Ransom

I looked through the glass again, trying to make out who else was on the sloop. There was movement on board, then someone running up an ensign of some kind. I squinted my eye and looked harder. "Oh bloody hell!" I let out a burst of laughter. Beside me I heard Tunny ask Africa, "She's laughin'. Is that a good sign or a bad sign?" I turned to Tunny. "You know of any Spaniards that would allow their slops to be hoisted up the rigging as a sign of truce?" He shook his head. "Me either. I therefore surmise the sloop is of no immediate danger to us, other than it is returning to our bosom one lunatic Irishman. Hopefully he'll have a cat on board as well, who has used up way too many of her nine lives." Tunny nodded again, but looked totally confused.

I wore my short top hat out Christmas shopping yesterday. I had put a bit of glittery Christmas floral decoration in the band. Boy, did I get a lot of .... looks. One lady in the cosmetic department of Gottshalks walked over and said, "Now that hat makes a statement!" I kinda smiled and replied, "Yeah, and the statement changes, depending on what mood I'm in." LOL Oh, the joy of living in an ultra-conservative town. And Patrick, I like Columbia's Revenge, but like Rat's said, maybe say it in another language. I would suggest French or Italian. I think Chinese or Russian would be too hard to pronounce. You'd end up pointing at your airship and saying, "That big floaty thing with sails."

Ah, welcome to the coffee house, Salty. The fire is cozy and the coffee and tea hot. Way, WAY back in the day, I took a class on the lost wax method of casting jewelry, working in silver. It was really fun. We students would make our models in wax, then the teacher would take them home, cast them, bring them back, and we would clean them up and polish them. I still have a few of the pieces I made, mostly rings. However, I did make a rather large setting for an irregular piece of jade that my mom had, and made a pendant for her. She still has that. I would have loved to take more classes in it, but the guy only taught the one. I was concentrating so hard on learning the technique, that I didn't have time to get real artistic. That's why the PM clay is kinda interesting to me. But I'd like to take a class on it, before I jumped into the expense. As for the name of my business (if you could really call it a business at this point)it isn't written in stone. I'm not going to worry too much about it until I am actually making money at this. It may all flop, so there is no use stressing over making the name official if it only gets used once or twice. BTW, I think it's about time people posted some pictures!!!!

Pimm's, the beverage and weapon of choice... and it tastes so dang good!

A most hearty Happy Thanksgiving to you all... Whether with family or friends, enjoy the feast and good fellowship...with extra dressing and cranberry sauce for all!

Why is it that the power always goes out right when you've just finished writing a post for a story thread, but haven't hit Post yet? Suddenly the computer screen goes black, the lights go out, and you have that sinking feeling, because you know the three paragraphs you just wrote are goners! Grrr.....

Just as the Relentless fired her warning shot, I got a good look through the glass at the man hanging from the mast of the sloop. "Bloody idiot," I muttered. "Serves you right. Couldn't run up a flag of truce or some such. No, you have to hang off the mast like some drunken monkey, thinking we'll know what it's about." Crossing the deck, I shouted over at Jacky. "Lay off your guns for a bit. It's that fool of an Irishman hanging off the mast. But if it's a trap, and the Spanish have him, I'll help you blow the sloop into splinters." The sloop quickly came off the wind, and stood out of range. "Come on, Nate," I said to myself. "Do something smart for a change, before you become food for the sharks."

Yikes!, that sounds great, if we could all pull it off. Since you've already been there, you'd kinda have to be the guide/captain for sure, though. Even if it didn't happen, it would still be fun to try.

Vell, I did zay dat my home vas mine castle. Und da Cat und I do share a love of good vein..er, I mean, vine. Vould you care to come up und share a glass of vintage O-Negative with us? Oh, und, don't mind da bats. Ve don need no stinkin buggy out bag. Ve just vait for you in da dark, und....zink!

Yeah, and these people are just as nice when you meet them in person. Least, that's been my experience. And a Happy Turkey Day to you all...with extra dressing and cranberry sauce.

Knock him over the head with an empty Pimms bottle, Hester! Then maybe he'll get the point. I was just about to send you an e-mail, 'cause you haven't been around lately, either here or on the BG forum, so I was starting to worry. Glad to see you back, and in form! LOL

OMG Rats, great links! Hey, Patrick, it looks like you've got the makings of a crew here! Maybe you better get a name for that airship and sign us all on. So far, I've got my short top hat, and WWII Woman's land army coat (kinda looks like a army-brown duster/trench coat), saddle brown boots with heels, and lots a jewelry (duh!). Still need some kind of skirt or pants, and waist cincher. I'm also going to make some kind of lace blouse, so that I can rip it up and make it all ratty (not you, Rats) looking. I can use my pirate belts, pouches, etc, since they are pretty generic. Look I'm going for is sorta Mad Max meets Victorian, with a bit of 1500 Venetian fantasy thrown in for spice. Weapons so far are just my cutlass, and a misericord dagger. We have a couple of Army surplus stores around town, so after the first of the year, I'm going to go check them out, see what I can scrounge up. Fun, fun, fun.... BTW, just watched the movie Stardust again. Loved the airship. Also a good source of airship pirate costume ideas. !!!Oh, hey, one of you guys could dress like Robert D's "secret" persona in that movie. LOL

Colard, Jimmy and I scrambled down the Jacobs ladder and into our jolly boat. I could see that Africa already had the Rakehell ready for battle, should it come to one. Once back on board, I took the glass from Africa and looked to where our new visitors were approaching. Yes, it was a sloop, flying no flag. "Man the guns, lads. But no firing until I give the word. This might just be a Spanish social call, to tell us to bugger off." "Shouldn't we up anchor, Ma'am?" Jimmy asked. "No time, Jimmy!" I barked. "Now get to your post!" I stood at the rail, watching the sloop come closer and closer. Well, Jacky, I thought, seems we get to make our stand a bit sooner than anticipated. Then I laughed, and said to myself, "Hell, girl, if the Rakehell and the Relentless, even at anchor, can't blow a little sloop out of the water, then we don't deserve any treasure, let alone magic water!"

