Dream a little Dream..

With the life of a friend in limbo, and my own life in a different sort of limbo, I have an idea of the mental space he was coming from. I did not get the bullies from work or people leaving me, instead I have scorched zone of bare earth around me. Someone I respect very much refuses to speak to me, friend whom I love would rather not be near me. No one is to blame in a situation like this. Some would say the bullies, some would say his friends for not seeing, some would even blame him, himself.He told one person of this intention I hope as he is in his coma that he dreams of beautiful things, his coffee house lit up, music playing and no need to be concerned for the bills, that he finally feels the love and joy he brought to so many people.

For me there is a lesson to be learned in all of this and perhaps and I hope I am not the only one to see it. Loving someone from a distance doesn't work. If you love someone but can't be around them for long periods of time, please check on them, in person. We all have those people, hell we might be one of those people. In a world of twitter, facebook, myspaceand , IM's, we can seem to be a totally different person than the one you look in the eye.

Forgiveness is all the time, but sometimes we need a kick in the rear to remember that forgiveness flows both ways, have you been blocking forgiveness? Or not allowing your self to the freedom to forgive? There are a few of us at the raggedy edge who may need just a kind word or a surprise visit to keep from falling. This is not just about LGBT, this is about our friends and people in general. I cannot get out to see some of you due to doctors orders, but i will start.

For these things and perhaps more i am sorry

*I am sorry I ruined what was a creative and beautiful friendship

*I am sorry in action or in deed I have caused you any form of harm,

*I am sorry for promises broken.

*I am sorry for words that hurt.

*I am sorry I could never be what you wanted or needed.

*I am sorry I am not the woman you wanted.

*I am sorry I could not give you what you wanted or needed

*I am sorry for drifting away.

* I am sorry I may never get better.

*I am sorry for secrets kept.

And for those who may not know yet I am sorry

And the harder part.

I forgive those who have trespassed upon me. All of them.

This message is only for thought purposes, I offer any all clean slate, I know many cannot do that, but everyone has a chance to simply be loved for who they are.

The thought of having another friend feel the need,the utter loneliness, turns my insides out. Know that no matter what has been said in the past I can listen, I can be the shoulder you need, you have a whole group of people that feel the same way.

And maybe one day you can be that shoulder for me.

.....aaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnndddd I'm back.

It is amazing how life has the ability to completely and totally suck you out of what you thought you were living, smack you upside the head and point you back in the correct direction. The good news is I have been working on a dress design. There are a couple of pictures of it over there. The design is based over a vintage 1953 design. Only I like my way better. When you alter, or gase or make major modifications like I am, you have to remake the dress and it's pieces time and time again. Something might not work right so you have to change that, the dress was originally designed for the spectacular bullet bras of the time requiring a complete restructuring of how it fits a female bust. The general idea of the dress is the only thing that has remained the same, but that is about it, the front is being majorly altered, I am going to add several large gores to the front and pleat it about 24 inches across so there is a volume of material there, it gives the idea of sleekness but not, and add more hint of innocence, that at least is my next idea. The front skirting of the dress is from a failed attempted at another idea that has led its merry way to the one I have currently.

Updates as the next attempt is made ;)

Etsy and product build up.

So I have an Etsy store that I created to see about bringing in some extra money from stuff I am already doing. If I am creating something I offer it to my friends first at a discount, so they get to see what is going on and as family get first dibs. This has lead to me not having anything to put in my store because everything I have offered up so far has been jumped on. I am getting payments and craft trade for my work, which is wonderful that my friends love my work so much they are grabbing it up as soon as I even make an offer some one wants it. Some how though I feel like I should get ahead so I have SOMETHING to put up in the store. I am so pleased that my work is popular and at the same time a little embarrassed that my store remains empty. I am not sure how I am going to go forward to have a store and offerings for friends at the same time. I have a few things in the work, and may just post them and let them be a surprise ;)

Well....bugger.

So I have suddenly lost 30 some odd pounds in the last month and change, for reasons unknown and my body is not talking, it seems this trend will continue. Most of my costuming is made with draw strings so that if I gain or lose a few pounds I will still fit and there will be no difference in the costuming. So the SteamPunk I made is quite safe and will continue to fit and I will continue to perfect it. It does however put a crimp in the making of my other pieces of attire. I have a jacket as can be seen here that a size up or down might not make a difference but as it is fairly tailored I may have to wait a while before actually making it and cutting it out. I don't want to guess and be wrong either way. Grr.. this puts a damper on my plans to have this finished by the end of July. The chemise I will be wearing under it will not be an issue, but my corset may. There is enough play in the corset currently that I can lose a few inches from my waist and not have an issue. More than 3 inches though and I am looking at over 100$ for another corset as by that time it will no longer be tight enough to be a corset. Double Grr. I am happy I am loosing weight as will be my pain specialist, but I am unhappy at the total havoc it is playing with my costuming. Not even to mention just my general clothing. Worse, it seems that I am 1/2 away from being too big for my bras. According to the proper way to fit a bra when I lose an additional 1/2 off of my ribcage I will have to move up to a DDD bra. Meaning that my very carefully sewn and made tribal bras may no longer fit. This will not do! I may continue to wear them until I can afford to purchase the proper size and cannibalize the others for parts. I am going to keep a careful watch on my weight and measurements and wait until I hit a plateau to actually make anything else that might be fitted. For now it is chemise, over shirt, petticoat on the plate to get done. At least with those components with a few extra bits of awesome accessories, even without the jacket, the outfit will look complete.

Steaming the Punk.

As promised yesterday, I bring you today the something awesome I promised. A little bird tweeted you had all been good(bird, twitter... come on it is mostly funny), although I am quite cross no presents were on my door step this morning. So here it is, the long talked about start of my new new steampunk outfit.
Basic run down; the bottom layer is a full circle skirt in a 45 inch shimmery black faux satin 5 yards total cost around 13$, the next layer is a, cream sheer. You may notice that it brushes the floor and then some, I wanted a vintage "waterfall" look, that had a bit of a train. However as awesome as that would be it would be ripped to shreds and dirty within a day, so the material will be raised in front so the "apron" is shorter and will bustled a bit differently in back so that it comes down to the hem of the black but not the floor. And finally my pride and joy, the clockwork over skirt, the position you currently see it in is not the way it will be bustled this was simply to give and idea of what it would look like. You cannot tell at the top and I may alter it just a tad but it is corseted through button holes to bring the corseting idea down from the corset I will be wearing with this into the over skirt, I will possibly put more button holes down the sides to make it a bit more apparent. The ribbon is what will be holding the skirt shut and on. For the curious I do actually have a padded two layered bustle under the skirts to give me that much booty, but I may cut back to one layer or just empty out some padding. I will be working on the rest of stuff that goes along with it for my project of the month. I am also making a petticoat for it. I have had many horrified stares, living in one of the hottest states, heck living in a city nick named the Valley of the Sun, why would I want to add more layers? Simple, sweat and breathablity. Satin, even faux is not exactly wash and wear. A simple thin cotton petticoat will capture sweat, and give me a little bit of room to allow for air flow.

