William Brand

By the by, GoF...the signature contest you started five threads about in 2006 and 2007... ...who won?

Not so, for there are several groups that have had events in Canada. Still, I sent them an email describing the many Baconfests around the country.

These should serve.

Welcome aboard. We have our share of rebels here, so you're in good company...or more to the point, very, very bad company.

It was just cold enough yesternight for the furnace to kick on, so...

I'm fond of the little changes. For instance, you couldn't delete a PM at the source. You had to go to the Inbox list and check the message and then select delete. Now you can delete the message after viewing it directly. I'm a big fan of step saving and user friendly settings. Even the gallery seems easier, though I'm just glad to have it back.

"You present a good table, Miss Ashcombe." William said simply, but it passed for a compliment by comparison to the things he had said the night before and she thanked him. Preston dismissed her and William smiled inwardly to hear him call her Ash again. When she was gone, William decided that it was best to inform Preston of their soon to be arrangement with the Navarra. He had hoped to tell him and Dorian both at the same time, but the morning carried a certain unpredictability to it that William didn't like. Preston listened without interruption, content to eat rather than talk. He nodded where appropriate, keeping any questions to the last, though William explained enough to make questions all but pointless. When William was finished he asked for Preston's thoughts on the matter. "We are bound for Trinidad. They are bound for Trinidad." This was all he offered before shrugging, for what more was there to add. Still, he amended. "T' be paid t' go where we mean t' go." He shrugged again. "Aye." William returned. "C'n we kill den Oven first...?" he asked around a mouthful of eggs. "Aye. The day is young."

If the Captain hated the air below decks, then Tjaak should have found it unbearable. At the abated storm he had been obliged to light the stove again, and the heat of it alone was too much for most men, but not for Tjaak. He liked cooking well enough, and even had a little skill at it; a rare thing for a ship's cook. He also liked the heat, having grown up in cold climbs. What he didn't like was his patent inability to learn languages beyond his own. His lack of English was a lingering bad taste in an otherwise perfect dish of good luck, for he had not expected to become the cook of the Lucy so soon after being a temporary prisoner. As a cook he was reminded of his Dutch stubborn mouth four and five dozen times a day, and so the return of Miss Ashcombe proved to be but one more reminder among may. He didn't mind so much. She had an easy manner and fair face.

August 5, 1704 - Aboard the Lucy William nodded, gratefully. He crossed the small space to better throw open a shuttered window, for even the air in the Ward Room was too still. The air beyond the Lucy looked promising, though not altogether inviting. "Tis a shame to waste this goodly wind..." "Aye." Preston agreed, a second after calling out the door for the cook. William turned back again. "How is it with you?" This question was obviously directed towards Preston's health of late, but Preston answered as ambiguously as possible. "As good an' as bad as ever, Sah." "As fortune is in life." William agreed. Miss Ashcombe came in then wearing evidence of culinary efforts already in progress, for shore was clothed in an apron stained many times over from the cookstoves. She attempted to wipe a loose strand of hair from her face without getting flour in her hair and just managed it.

The audacity of some people... http://www.nationalharbor.com/Events.aspx?id=1002 Scroll down to the bottom. They're touting this event as "...the only Baconfest in North America..." They're evidently unaware of the three dozen other Baconfests held across the country.

Thank you. That is one of my few pencil works in recent years.

August 5, 1704 - Aboard the Lucy William woke in the unfamiliar surroundings of the Lucy's berth well into the morning. The air was so thick from the heat of men and the heavy humidity of the abated storm that he felt suffocated. No one had awakened him, and while they had probably left him to sleep as a courtesy, he was irritated. He had never liked sleeping overlong and the crushing air did not improve his mood. He left his hammock with determination to seek sky and did so half dressed, arriving on the deck in nothing more than the borrowed shirt and breeches. The air on deck proved not much cooler or thinner, but it had the benefit of moving. William was glad of the breeze as he made his way on up and forward to a bucket at the mast. He splashed his face and was not surprised to find Tudor almost at his elbow. "Good morning, Sah." "Miss Smith." he returned, drying his face and hands on a proffered towel. "What news?" "None but the break in the weather, Sah, and no word from shore." "I'll have my things brought to the Ward Room, Miss Smith. I mean to go ashore." "Aye, Sah." Just after three bells of the Forenoon Watch

Toovar-dhal with dumplings...

Wow. Words fail...except to say this. My birthday is coming up.

For that answer and many more visit the new site!! Woohoo! Of course, it doesn't have much in the way of shiny graphics, but with the Sixteenth Annual Baconfest looming, I thought it was better just to have it up. www.baconfest.net

Welcome aboard, Mister Gray.

It feels ever so strange to have no pirate plans on Talk Like a Pirate Day. Tomorrow is so busy that I have to spend this evening in preparation for Mountain Con. That said, let's make todays special rum...

Aye. That we would. Just pray heavily for the Colonial Navy project to take off and maybe I'll be out there more often then not.

I've played strict fantasy games in the past, and I love a good zombie game, but I lean towards hard sci-fi now, having been the lead artist on a project called Universe. Not to be confused with the much older game of that name. Here's some of my work... http://www.towerravens.com/

I've attended Running GAGG out of Geneseo, New York a number of times. It's a much smaller convention then most, being a college-based con, but my favorite group for comradery and gaming. http://gagg.geneseo.edu/pages/runninggagg/

No, but the Shindig I hosted for the Utah Browncoats came off without a hitch last Saturday. Good company, good food and episodes of Firefly. We're planning on at least two more parties before year's end.

Nice. Well, you're about a 6 hours drive from the only East Coast convention I attend. I need to broaden my travels.

Did you want a meal or a skin graft?

We are up to 93 pirates attending the various camps and crews. Ninety-three. I like seeing our old numbers shattered year to year.

But of course...