Okay, amid all this talk of blunt instruments, guns, bashing brains, and...and...well, just the whole downfall of civilization as we know it, I will speak up for the civilization lover. I will not be dismayed by whoops of "Woosie" flung at me. I like my creature comforts. I like sitting on my couch of an evening, sipping a lovely Merlot, reading a good book, and feeling secure in the thought that my home is my castle — sort to speak. I don't want to survive a doomsday scenerio that flings us back into the age of the hunter/gatherer, and where the most comfy place you can find is behind a rock somewhere, hiding from zombies. I have no desire to live in an underground bunker, punching out reloads. Or having "butcher the dinner" duties. Or having to perform my "body functions" in a pit out in the wild, with old comic book pages as "paper." No, I say. Give me comfort, a warm hearth, good books, art, and close friends, or give me death — preferably not by zombie, so I don't come back and bore you with my moaning, and shuffling gait, and end up being clubbed over the head by a former fellow mate.

Tea, and a slice of homemade peanut butter pie. Yum!

Oh, wonderful, the place is filling up a bit, and we have some nice conversation going. I'll just nip out and start more coffee, and maybe order a plate of sandwiches from Tsunami Kate's. But before I go... As for making my jewelry into a business, right now I am concentrating on getting enough inventory together so I can attempt to get into a juried summer art festival on the coast. Actually, there are two I am interested in, but I need tons more stuff made to make it worth while spending fees for booth space and an awning—not to mention display cases/boards of some kind. If those festivals turn out to be successful, then I'll go from there. I may also look into selling my things on consignment in a local shop, if I can find one that doesn't already have a relative doing jewelry for them! LOL However, I did come up with a name for my trinkets — Gryffin Jewelworks — but that's as far as I have gotten, other than making a custom bracelet for Blackfoot. Precious metal clay looks like it would be a lot of fun, and I'm sure you could find instruction books at places like Barnes & Noble, or Amazon. Someone said you could fire the stuff with a small hand-held blow torch, rather than needing a kiln, but I don't know how even that would heat the piece. If anyone gives it a try, post your results!

While the conference between captains was going on, Tunny had been instructed to stay in the shrouds and keep watch. So it was he who spotted the sails on the horizon and shouted out the alarm. "Ahoy the deck, sail off the larboard stern! Alert the captains we got company comin'."

Here is another fun link to a blog site run by one of the editors (I think, or connected in some way) of Steampunk Magazine. Birds Before the Storm

I've been on the Lady Washington three times — battle sail, adventure sail, and my favorite, the sunset sail. This while the ship was at Coos Bay. I loved coming into the dock after dark, with all the city lights sparkling on the water. Never been on an over-nighter though. I have to say though, that many of the crew, including her quartermaster at the time, told us the Lady is a notorious puke machine, and that even guys/girls who had sailed on other tall ships with no problem, got sick on her. So, count yourself one of the lucky few who didn't!

Hurricane beat me to it with Fire Mountain, but you might also try... Lima Beads

.......oof

"By your tone, should I believe this water will cure any wound, no matter what its severity? If that is true, then the water is worth much more than the gold." I pondered a minute, thinking back to Red Cat's quick recovery from a wound that should have taken days, if not weeks to heal. Then an ugly thought crept into my mind, and my expression hardened. "Spoons knows about this, doesn't he? That's why he took your ship, and that's why he's dogging our every move. He wants the water and the map. So, my next question is, do the Spaniards who are helping him also know about this chest, the map, and what the water can do? For if they do, Jacky, and we get caught here by the galleon, assuming it's only one, no little bottle of water is going to save us." Scrubbing a hand over my face, I thought over all the parameters of our situation. Then, slowly, a long-missed tingling of excitement raced through my blood. I dropped my hand and gave Jacky a smile. "I believe, Commodore, that in this situation, haste is called for, wouldn't you agree?"

Drums fingers on the table, listening to the sound echo, as so far the coffee house remains empty.... Hummmm, do they all think their ideas are going to get pinched by someone else? Don't they like the coffee served? Maybe we should switch to rum? Can't believe no one wants to brag a bit about their creations, or talk about their frustrations. Okay, I'll start, if you're all going to be so shy. Spent a VERY frustrating day getting outbid on Ebay for bits and pieces of watch parts I was trying to get. Someone wanted them WAY more than me, and shot the price up. Next time I'll look for a "Buy it Now" notice. Anyone else...come on, I know you're out there. Somewhere.....

I was silent for a long time, thinking over what he'd said. I supposed, from his point of view, I had turned my back on him, even if once was because I couldn't have helped him with a big hole in the Rakehell's hull. She would have sunk and been no help to anyone but Davey Jones. As far as Havana went, he'd been in no real danger, having dealt with the head honchos there before. And yes, my diversion had been a noble idea that failed miserably. So, in order to regain my status in Jacky's eyes, he expected me to help defend him and his crew, as well as mine own, to the death of myself or the destruction of my ship, should that become necessary. I gestured at the chest of bottles. "Maybe you better tell me why this water is worth paying such a high price."

I'm in, and so is my husband, Chain Shot. I've PMed you our info. "Deck the Halls with skulls and crossbones, fa la la la la, la la la la!"