It’s been a quiet day, so I’m presuming that it’s because half of the planet is entering the No Sleep ’til FenCon contest…
*crickets chirp*
Yeah, okay, more than fair. A boy can dream.
Okay. Where to start? How does noting that any excuse to go to Fort Worth, my own private Tanelorn, is a good one? No? How about adding that the Fort Worth Botanical Garden’s Fall Festival in its Japanese garden starts the weekend of October 22? (As I said, any excuse to go to Fort Worth is a good one, so now I’m really regretting discovering that the latest PUBlic Knowledge gathering, hosted by the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, was a strange horticulture lecture by Steven Chamblee of Chandor Gardens in Weatherford. Bugger.)
A bit closer in, September 15 is the date for the Museum of Nature & Science’s bimonthly Beer & Bones bash in Dallas, and the theme this time is a mad scientist mixer. Cue the only appropriate song for this shindog, and let’s hope it doesn’t turn into a case of “What Would Einstein Do?”
And speaking of Dallas, I have to admit that actual Halloween festivities are a bit anticlimactic after the rest of the year (the Czarina and I both look at Halloween the way Hunter S. Thompson looked upon New Year’s Eve: it’s the day to let the amateurs have their fun), but the Dallas Arboretum is loaded with events all the way until then. September and October are the best months to visit Dallas, as the heat is gone and the night skies are so insanely clear that the movie quote “The night’s so dark it’ll blind you” actually makes sense. If anyone wants to join us at the Arboretum’s Otsukimi festival, make those plans now. (And for folks who can’t make it to Dallas, I’d like to note that the Portland Japanese Garden is having an o-tsukimi festival of its own next week.)
In miniature garden developments, while I’m the last person to discourage individuals from shopping, I also know that some items rest just on the edge of subconscious thought. The only way you’ll add them to an arrangement is if you make them yourself. Likewise, some items just scream to be included in miniature gardens or terraria, if only they weren’t made of materials that don’t hold up well in a typical terrarium environment. (I’m not just talking about materials that rot: I’m also talking about materials that release harmful components, such as cadmium or lead, when they decompose.)
This is why the current “20% Off Sale” at MicroMark. For those outside of the plastic model kit community, MicroMark is a modelers’ resource company that carries a ridiculous number of items that cross over into miniature gardening territory, and it offers quite the collection of moldmaking and casting materials. In particular, take note of the complete Milliput sculpting set: Milliput is a high-end epoxy putty used through the modeling trade for augmentations and prototype sculpting, and I’m amazed at how many applications it serves in miniature gardening. MicroMark’s sale lasts until September 13, so get in the orders or kick yourself for missing out.
Well, back to the linen mines. If you want to pass on a heads-up about new resources or events, please feel free to yell.