Rapunzel's Felted Tower

The last stop for us on the tour of the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival was at the skein/garment/etc. competition.

There were some really impressive garments in the competition, but the thing that I will remember best is the felted tower for Rapunzel.

Here's an overall photo of the tower.

Followed by a close-up of Rapunzel, herself. Note the flowers growing on the tower near her.

Not only was the tower three dimensional, but parts of it extended past the base of the tower, including Rapunzel's hair, which was braided and hung freely from her window at the top of the tower and coiled itself at the base of the tower. She's even wearing a beaded necklace.

Some real towers have gargoyles or other decorative stonework protruding from the side, and this one was no exception, with decorative "stone" roses extended from the sides. Beautiful!

This photo shows a bit better how the roses extend from the side of the tower.

The side of the tower has a vine growing up the side of it. The roots of the vine also extend off the bottom of the tower onto the table, looking as if they are growing from the table.

The vine also has little, felted flowers growing from it.

There was a lot of detail that I can't really show here. The software didn't want to let me show this many photos. I was amazed!

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John has announced the release date for the newest Steve Canyon DVD! Check it out!

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I am still having problems with my back. I am more and more convinced that I strained some muscles. So, of course, it hurts like the dickens, but I don't think it's done any permanent damage. I'm at a point where I can sit, stand, or walk without too much problem, but moving from one of those conditions to another is still very painful. For example: sitting is OK, but getting up hurts. Once I've stood up (and given it a few seconds) it's OK again, but if I start walking, it hurts for the first 10 seconds or so.

Which is giving me a lot of sympathy for Holly, who did something similar a bit more than a week ago, and didn't see the worst of the effects until after the Sheep and Wool Fest. She and Robin went to Annapolis and went canoeing (which she hasn't done in years). Apparently, she did something to some muscles that suddenly let her know they were unhappy by causing a lot of chest pain, to the point that she wound up in the emergency room wondering if she was having a heart attack.

I'm sorry for her that she's in pain, but if it has to hurt, I'm so glad it's a muscle problem rather than a heart problem.

That said, muscle problems hurt!!! I'm feeling sorry for both of us.

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All this has made me post less than I would like to, and leave out stuff that I would have liked to mention, but missed out on because I was distracted by my backache.

Yesterday and this morning, I caught some really good movies on cable. Last night, I caught They Live not too long after the beginning. It's one of my favorite science fiction movies, and seems to have a lot to do with our current financial crisis. When it was over, I found Duck, You Sucker on another station, about half over. This is a good movie for the first viewing. It's a very offbeat cowboy movie set during the Mexican Revolution. I loved it in the theater. But it wears off quickly.

Today, I caught Enemy Mine by Barry Longyear. This is an excellent SF movie about two soldiers on opposing sides of an alien/human war. They crash land and are stranded on a planet together. I love this movie.

Check your local listings if you're interested, because these are stations that tend to show a movie several times over the course of a week. I think they were in the many Encore stations.

We have another new episode of Supernatural tonight (I think), and I know we're getting to the end. This may be the season finale.

Have a great evening!

Walk to the Library

After my post yesterday, I went to the library. I returned two books, picked up two books I'd requested, and found two other books to take home with me.

On the way, I played with my new camera and discovered that Winter had arrived!

The first bridge on my walk is a tiny one:

Followed by the covered bridge that I like so much.

There's a fabulous view of a fountain further up in the water, but there were only so many photos I could download. I'll add it tomorrow. You can see the fountain in the background on this photo, though.

This is part of the maze of townhouse-like buildings in what is actually a business park.


The maze is full of stairs, ramps and other levels, as well as winding paths.

Beside the lake, is this little outlook point at the back of the mill.

I love walking to the library. It's so pretty.

But I didn't love the results of the walk last night and today. It felt like winter, and I could tell it was cold, but I didn't feel cold. Unfortunately, I am now dealing with the reaction my muscles always have when they get cold. My back muscles are all crampy and sore. I plan to do some serious laying down today interspersed with other activities that support my back.

The most vigorous item planned for today is pulling out the heating pad for my back.

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I've finished the second front part of the pockets, and gotten three quarters of the way through the back down to the bottom of the pockets. By tomorrow, I expect to be where I was three days before.

No point in photos, they just show less than the photos I've already posted.

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Pushing Daisies is back with a new episode tonight! And at 11 pm, Van Helsing is on TNT.

Have a great one!