It needs work, tailoring tweaking, but the long parts of hemming that much material is done, as well as taking a basic design made with my very much lacking sketching skills into reality. Sometimes it makes you want to squee and squish it.

And yes I did... so shutup.

Phototgraphy and Photoshop tango.

So this space as been blank for a small while, perhaps some are aware that the hubbins and I are preparing for a rather large and fun convention coming up that you should totally go to as there are many people who are simply awesome who are going to be there but also because my hubbins will be having a table to show off his stupidly amazing art, and you should come by and purchase one of his prints, they will be signed with love from my hubbins. We will also be graced with the lovely Ms. Emma who has a rather wonderful web comic and will be there also will some prints to sell and wonderful book marks. May I suggest the corset gamer girl print I am the busty red head in front in the purple corset. While I cannot guarantee that I will be in a pair of ruffle bum panties and a corset should you happen to stop by the booth. I can't NOT guarantee that either. I am a costumer and there is no telling what could have gotten in my mind to wear this time. I can tell you the hubbins or PaleoComics booth will be doing sketches for your entertainment and Zach Reddy is well worth watching as an artist so take the time to at least come by and say Hi.

So now that I have made sure my friends and hubbins have gotten their due, I will have a book of my photography available to look through, it will also have my business cards, please feel free to take a gander at my portfolio and take a card or two. I will be offering photography in my home studio very soon and there will be information on there how to contact me, but also how to go to my site and take a look at other pictures that I have not included in the convention portfolio.

In other news, the hubbins as been teaching me to us photoshop. Not just to help with my photography but to also teach me how to lay flats for comics. Now as we are a very short few days from the convention teach me would see like some thing that is worthless, but I have found that the same patience that lends me well in my knitting seems to lend me well into laying color. I will be helping him out so hopefully we have more impress you with.

Just remember to look for \Zach Reddy Art or PaleoComic. For the more visually inclined, look for the banner that has the T-Rex, with the clockwork angel and the smddoking hot red head with the plasma sword.

We will have posters to sell and give away and sketches of you and your sweetie, family. and compatriot!

Creative Ideas and Feedback requested

So as I have too much time on my hands currently and that leaves me bad places usually I have decided to open and Esty store. Primarily because everything that I plan to put in the story I do for free for friends and it is about time I got something back for it :), so I putting up a few of the things I plan for the store. I have lots more things that I just need to work on or get the fabric for before actually getting them into the store, buuuuuut the flowers you see are all hair flowers, made from silk flowers and pretty nice hair grippy things. I wear them quite a bit just out and about and always get compliments on them. They come in pairs or individual. I usually make pairs, unless I can only find one of the flower I like, like the little lotus peeking out in the second picture. And yes that is a Jayne hat on an angry Domokun. It seems very large due to it being knit for my husbands HUGE heed. But they come in non sputnik size also. Finally that is a vintage, taken from a real vintage pattern of the time, apron. With Skull and Cross bones fabric. It is very girly and very hard core at the same time. So these are a few of the things I have planned for the store, which goes under my crafty name of Knotty Nicki. Tell me what you think I would love to hear your thoughts.

Steampunk chatter, project of the month excitement

I am working on my steam punk skirt, the one that I am hoping to have finished before Phoenix comicon ( You all should totally come out see me in my fantastic outfit, and drop by my hubbins booth 70B, it is on the way the to the bathroom and will have one very sexy comic artist as well as on attractive and stupidly talented artist. Buy a sketch, trust me they will be worth bunches in a few years /) Though I kid I really do encourage you to stop by at the very least to say "Hi" and pick up a business card. I will also have business cards there as well as a portfolio of my photography that is for a different post. Back to steam punk goodness.

As I am a firm believer in mixing up time periods and costume ideas until I find one I like, usually my costuming will be a jumble of different things that just make me happy! So any costume purists out there that see my costume can in the words of a very good friend "SUCK IT!" I am not going for historical accuracy, I am going for a design look. That in mind I am starting off with my basic under pinnings. Or stuff that goes under the clothes. The first such thing is a bumpad, sort bustle thing. I am not building the wire and horse hair nightmare I have seen, instead I am making a sort of layered look. It is a three tiered system that has the smallest amount of padding on top, the most in the middle and tapering in the third. This gives me the "lift" of the skirt where I need it, but helps prevent my rear end from creating it's own weather system. The purpose of the bum pad is two fold, one for the line of the skirt, and the other is to have something attach the things I am bustling too. Trust me due to the weight of the material it is best to have something other than itself to bustle it too. Now I could buy myself a bustle at a wonderful store Wild West Mercantile
Bustle seen here
And as nice as their bustle is, it is just not quite enough to get the look I am going for, they have beautiful victorian calico, that if I wanted to go period I would. But for one, I am not going to put lace and make pretty underthings that will never show, and if they do, the person would be distracted enough to trying to get me out of the layers that if they looked pretty. Which brings us to the other under thing I will be working on. Pantaloons.
Pantaloons are the traditional undewear of the time frame, They had a hole at the crotch so a woman would not have to completely undress to use the privy. This was exploited during the famous Moulin Rouge Can-Can days, as when a woman kicked her leg up high, that slit would offer tempting views of the dancers naughty bits. I am here to assure you, I will be able to use thep privy just fine without said slit and it will not be a part of my costume. So for the next couple of days I will be working on these things, deciding if the pantaloons should be a fantastic color of peacock blue, blood red, or some other not included in the project color. But it will be lacy, oh yes it will, for now the pictures are a sneak peak at one of my costume materials and one of my costume accessories :)
For those that ask, yes those are antique glasses for someone who was patently blind. I was told they were opera glasses but they lie. it is a pot metal of some sort, possibly brass with smaill pearls, it has chain to go around the neck, but I am going to change that.

Officially official from the office official stuff.

I may have already shown you my new website, where I am not keeping stuff that is photo related and updating and making more of my official place of business, where this is the place I get to be a bit sillier and more open. But in case you have not seen it yet....

CLICK HERE, RIGHT HERE! THIS SPOT, A PRETTY GIRL AWAITS YOU I PROMISE.

I have also mentioned that the loving hubbins has created my business card which is being ordered as we speak. But for you and only you, and only because you are the bestest I am giving a sneak peak. A preview if you will of what the good stuff is gonna look like. It is not the best looking cuz I put up the small picture so that it won't eat bandwidth, but it is all neato.. and stuff. I am going to have cards, and post cards and all the cool nifty extra bits that go along with it.

I promised a steam punk out fit surprise. That will wait until.. uh later today. For now I need to get to sleep.

Cue Dr Who Theme.

