture - black-eyed peas for New Year's Day good luck.


Cragin at table, and I've identified the meal as marinated, grilled chicken breasts, ratatoulli, and cooked cabbage.


Valentine's Day dinner. The candy hearts are for Beloved Daughter (although she did share). I'm forking up asparagus. We also had Hurry Curry with brown rice and broccoli.



I put the asparagus down, to share with Cragin.


And here I'm sharing rice.


Crocus in the front yard, blooming.

The Gaming Table

Have you missed me? I've been sick - first a bad cold and then bronchitis. I felt horrible! But I'm better now, thank heavens.

Better and able to go to the theater. We went to the Folger to see the Gaming Table, which was very amusing and fun to see. Great set, with many staircases, two right side up and four upside down! Two of the characters got lost in the set and needed help finding their way out. Very beautiful, though, with the gorgeous wood matching the ever-present columns. The acting was also very good, with some excellent physical comedy. We enjoyed the evening.

To go with the female writer of the play, the director "Eleanor Holdridge leads an extraordinary all-female design team, including set designer Marion Williams, costume designer Jessica Ford, lighting designer Nancy Schertler, and sound designer Veronika Vorel." (from the Folger website)


At the Basset Table set up in the exhibition hall with an exhibit on women writers of Shakespeare's time. I'm reaching for a card (under glass).

Beloved Daughter and Cragin at Bob & Edith's afterwards, enjoying breakfast.

Virginia Art

I always try to buy art at Marscon. I like the idea of original art and I like supporting local artists. This year at the Charity Auction I won a hotly contested Green Man sculpture. I'll take a picture later, when it gets it's home in our yard, which will be sometime after I get well, if that ever happens. I'm really tired of being sick, and blowing my nose, and coughing, and sleeping all day and all that stuff.

Anyway, here I am with the chainsaw artist.






LLoyd George, chainsaw sculptor

Coyote Run

Coyote Run and their last gig at Marscon. They're going to cease touring. I'm going to miss them. Coyote Run is one of the highlights of Marscon for me.

It's hard to get good pictures without flash in the darkness, but here they are.



Chelle shines out, with her gold hair.







Cragin was in the audience, but I had to dance!



And dance....



And dance ....



And dance ....







I love dancing to Coyote Run!

And we all dance.

Dinner Out

Fireside Chophouse

Marscon now includes an annual visit to the Fireside Chophouse, for a lovely meal. We had steak. Well, Mandy had chicken. Their food is good. Their website is horrible. So the link takes you to their Yelp reviews. Trust me. I'm doing you a favor.



I closed my eyes for this toast.


Mandy and Beloved Daughter.

Panels for Authors

So there I was at Marscon - sick with the family cold which Cragin and Beloved Daughter both had already gone through. The con and room were already paid for. Mandy and Beloved Daughter were going anyway. And it's Marscon! So I went and slept all day Saturday, missing several workshops that looked like fun.

Cragin, however, went to workshops. These are the ones he attended.

Writing 101 Workshop
Allen Wold (center) with Marina Sergeyeva, Darcy Wold, Leona Wisocker, Danny Birt, and Peter Prellwitz


Pondering Podcasting: Techniques and Directions
Keith DeCandido, Alfredo Torres, Helen Madden, Bob Price, and Jason Bayless



e-Book Ingenuity
J. M. Snyder, Ashley Stewart, Peter Prellwitz