After returning from the Nationals, Kristen and I went up into the Catskills of New York to spend a few days at the Dai Bosatsu Zendo.  If you want seclusion you can’t do much better than this place unless you know of somewhere that has no electricity.  We spent several days in what they call Beecher House; it has some connection to Harriet Beecher Stowe, but I am not sure exactly what that connection is as of yet (I haven’t researched that hard, though).  Regardless of the connection, it is a great place to write.  I took a few photos of the lake, from the lake, and of the family of 7 snakes that lived under the patio, who would come out every morning and sun themselves on the grass.

During the past month I’ve been traveling like I have the money to afford it.  A week in Gettysburg (that I already covered) and three days at the yearly ReaderCon writer’s conference outside of Boston (that’s been covered so thoroughly on the ‘net that I won’t waste anyone’s time by recapping here).

Last weekend I nurtured my inner model builder and went to the IPMS National show in Virginia Beach.  It was my first Nationals, and I was mightily impressed.  The craftsmanship was amazing, some of the best models from kits and scratch-builds that I’ve ever seen.  I was stunned when the Weehawken took a silver medal in her category.  I was happy just to have my work on the table and seen with the other entries, but to win something was very gratifying.  I also spent a little money in the vendor room; picked up a big hunk of resin ironclad to keep Weehawken company on the shelf.

I’ve put some photos online here.  I apologize that some are a bit dark, I didn’t take time to correct the exposure on any of them (the ceilings were a bit high for my usual flash-bounce technique).

Two shots of the weather that rolled through earlier today.  I shot 4 gigs of photos trying to get the elusive shot of a lightning strike.  One of my life’s goals.  No such luck today, but I did catch these funky boiling clouds.