As you all know I got the job. Short announcement. To make sure I am a good photographer and to shorten my time needed with peer counciling my manager would like for me to invite family and friends to come have their pictures taken at the studio. Those of you with kidletts are really welcome, as we do mainly kids in the studio so they want me to do lots of them. They are offering no sitting fees a free 8x10 and 4$ a sheet afterwords, no limit on on poses, ideally just two sets of clothes with two backgrounds. But I am doing a set of Senior in highschool portraits, little ones portrais, all kinds of stuff. And the prices are dirt cheap. It is a part of my job training and not a way for me to push someone getting pictures, we do NOT get paid on commission, this is not going to make me a dime except my regular wage. I am offering this to you my family and peeps as a chance to get professional photography for dirt cheap.
The hubbins put up a new blog for me,

It is soooo purty! that is where I will be doing most of talking about photography and work. Speaking of work...

My amazingly talented hubbins made a banner for the convention...

Dinosaurs, steam punk angels, and hot red heads with plasma swords? Um tres sexy!


Speaking of which I will be there @phoenixcomicon taking pictures, when I am off duty, I will be the booth babe for the hubbins and the @emacartoon. Or sleeping. Stop by, Zach will be selling awesome prints of his work signed and everything, as well as fingers crossed issue zero of his webcomic. Either way. Come by booth T 70b we are on the way to the potty so not that hard to find. Say hello ogle prominently displayed cleavage , and buy something nice for you or someone you love.

I am making a new steam punk outfit, the details forthcoming tomorrow.

It takes a village.

So after my rather shameless begging for things I have been pining over for a while I have news, this news does pertain to this blog and I promise this blog will be continuing. So all 5 of you who read this on a regular basis know I am a photographer, and that I regularly do conventions and now even a wedding. Explaining the desire to take pictures, and more so of complete strangers, people on the street and zoo animals is almost impossible. For me photography is an intimacy with your subject, who or what ever they may be. For the few seconds or longer that they are in my view finder they are the only thing I see and think about, and they are beautiful.
There are a few of my friends who are also photographers who understand this, but what this post is about is "Thank you." I have been supported, encouraged, bullied, loved, forced and trusted these last couple of years as I returned to a passion that had gotten lost amongst the flotsam of childhood. So here goes, and if I forget you I am sorry and will make sure you are included
(the last names have been excluded to protect the guilty):

Lejon: You may not realize, or even remember what you said about the pictures I took at your wedding, but you said to me "You know you need some work on the technical stuff, but not a single one of these pictures is a waste." You single handedly, not only gave me one of the highest compliments I have ever received but you planted the bug not just in my mind but in the of others. I blame most of this on you, but you also continue to look at my photography and give me honest feed back

Meesh: You taking hold of the pictures and asking if you could keep the ones like, and showing them to Lejon, starting a feed frenzy amongst the pictures, but giving me the compliment of wanting to keep the pictures filled my heart. For dressing up and having a good time, but willing and

Jamie: For deciding that I would be the one taking the pictures for Sin Aesthesia, and not giving me an option about it. For trusting me enough to model for me. For your patience and your eventual understanding. For not allowing me to wallow in the "I am not good enough phase." For treasuring the pictures of our niece. For opening her home and heart and being another one to call shenanigans when the Emo photographer wanted to come out. For her honesty and concern.

Becca: For not only allowing me to take pictures of her, of having no fear when I asked her to pose, of being one of the best models and awesome people in the entire universe. For being completely open to trying new things even if they seem silly. For telling me that no one has taken better pictures of her, even though she is extremely photogenic. For being awesome and flirty
Alicia: For telling me frankly that no one else has taken better pictures of her.

Eric: For sharing my passion and my love and talking shop with me. For not letting me BS myself, for always being honest even when it was painful. For sharing his photography with me to ask me what I thought, sharing his triumphs and giggles over bad.

Inge: For letting me play dress up and play with her make up. For trusting me to pick colors and for patience and love.

Jen(s) All of you. One for not being a stranger to anyone, even a lost shy girl. For the open invite of love. One for taking me to lunch and just letting me talk so we could be that much better of friends, for getting me a real live paying gig, even if I did catch the flu in the middle of it. One for knowing my pain and showing me how much worse it could be, but that you could have a smile on your face through out it. And finally one that I don't know as well as I want, but is always there with a hug and a smile, a valuable commodity.

Sean: Or as Z loving calls hims "The Beta Version". For being protective of your baby brother, but willing to listen long enough to realize we were made for each other. For getting angry, but for loving me still. You, Jamie and Kiara are really his only family here and that makes you doubly special for keeping him happy.

Dave: For 14 years you have been a rock in a storm for me. You trust me to make you look good, and I promise you I will make that happen.

Paul and Monica. Paul for trust me with your wife's virtue and making sure that it comes back tarnished. Monica, for being an excellent model, willing to play dress up with me and have fun while we take pictures. I love I get the real smiles, the smiles of joy, of happiness, of contentment. Like Becca, you are welcome in front of my camera at any time.

Joe: For your honesty for tell me in no uncertain terms that my photography made you jealous. For sharing with me what you consider your best shots , still complimenting me about mine. From a film maker this is also a high praise

Brian: Recognizing my talent early on, but gently leadine me towards it. Never forcing, but always a brick wall of faith at your back. Not only that but he directly helped in bringing our little family back together, for that alone he has my friendship and love for life.

Zach: There is so much I could say about Z that it would take up an entire blog, let a just a post. Z will not allow me to be something I am not, besides myself he is my biggest critic and greatest cheerleader, he is the bedrock on which my creativity can steady itself. He respect me enough to include me in his art and ask my opinion. I love him.


For those not included by name on this list, I got about 3 hours of sleep last night and names are not coming easy to me, however this does not mean you are forgotten or not as important, just that you are hiding somewhere in the murky depths of my sleep deprived mind. Everyone of you who have been positive to me, perfect strangers or not, I blame all of this on you










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Birthday wishes, or where I beg shamelessly, in hopes of the birthday fairy.

This year has been harder than most on me and my very understand husband. The ups and downs that normally stay off this blog and after this will have become a daily thing, between hospital visits and doctors visits there has not been a lot of joy to be had in our home. In an attempt to counteract this we will be celebrating my birthday with an open house to all of our friends and loved ones, yes this means you. We will be having a shindig on the 15th of May, the third Saturday in May and the week after mothers day. This will be a child friendly event as we would like our niece, and all the other children with their parents attached to come and visit. If you don't have your little one that weekend, we still want to see you. When we say child friendly however we do ask that you keep track of your little and take home the same number you came with. This event will have alcohol and an area for gaming, chitchatting and smoking. We will also be running mostly kid friendly movies in the living room. Although we are running movies this is a more laid back, come and enjoy chit chatting with friends, eat gluten free cake and generally have a good time sorta thing. We will be providing some sort of main course, chili, or pasta, ect. We ask that you bring stuff to drinks adult and otherwise, munchies and your beautiful selves. Doors normally open around 3 ish for those who want to come and hang out and talk early, door close when ever. If you do drink expect to either have a sober ride, or to hang out longer enough until you are sober. We have plenty of crash space and you are welcome to it, just know if I suspect you are not ok to drive, I have some very big friends that will back me up.

