Step 3: Forgiveness

Part of the mantra of this excellent reddit thread is forgiveness when you don't meet your goals.

Please forgive me, I skipped an evening. Okay, two. In my defense I as a) hosting the amazing Marion at my house, and then seeing the *super awesome* Bend It Like Beckham the Musical (which as a theater person I was totally amazed and impressed by).

We had a study session at the Museum of London, which was fantastic - we got to look at a number of corsets from the 1850s and 60s, including some very special ones from around 1853. (I can't spill the details too much!)  It's always amazing to me what a little goodwill will get you - I was allowed to "ride along" on short notice after my first visit a few weeks back when I donated copies of my pictures to help flesh out the museum's database. Turns out, object records in large collections are very sparse, so any information is often helpful. Plus, it feels good to share. :)

We followed that with a walk down through St Paul's Churchyard, then south to the Thames and across the Millennium Bridge, past the Tate and the Globe, under the Southwark bridge, past the Clink and the remains of the Palace of the Bishops of Winchester, the Golden Hinde, and through the Borough Market, then took the Tube and a red bus to visit another of the costume community. I love meeting new folks, especially mellow cheerful, incredibly lovely tea-giving new folks.  It was a delightful afternoon.

Right now I'm taking a break from a marathon session sorting, photographing, and inventorying my mudlarking finds for the export license. I'm about... halfway through, I'd say? The Chelsea finds were the biggest bag, and there'll likely be more of them soonish. (It's been WEEKS I tell you. I am ITCHING to get down to the foreshore again, augh augh augh.) Entertainingly, the gent at the Arts Council who's been so helpful so far took a look at my images and went "hm, we only license items over 100 years old, so you can leave out the 2-pence pieces."  The ones I'd left in for scale. Whoops! He advised me to use a ruler next time, which... makes sense.

I'm still feeling a little queasy after this week's food poisoning, but I'm so, soooo much better. We might be headed to Oxford this weekend, or possibly the Cotswolds for some walking, or maybe to Hampton Court for the tail end of the food thing, or or or... so much depends on the weather, which was gorgeous this morning, but is clouding up again.

It's definitely starting to feel like fall here. It's a little disconcerting because I haven't had any of the markers of my usual year to tell me that the summer is passing by. All of my friends are headed to Burning Man. I've missed Costume College and so much more already, and I'm missing Burning Man and Gatsby and and and...  It's a trade off, and one that feels painful right now, but that I expect will have been a bargain when I look back on it.