Rested and Recuperated

Well, we're back from our 10 day sojourn around France. We thought our convoy of three caravans along the French roads was bad enough (try keeping station when your tail-end Charlie and get caught at every red light going!) but one site we stayed at had 8 motorhomes running a 'Doggy Tour of France' - I kid you not, they had a sign to say so.

Anyway, apart from shopping, (how can you visit supermarkets three days out of four?) I managed to squeeze in one or two of the D-Day sites, Juno Beach, Arromanches and Mulberry Harbour, and Pegasus Bridge. Will have to go back - alone - soon to cover the rest. We had a trip to Caen, but that was more shopping. Even MrsJ was a bit fed up with it by then. I did get a walk round the outside of the castle.

I had hoped to do some painting, even made a gadget for it, but the rest of the party were socialisers full time, so I only managed about an hour all told, before they rose in the mornings. I now have a batch of half painted figures to complete.

This sits at the front of the van on the small flap between the seating. Good light but bad sitting position. When travelling it goes on the floor at the front, when not in use it sits on the bed. It will be coming out again soon.

When we got back our daughter phoned to say that while we were away she'd got engaged. Long time boyfriend, so no problem.

Holiday coming up

MrsJ and I, along with some friends, are disappearing on Monday for 10 days in Northern France. The laptop is going with us, but contact depends of wi-fi operation and time available. In the meantime chez Joppy is in the care of our daughter and the beast of Sudbury!

This pony is only a pup, with but two thoughts, "play" and "slobber", and his tail is lethal to anything at coffee table height. Daft as a brush, and you need to wash your hands on a regular basis, as he drools over everything and everyone..

See you on the 20th of May.

New 18th Century Blog Started

I originally promised three eras of figures; the 54mm turn of the 19th century, the 25/28mm early 19th century, and a 30mm 18th century. The first two of these are up and running (albeit slowly) and I tried to integrate the third as a separate part of my Grand Duchy of Humperstein blog, but had quite a problem getting posts into the right place. So I've started up a third blog to cover it. This can now be found at  duchyofhumpersteinintheageoflace.blogspot. Some of the posts are transposed, with slight amendment, from my other two blogs, to keep things complete. Feel free to take a look, comment, follow if you like.

New Plans

I've placed an entry on my other blog, Tales from the Grand Duchy of Humperstein, concerning plans for an 18th century project (if you can't beat em, join em) if you feel like checking it out.

I was planning on doing a cut and paste job onto the 18thC page, but can't work out how to do it. How do I make entries into a second page of a blog? I can't find an entry point. Probably looking in the wrong place, can anyone help? Thanks

Spring is here!

Officially it is Spring here in the UK. Unofficially the weather is still undecided. We get days of beautiful sun followed by days when it tries to snow, all of them perishing cold. (It has been 3 degrees in my shed overnight lately). This is a photo of MrsJ admiring the gardens and cascade at Chatsworth House last weekend. When we went up there with the caravan on the thursday it was beautiful, we woke the following morning to this! As we'd pre-booked our tickets we drove across the hills from Newark to Chatsworth and back. Satu
rday we came back home, thankfully dual carriageway main road all the way, rather than stay up there the rest of the weekend.

Anyway, this post was originally to point you towards an update on my other blog, thegrandduchyofhumperstein.blogspot.  so please visit and comment. Suggestions welcome.

Military Figure Auction

As someone who has occasionaly sent stuff to this auction house, I get regular notifications of their next auctions. For those who like to indulge in some browsing I post a link to the one they will be holding on Friday March 22nd. This is a 'Military and Civilian Figures' sale, and includes various makes and types of toy soldiers and civilians in both metal and plastic, Airfix kits, waterline ship models, and books and ephemera. The last are usually sold in batches, so you have to possibly decide if you want a duplicate of something you already have in order to get a title you want. I do not comment on the estimates, but from past experience they are pretty accurate though some lots don't sell.

www.vectis.co.uk/Page/Auctions.aspx?/A

For those who have enquired, I am now feeling much nearer to normal now. Painting has reccomenced, I've been looking at the lead mountain (though not touching) and planning future aquisitions, while trying to sort out the various dynasties involved in the Heptarchy project. Things are looking up.

Little People

While browsing today I found this site, couldn't resist showing you this picture from it. I mailed the site details to my daughter and she liked the 'footprint in the snow' picture best! No accounting for taste. Visit and be amused.    little-people.blogspot.com