This is the shameless begging part. Presents. I would love to have them. But they are not required for you to come over. But in case you have no idea as to what I might like here is a simple list of things that would make a happy Nicki.

*Sephora gift cards, this should be obvious for those that know me

*This shirt in a mans large (click link)

*This shirt, also in a mans large

*This shirt in a mans large

*This shirt in a mans large and everyone should know why

For those that want to get me something more specific from sephora

*Buxom is my life and soul and new glosses my sin

*Something new and interesting I wanna try from Urban Decay

*A sparkle powder in an old school perfume bottle? Love at first spray

*More buxom goodness

*Urban decay set of sparkles and awesome liners. LOVE


****One more edit because I am silly and don't think of these things. If you do happen to find yourself getting a gift for me, either post it to the people on face book or twitter, just don't include me in the conversation. Better yet, tell the Hubbins, @Bandobras @Zachreddy art or Zach Reddy on facebook, so he can tell you if someone has already gotten it.


And if you are still reading this far Think Geek is always a good choice for a gift certificate. **Edited to add that Joanns, Fiber Factory or Tempe Yarn and fiber are also most excellent choices. **Also if you do something creative and wonderful yourself those are super special to me.

But really I am only really want you to be there, this just happens to be a list of things I have been pining over and getting them for me would be awesome but totally not required. Get ahold of me if you want more info on the when and where.

When last we met our intrepid adventurers....

This is more of a place holder, A blog of nothing, and everything at once. Now that the extensional crisis is over, I would like to talk to you about a recent movie viewing. You will notice now and again, I will review books or movies that I think are either Way Awesome, or So Terrible they need to be partaken of. Recently the hubbins and I watched "Moon" A movie based on a book by and directed by Duncan Jones. A very average name from a very not average person. Duncan is the child of David Bowie, and yes some how turned out to be mostly normal. Amazing really.
Talking too much about the movie will spoil the twists and turns that make this such an incredible ride. Having spent many hour immersed in classic sci/fi movies, books, pulps, and TV shows, I have seen every archetype hashed and rehashed with mixed results. The movie stars Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey as the voice of Gertie the robot. Earth has found a way of providing clean fuel and is now living in a sort of utopia, Sam Bell the character is on a three year mission the moon base that is providing us with the very utopia earth is enjoying. But earth is not important, only scene through small video recordings of his wife and child waiting for him. Two weeks until his contract his up and Sam begins to see things. And that is where every classic Sci/Fi cliche is gathered up, teased at and promptly turned about. Revelations of the movie further would ruin the carefully plotted and planned progression of Sam Bell. This movie was written with Sci/Fi fans in mind. Each twist and turn crafted for us to guess which of the obvious plot devices will be used, only to be pleasantly surprised and shocked by turns. This is not to say that the movie is not accessible to the average public, as when it comes down to it, "Moon" is about "man" or "humanity" our base natures, instincts, genetic memories and what it means to be human. The movie is short on action and long on lingering and beautiful cinematic sequences, a tight budget for a Science feature, each dollar can be seen lovingly used in amazing set dressing. Only a few moments very short and not enough to draw me from the film could the magic of the movie be seen. This is the first true Science Fiction movie to draw me close, whisper homages to the greats of the late 60's and 70's, offer me a clean uncluttered palate to allow the acting and the movie making enthrall me. No huge 3D effects, no blue aliens, no pompous over eager director. Just the beauty of amazing acting and smooth cinema-graphics.
This movie is not rated, but honestly the highest rating I could see it ever get would be a PG-13, it is a wonderful way for old school Sci/Fi people to reminisce of the days of 2001, and a great way to introduce budding Sci/Fi lovers to the genre without the tripped out acid sequence at the end. NetFlix instant currently has this instantly streaming and I cannot recommend more seeing it.

The Wait Is OVER!

So as I promised last night, I would be posting pictures from the wedding today. And due diligence with the trashing of far fewer pictures than I thought they are now uploaded and can be seen ....


RIGHT HERE

Go ahead... push the button from awesomeness. My studly and quite attractive assistant (hubbins) has one or two other photos that I would like to get from him, for now this is the bulk of the photos.
I have cropped one or two, or added fill light to one or two but for the most part these are the raw pictures as taken. Over 150 and all so purty it makes my heart happy. This is my Project of the Week, for this week. It sorta has to be because I am way to beat to do any more aerobic workouts in photography. A few things to note, it is actually quite difficult to be a short photographer. You end up getting beautiful shots up nostrils, unflattering angles from below, and tall people blocking your shots. To compensate for this requires aerial acrobatics of jumping on any available surface that will support your weight and taking pictures from on high. As a person that is not a static photographer, (as you can see from the shots, they are taken from every angle I contort my self into) I move, LOTS. This shoot was just an hour or so, but I really wanted to give my loved ones the memories they deserved. So that means I suffer today. It will be a knitting week. Or some other quiet, non moving kinda project. For now enjoy the view of love committing, of family bonding and the joy of a new life started.

Quandries, and moments of Zen

Quick blog here something to whet your appetite as it where for the upcoming barrage of wedding photography that will be coming your way on the morrow. Today with trusty alpha in hand, battling wind and sun that were at odds with each other and decent photo making (stupid elements) I was honored to get to do the wedding of two of some of my favorite people. Chris and Krista were married on Tempe town lake in a small intimate but very sweet ceremony. Chris a photographer himself wanted to me to do their wedding. After crying a bit, being silly cheerful a bit, the freak out out of OMG I am responsible for someone's day. Their big once in a life time moments. *I* am supposed to get those? How in the heck can I possibly carry that kind of responsibility? Thank goodness for both hubbins and Chris for their utter and unshakable faith in my abilities. I some some pictures that not only am I darned tooting proud off, make me a little misty eyed to see such a sweet and loving couple get married. Not the wedding they had wanted, but one full of love anyway. Eventually the light decided to cooperate, and the resulting pictures had the warm glow of sunset with the blue undertones of shade and the water behind them. When the chosen pictures are...uh.. chosen the link will be yours. After the bride and groom get it first of course. Each photo shoot I go on and each of of my pictures that I study(and trust me I am my own worst critic so each pictures is nitpicked over) I am learning a lot about my "style", the way I like shots framed and people to look. I am finding more and more that tight shots appeal to me. I do enjoy doing pictures with room to breath, but I am enamored of the intimacy and intensity that one finds in a tightly framed shot. Now that I know I am doing that I need to practice doing other stuff, so I am not caught in a web of only doing one kinda thing. Even though the camera is 4 years old, my little Alpha 100 is a work horse that does all the basic stuff you want. I am pleased even older tech can bring such beauty. I am hoping to upgrade to a A550, when and if money suddenly falls from the sky it might happen.

Creative Catastrophes

About now I would be telling you of the new and nifty thing I came up for this weeks Project of the Week and have pictures and witty and funny stories for which to entertain you with. It seams I do not have writers/creators block, I have writers/creators Monolith. I have hit face first into apathy. I am working on the project that faced the wrath of my oh so adorable cats. So that is something. Crocheting became a resounding failure, I however will not let that blasted hook get the better of me, I have friends who are Single Hook Masters, I will go and study at their crafty temples. I need something this month. And uh... I dunno yet. I would like to learn the basics of Photoshop (yes a photographer with little working knowledge of photoshop, I worked mainly in film, we did it the old fashioned way, with real paper and stuff!), but that is more than a month long process. Learning a new language is the same way. The really sad thing is, I am not bored, I have almost too many things to do. And picking from them is giving me shoppers anxiety.
Where does this leave me? Praying for inspiration, and not vegging on the sofa watch documentaries about Monty Python.

I call a Mulligan

As of now March was a practice month. I went back to my knitting project that the cats every so joyfully tangled to find that they had somehow dropped stitches on the hat. Dropped stitches on a capped circular needle. I have no clue how they did it and I only found out because the runs ran the full length of the piece. (Imagine stockings, how one little hole can create a run down the entire length and you get my drift.) I had no choice but to frog( a term used to describe pulling out stitches, also known as ripping out. Or rip it! Even knitters have horrid puns.)the entire piece losing several days worth of work, and starting at stage one. So since we all get at least one, this is my Mulligan. I refuse to accept defeat in the face of kittenish destructive power. As soon as the cats heard me grumbling over having to frog, they vanished. Very smart kitties. So this is officially Project of the Week 1.

Project of the Month recap.

This should be short. I FAILED. Seriously, utter failure in the most epic of forms. I learned the stitches and could make some extremely simple granny squares, but something actually useful has eluded my grasp. I am not allowing this failure to keep me from banging my head up against the wall of crocheting, I am stupidly stubborn and will master the art of the Single hook. March was a month full of... fullness. Weddings, family coming in, and stuff happening, I did not get as much done as I had hoped. April will be making up for that. I have several projects in the wings waiting for me to start on them or finish them. So I will be attempting the impossible and trying to get two started projects done per week. As I am currently not working this should not prove too much of a challenge. Bahahahah, who am I kidding. If it wasn't a challenge it wouldn't be nagging me to complete it. I had hoped to do some dancing for you this month as part of my month challenge, but as I threw my back out I have to come up with something new and soon. My thought is setting up my photo studio, getting our Library/dance room/studio up and running the way it should be. Considering the task ahead of me I think that is a good enough project of the month. But more on that later.
I will put up posts and pictures on the stuff that needs to be done this week possibly today or tomorrow depending on how what my back decides to do. For now enjoy the drawing that my stupidly talented hubbins drew of me in my twitter feed. I will link to the zombified version so I can get the REALLY strange fetish audience to follow me.

Rolling with the Rennies..

So, the last day of the local renn faire was today, while they didn't want me taking pictures of it, and I respected their wishes, it seems they had some...excitement today. If you qualify excitement as one of the large kitchens burning down. An impressive display of raw elemental power, a grease fire sent the kitchen up in a large fire ball.(Does anybody else feel like humming the James Bond theme song?) Thankfully the fire was kept to only the kitchen and the business' to either side were saved and able to open for business. So while I do not have pictures of burned down charcoaled buildings, I do have something better! Dancing girls!!
Dancing Girls and Pretty women!
The dancing and indoor pictures are of my lovely dancing mentor, friend and all around most awesome person, Sam Riggs and her beautiful daughter Josi. The other lovely lady is my good friend Monica. The gentleman in the hat and red scarf is her husband Paul, and finally Tristan on the mandolin. These are the raw unedited photos shot on my Alpha a100 no flash. I am pleased as peach they way these came out. I will post more as I edit the ones that need it.

Hoist ye, the plague flag high.

I love my family, and their family and all the extended wonderfulness that makes them who they are. The wedding was beautiful, I have a much longer story to write about it, but not yet. I am fairly certain I am hallucinating and while entertaining, I am unsure of the factual integrity of the story. It is because I love my family I find myself, and the hubbins down with the plague. A quite impressive display of the Ick, has not been displayed in my immune system for some years. If the plotted course of said Ick, continues it could quite possibly head into Ye Olde Pneumonia territory. We are hoping to avoid that, but at the same time prevent me from the heinous side effects of anti-biotics. Or as my body likes to call them "Yak inducing, yeast feeders." Never fear though our intrepid heroine is finding the time to work on her Project of the Month. I am eagerly anticipating what it will actually be as I am not quite sure myself. Nyquil induced amnesia can lead to some fascinating conversations. It is good that I don't allow myself internet access when on the heavy meds.

Radio Silence

Ok, as today was a day of celebrating every thing that makes one Irish, or Irish for the day(Red hair, green eyes, pasty white skin Irish from a long line), there may be a bit of radio silence on the creative blog. I will attempt to update when I can, most likely with pictures if time allows. I will be a maid of the Bride (she actually does have a katana, so I think I am just there for distraction or to be a meat shield) in the pretty red dress I posted not to long ago. Let me paint a picture for you. The Bride is an Amazon (no really 5'10 in stocking feet) and she is wearing heels that will put her at a little over 6 feet. Her soon to be hubby, the brother of my hubby are both hobbits. I mean this in the most loving way possible, but the soon to be hubby is 5'6ish. And my hubby picks his IM names and such from the famous Bull Roarer in Tolkien, the tallest of the hobbits (look up the name you fool of Took). The other maid of The Bride is 5'8 or 9 ish. She is possibly wearing heels. Finally the Male of Honor (yes he is a dude, and yes he is standing with the bride, we are progressive in this blog) is also on the tallest side. I am 5'2, in my heels I may reach 5'5 if I am lucky. The Groom will have the cast of Princess Bride. I promise pictures forth coming, but, seriously, an Italian man, a swordsman, a giant, and an exceptionally dashing pirate. So with all of this maiding to The Bride, actually doing stuff other than primping is going to be difficult. But I promise to have primping pictures to offer up, and things that sparkle as I have no desire to spark Glitter Rage to any of my readers. Sparkles will be sacrificed for you.

Habeas Hiatus

So I write this today, after several days of my body purging in new and creative ways. Meaning I have fallen dreadfully behind on all my projects. This is unacceptable and means I need to catch up. I also have a wedding I am supposed go to this week, well not just ANY wedding, I mean it is the wedding of two of my favorite people in the entire world and I get to be there with some of the coolest people ever. And I get to wear a dead sexy dress, that for once the hubby noticed and said "I am so glad you get to keep this dress because I plan to take you out and show you off in it." Ahhh squishys!

Enough mushy stuff. I have a project to come up with. The bride to be has purchased off the shelf bright sparkly hair pins, they are very nice and very tasteful. I will admit right now, when given the choice of more sparkles or tasteful, sparkles will always win in the end. So I have decided to make my own hair sparkly bits out of swarski crystals and what ever bits and bobs I can find, maybe ribbons, who knows. Tomorrow I will be taking a trip to one of the great crafting meccas
(Micheals for the unwashed heathens) as they have all kinds of crystals for not to expensive. I may just do chop sticks, or even head bands, I dunno yet. The muses are always waiting for me there (I think they work in shifts) so something will come to mind. As soon as puchases are made pictures will be uploaded.
For now just picture the beautiful sparkle of crystal.... sigh. I may even make earings and necklace to match depending on my mood.

Sink the Pink

So here it is, the new project this week. I love Vintage patterns and this one happens to be one of my favorites. There is something about the pinafore apron that screams home made apple pie, freshly ironed shirts and lunches in brown paper bags. None of these aprons have any real practical purpose other than to display the homemaking prowess of the the woman wearing it. I seriously doubt any that were originally made from this pattern saw so much as a dusting of flour. Beyond that though, the sheer impracticality and Americana of the apron are the very reasons why I love it so much. It is not reality, but the perceived ideal of reality. I am making the apron out of the fabric to the right. Although I have never been a fan of pink, the person this is being made for is made of pink. She is a joyous and loving person and pink suits her. You can see the fabric also has wonderful daises all over it, that even more so suits her personality. Simple but beautiful and sweet. I am happy to make this for her as a late birthday gift and more so to make it for her because she happens to love vintage aprons. As you can see by the picture on the left, I am detailing the edges of the frills in an Iron Cross stitch. No the stitch is not vintage but it adds a fun touch and a bit of her punk rock side to the overly girlie apron.

Project of the Week, Vs the Cats.

I have cats (far be it for me to say I own then), I really should know better. After writing an upbeat post on the nearly finished project and gathering the materials for my next, I got to sleep much earlier than anticipated and had left my knitting on the side table of the sofa. Only one of our cats is attracted to string, and he will watch enraptured as I knit, completely focused on the gently waving yarn. And he will mostly stay this way, a few feet away, huge green eyes unmoving. Unless a stray yarn end should brush against his fur, or wander out of my normal reaching range. He will then pounce (with all the grace of Maxwell Smart on a bad day, a lion on the Serengeti he is not) and attempt to eat the offending bit of string like material. This is rare, and if I am not paying attention to an art project the cats don't bother either. This all changed last night, sometime during the night, one or the both of them decided to lay waste to all my hard work. I found the desecrated and slobbery ruin this morning. It is only a half a days work gone, but it is still a half a days work gone. i would have ranted and yelled and made pointless threats I would never follow through on, but like magic, both of the cats had found some place better to be when i found the project. So a finished picture will come a bit later, after I make myself some new slippers.

Apron AGo-Go

So I am just about finished with my project from last week. A particular knitted had of truly heinous colors, for a particularly beloved friend. Having had to frog back the damn thing 7 times has not helped my speed, but it is now a matter of just finishing it properly. And time to announce and move onto my next project of the week. Another certain beloved friend recently celebrated her birthday. This friend is rather fond of aprons, dunno why as she is not a baker, but she loves classic aprons, and drooled over one I had made and given to another friend at Xmas. Though not the best of pictures, it does give you an idea of the fabulous nature of these aprons. The particular fabric this one is made out of has Skull and Cross bones, in black and white with silver paint splashes.

So my next project will be a tad bit similar. Instead of the RAWK awesome fabric though, I will be using using pink. Yes, PINK. I love my friend and so can forgive her, her favorite color. I just have to remind myself that I do love her.

Pictures of completed project and pictures of the next project in process.

F#@%ing Profanity.

Admission time. I swear like a sailor. A habit made worse by the extremely creative nature of my significant others cursing. In professional settings I maintain dignity and keep from offending any ones delicate sensitivities, or teaching my 4 year old niece new words to future embarrass her parents with. That said, I hold strong to the idea that there is a time and a place for cursing. The satisfaction of questioning the paternity of the jerk who just cut you off. Or when attempting to put together Ikea furniture. Profanity is a way of venting steam, with out damaging people or property. That said, with only a few exceptions, I have noticed that genre books, even romance novels, swinging back towards the way of the innuendo. I read copious amounts of urban fantasy, romantic fantasy, Sci Fi, pretty much if it is in the genre section of the bookstore, I am scoping it out. Most of these stories feature strong female protagonists, Demon slaying, lycanthrope, vampire hunting, tough chicks who mow down their enemies with no mercy. It pumps the estrogen and slakes a somewhat bloodthirsty nature. Then this strong woman, this girlie version of the terminator(with better taste in shoes of course), will open her mouth to tell off the next big nasty. Instead of the guttural sound of a perfectly wonderful profane word, what do we get? "Stay back you big meany!"
I bring this up because in the very same book where our heroine is not allowed to give a F-U to bad guys, the writer will chose to use graphic words during romantic or sex scenes. What makes it OK to write every throbbing, writhing, pulsing, sticky detail using harsher and dirtier words, but not allow the character herself to use them? Is it and old fashioned ideal that a lady does not cuss? Or perhaps that a swearing leading lady would be less the righteous destroyer of evil? Or is it the fear that the reader will be offended with the language?

Bringing the Analog back to the Digital.

I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 or 60 rolls of black and white film. Most were taken for school project and some just because. What I don't have is access to a dark room.
I love my digital camera, and hopefully will be updating it soon. That said there is a deep visceral joy in processing your own film, and making your own prints. It takes the technical and puts the art back into it. From the choice of which filters to use, what exposure, what paper stock, cropping or not. Every print even if you follow the exact same steps each time will be unique, no one will ever be exactly the same. When I did have access during photography classes, I would tuck my mp3 player someplace where the digital display would not cause accidental exposure, and simply let myself over to the whim of the chemicals. Most of the prints I made however, I let the person whose picture it was have them. So a number of my favorite shots are stuck in a small 35 mm square, tucked safely in their protective sleeves. I lamented the loss of he ability to tinker with development. That is until we purchased a scanner that has the ability to scan photo negatives. Scanning these negatives give me a digital backup of irreplaceable film(film is highly flammable and susceptible to environmental factors) it gives me the chance to play, if only in a digital way. As soon as my beloved lap top is either laid to her well deserved rest and I get a replacement, or she is fixed and risen from the ashes of her mostly dead status, This project will commence. I have no idea on the time frame it will take me to get them scanned, but start looking for them by the end of the month (fingers crossed!). For those that modeled for me for those pictures, let me know if you want copies of any of the pictures and I will send you the large format super uber file that you can blow up to poster size. Most likely I will retake several of the classes, not for credit, but just to have dark room privileges.

Monthly Challenge: Episode 1

As I stated previously, my challenge this month is to learn to crochet. I have been led to believe that using a single hook, while consumes more yarn is much easier and less time consuming. I call shenanigans. No matter the difficulty of the knitting you are doing (I love lace work because I am masochistic that way) knitting is based off of two stitches. That is IT. TWO if you can learn to knit and purl you can do anything. Every complex looking random stitch, yarn overs, and any other impossible to understand term is all based on those two very simple little stitches.
I have been lied to.

As you can see on the picture to the right, I have learned only the first two of MANY different stitch types. I am going to learn this art, simply to prove I can, but this single hook being easy nonsense is going to stop.

The holding of the hook and yarn takes quite a bit to get used too. The project just kinda flops off the end of the hook unlike knitting where it is gently guided and held by the needles. Each stitch in knitting is clearly defined on the needles, no hooking the wrong stitch because you can't tell one from another. My goal is to have one finished crocheted project that uses at least several of the stitches I am learning.

I hear the deities of crafting laughing already.

Edit: You will also notice that the yarn I am using is primarily acrylic, with only 5% cashmere, contrary to what it may say on the front. Learning new knitting or crocheting techniques are the rare times I will use acrylic yarn. I completely fess up to my yarn snobbery.

In the Edge no one can hear you scream...

Well a few people can, but not the sort you would want hanging around if you feel the need to belt one out. On the EdgeIlona Andrews first in The Edge series, takes a well worn and almost over concept and makes it shiny and new. Most any one who has read Science Fiction or Fantasy is familiar with the idea of alternate realities, ones that touch ours, but are just a half a second away. Andrews takes this idea and expands on it. The world as we know it is there, but laid over top or next to, or what ever metaphor floats your boat, are the countries of the Weird. The Weird is the mystical magical place of flying ponies and cotton candy grass. Well not really but it is the place of magic. Our world, our reality is considered The Broken, we have no magic and are mostly immune to any influence. I just consider this the spectacular ability for humanity to plug its ears and go "lalalalalala". Between these two places lay a land that is a little of both and a whole lot of its own place. The Edge. The Edge is a sort of Wild West, they deal with their own and don't take no outsiders word on the Only the people of the edge can safely cross the borders between the Broken and the Weird, as they are of both worlds.
The plot of the book revolves around Rose, an outcast amongst the outcasts. In and attempt to show up the bullies who have plagued her, she proves herself to be a strong magic user and a possible bastard child of the Weird. What ensues is really a preamble for the book, but leaves fascinating consequences. Rose is hounded to breed for her magic ability, with the loss of her family she is stuck taking care of her two younger brothers, both of whom have issues of their own. An unlikely romance sprouts between an Earl of the Weird and Rose when he comes to track down the big nasty antagonist. All of that aside, this really is a story of trust, of learning to trust and knowing when strength is needed and when to allow another to hold your back. The story kept me engaged, the romance did not over power the plot, the peripheral details of the world didn't make me want to keep a concordance of terms. For an Urban Fantasy it is very well done and extremely enjoyable to read. Just look past the less than stellar cover art.

Sunday, in the afternoon.

So yes this a day late, and for that I am sorry, but my lovely little lap top died today. I am wearing my widow's weeds and using the spare one to write this on. And as today is the first of the month.. wait.. second.. I also have my "Something New for this Month" (tm). First my weekly activity is knitting, and as I have knit many of them on these same needles it feels like coming back to an old friend. Yes another Jayne Hat will be birthed from my hands. There is a very special and beloved friend who asked for one and will be getting one. I have no pictures to offer at this moment, but no fear pictures will be forth coming. And for those who think that, knitting something so familiar is cheating, Fie I say unto you! Fie! The hat is on the needles and the perfect yarn is soft in my hands. It is comforting to know the rhythms of the clicking needles and sliding yarn.
But what of your monthly project you may ask, and thank you for doing so. I have decided to learn to crochet. Yes, yes I hear the masses asking me how I don't know how to already, when it is SOOOO much easier than knitting. I refuse to rise to your bait and will simply tell you that my two needles are far deadlier than your single hook and I am always aware of the martial abilities of my craft utensils before use. Ask me one day and I will show you my scissors of DOOM! For now progress reports on my foray into the vast depths of crochet world to come, as well as future writings.

Writhing Eyebrows

As I have had some time off recently, I have taken upon myself to read as much as I possibly could. First to stave off cabin fever and because there have been several books waiting with patience to be read. So over the course of a few days I read the entirety of Laurel K Hamilton's Merry Gentry series. It is an 8 book series and reads similar to her Anita Blake series. I enjoy reading an entire series in a row, so that the story is a more cohesive whole rather than jumbled half remembered plot. In doing so I immersed myself into an authors writing, reading how they grow in talent and hearing a voice emerge from the vast depths. One of the things that stuck out in an almost irritating fashion was the use of particular words. Words have power, any writer will tell you this. They have the ability to engage emotions and truly evocative works can certain incite emotions. But the over use of a word can destroy or jar a readers flow. My sister-in-law recently wrote a book and had been told by a friend she had used the word "eyebrow" a significant number of times. What I noticed in Laurel Hamilton's work is the word "writhe". I like the word, it tumbled from the lips and tongue nicely. It paints a definitive picture, and when used with romantic situations can cause a bit of a blush. The issue however, is just how many times she used the word in different situations, though similar circumstances. It irritated me, grating me. It took me and the pleasure away from the story. I am not criticizing her work, as she has lots of books under her belt and best sellers to match. But I have to wonder if this is something any one else notices and what their reactions are to it. What constitutes as over use, may be just perfect for another reader. It did teach me something very important though and that is worth all the irritation. If you are planning for your character(s) to end up in a particular circumstance or situation, the thesaurus is your friend. Force yourself to make it fresh with shiny new words, reread what you have before and avoid using similar verbiage or phrasing. It also forces me to question how many times I have put that character through the same or similar situations. Do I really need to have that character repeat that (whatever that is) so many times I am hunting for news ways to describe it?

Train

A preface to this story, I wrote this about 2 years ago, it is an odd bizarre story and the concept actually came to me in a dream. I really need to stop watching weird movies before bed.

The train lost its caboose. The blue carriage vehicle lurched and tilted drunkenly as one of its wheels snapped and fell loose. The scream of metal tested to its limit rang through the small valley. The jungle left the tracks alone here, only tall grass near. The caboose broke free and tumbled onto its side with a crack that met the forest and reverberated back. The Train, slow to begin with, stopped gently. Waiting. A swarm of red creatures vaguely salamander shaped dropped from the rest of the four remaining carriages and descended on the broken caboose. Like a pack of hyenas on an injured water buffalo, the vehicle disappeared amongst cracking and hissing noises. Not even the broken wheels remained. Only the crushed grass gave testament of the incident and only for a short while at that. The largest of the lot stopped, flame colored eyes focused down the slope on the jungle below. It huffed, and snuffled, eyes narrowed. Testing. After a full minute of staring, stock still, it snorted, perhaps disgusted with itself climbed back under the train.
"See?!"
The youth exclaimed punching another on the arm; both brown as the bark around them, with a wild shock of uncombed hair and enough dirt covering them to plant a garden in.
"Yeah I saw, Jef ya flaming idiot, I saw ya damn near got us et."
Standing from his squat, Arin rubbed the arm where the other boy had punched him. He shook out his protesting thighs, no use is staying around any longer, it would be months before the Train would pass here again. Both young men had sleek builds, no extra fat with shoulders that had the promise of an impressive breadth.
"What are they? I mean ta last one... it was.. Huge!"
Jef flailed his arms open wide indicating his misjudgment on the creature’s size. "And they et that rolling hut, they et it gone! What does that?"
Gathering their limited belongings Arin ignored the continued pontification of his friend. Obsessed with the forbidden, Jef would get them banished. Or worse. Arin shoved Jef's spear wordlessly at his still talking friend, shouldering his small pack he started into the jungle. They had hunting to do.

Over the next couple of days Arin could not get Jef’s questions out of his head. It’s not as if he didn’t understand his friends’ fascination with the creatures, anything taboo was instantly curious for the young men. A little talked about, but implicit right of passage among the boys of the village involved sneaking up and touching the tracks. The bright red engine appeared every few months, slowly chugging its way around their land, never changing. This had been unusual and if it didn’t require admitting to breaking tradition, Arin would ask the elders what the meaning of the red creatures were. Jef claimed to have seen them any number of times, he never knew when to believe what came out of Jef’s mouth.

“Want ta see ‘em again?”
The harsh whisper woke Arin from a dead sleep. His dreams were disturbing and haunting and being woken up was no hard ship. Being squashed flat with his mouth covered with a grubby paw, he did mind.

“Mph. Geph oph!”

Arin flailed with his impressively knobby elbows and knees, until he hit something soft and the other boy grunted.

“Where did ya learn manners?” Jef complained rubbing the aforementioned soft spot.

“The place that teaches ya to avoid waking friends in ta middle of ta night.”

Arin scrubbed a hand across his face wiping around the dirt from his friends hand. There was no use for it, he would not be allowed sleep until he satisfied Jef’s curiosity.

The jungle had no use for the boys attempting to slip through quietly. Branches that would be avoided easily in the day slapped against bare skin, leaving impressive welts and a line of cursing in their wake. Landmarks that were familiar during the day time took on a new and sinister look during the night. Even the sky conspired with over cast skies. Arin had no idea how long they walked, only that even the night animals had started to settle and prepare for sleep.

They broke into a clearing, lighter only because of the lack of trees overhead; grasses started at knee height and soon reached belly and higher on them. Light spilled somewhere ahead, over a rise and battling through the grasses around them. Jef held out a hand to stop him as the finish cresting a small hill.

“Wha..?”

Jef shushed him with a sharp look and pinch. He pushed aside the flowing stalks and pointed towards the light. Bright unflickering light, whiter than firelight and steady burned ahead of them. Various pinpoints, like stars hiding out pointed to a particular area. As the pounding of his heart faded Arin could hear various hisses, clacks, and barks. When his eyes adjusted to the light he could make out large buildings humped around a true clearing, with the grass brown and pounded down. Amongst the buildings thousands of the red lizards moved. Or worked, each seemed to have a particular project it was working on, and went about it with deft efficiency. A more through glance showed the Train hidden behind, with the creatures covering it. Small flares of fire followed each one over the marked course.

“They have been here for days. Just…here.”

Arin, jerked at the sound of Jef’s voice. He sounded astounded, disturbed even.

“Come on lets get closer.”

“I don’t think that is such….”

He didn’t get a chance to finish his statement. Jef had already moved out of whispering range. It could be that Arin’s hearing was more acute or it could be Jef had lost all sense and was just blundering ahead without trying to keep quiet.

“Oi! What ya doing?!”

Sound stopped, had he just…

“I said, What. Ya. Doing?”

Jef had lost his mind. He stood at the edge of the clearing hands on his hips as he cat-called the creatures. Thousands of sharp nosed faces turned towards him, one hissed, long and strident. The largest, the one they had observed that day at the track lumbered out of the one of the buildings towards Jef. Arin crouched back amongst the grasses, letting them hide him from view. The lizard approached slowly, allowing his friend time to run in fear. The two faced each other over than less than a full walking span.

Minutes dragged, sweat rolled down Arin’s spine. Finally Jef nodded and offered his hand to the creature. Its tongue whipped out and wrapped around his wrist, a bright blue spark lit the area where skin and tongue met. Jefs head whipped back in agony, and it elongated. His skin flushed the same red of the creatures, and hands started to claw inward. Arin could watch it no longer, he turned and ran.

The train pulled into the station. If a station it could be called. Vines seemed to have replaced the support beams and the roof above happened to be leaves instead of tile, the floor below had turned into a mulch pit. The train doors swooshed open. No one entered, no one exited. You could almost hear the ghost of the intercom, advising passengers to mind the gap. Small animals shuffled in the leaves above and below, seemingly unaffected by the noise or wind the train generated. A brilliant red salamander, two and change feet long dropped from the train’s underbelly. A long tongue, quick and flickering snaked from its mouth. It lapped at the tracks. Each place its tongue landed a dull blue spark flared. Another appeared from behind running over the tracks to the station. The red lizards did what the train itself could not, and scared off the wildlife. They hissed and sparked at the passing creatures. Finding one of the few standing supports to the roof, one scurried up and passed through the leafy roof. It scurried across treetops and moldering wood, clacking at frightened birds and small rodents. It hustled, as if on a timetable, to a particular spot amongst the trees. The salamander jumped and started burrowing, shoving leaves and various forest litter aside. A brilliant flash of bright light brought a crow of triumph. Pure white and blinding, it sent birds exploding from hiding in the surrounding trees. The red creature shuffled and nosed about more, exposing fully the shiny black solar panel. It seemed to nod to itself, satisfied with a job well done before reversing its journey back to the train. It still had little patience for the other animals, clearing the way with its bad attitude. The train chuffed a warning, no puff of smoke but something like a recording, scratchy and over used. Several other salamanders scurried through the under growth, the clacking and hissing growing in volume as more appeared. They swarmed over and around the train, several gnawed on plants that grew too close to the tracks once or twice more before disappearing under the train. The last and the largest, this one a deep scarlet, paused. Head swinging, observing the ruins of the station it grumbled in satisfaction.