"Elephant Pee"

So today, Sir and I headed down to the "Leather Flea and Play" or LF&P, (which yes, gets transmogrified into "Elephant Pee") at the Crucible in DC. They throw this little shopping expedition and playtime twice a year. Sir and I, this time around anyway, decided to stick with the shopping. Maybe, if we knew a few more folks or some as of yet indeterminate 'something', come next march we might consider getting a nice hotel in the area and yeah, staying for the "play" (Oh how I LOATHE that term in this context). This time out though, we made just a small trip of it.

We saw all of two people we recognized, and no, I don't think either recognized us. In the decade or so we've been away from some of what grew in DC lots of people have moved on- not surprising, but interesting, in that there are so FEW left.

I spent the night before polishing Sir's boots to a nice shine, so he woke up to them in the morning. It seemed to make him happy. For me, on some level, it's just what I do, but on another level, I take a certain pride in doing these things and doing them well for him. It sort of occurred to me at some point, as I was working with the saddle soap, that even were another girl come into our household and become an ongoing part of our lives, I'm not sure I want anyone other than myself working on Sir's boots. An odd thought really.

In any case, shopping at the elephant pee wasn't particularly interesting. The only high quality whips I had any interest in were at Passional's area, and honestly, were too similar to pieces we already had, and seemed "too light" to my hand. I'm really starting to wonder who's still making good solid quality whips, and whether or not they make public appearances on this coast? I'd still like to 'finish out' Sir's set, but I haven't found anyone I'd trust to get it right.

But, we found some micro panic snaps, which, size-wise struck us both as perhaps useful. I picked up an extremely basic little knife and many, many yards of "Raspberry" MFP rope, and finally some in the thinner diameter, too. We picked up more of the black pallet wrap and a couple of rolls of purple vetrap, just on good measure- replenishing supplies after the Floating World, so to speak.

So we had a nice afternoon; we wandered, we half-heartedly watched a girl experience a suckee bed for the first time, and we talked a little with the 'newcomer' volunteer with BESS, the Baltimore Education and Social Society. BESS is a little too "SSC" for my taste, but it looks like we're finally going to at least wander into a meeting and see what we make of it. It always weirds me out when someone asks "which mailing list did you hear about us on?" because, of course, that's not how I learned about the group. Turns out they're 6 years along now. They fall squarely into that time after I had left Baltimore.

Sir and I had already decided to attend their meeting on the 19th, when they are doing their 1/2 hour newcomer orientation followed by a "knifeplay 201" workshop. So I guess we'll see what we see.

One of the main things about the LF&P that struck us both? How young the crowd was. And in my case, well, how Het the crowd was- some exceptions, but not enough.

Preparations underway

So today's task was cleaning and polishing Sir's boots (and mine). I'm getting gear and tools ready to be packed, and so spending some time making sure his boots look their best was a priority. I find the slow, methodical working on something so concrete, that shows such measurable and immediate results very rewarding. It also puts me in a certain frame of mind, a focus, or concentration, very detailed and perfectionist. Caring for our leathers feels good.

I've ordered up a few odds and ends to help with the packing, or to organize, so hopefully, they will be at the mailbox waiting for us today. Honestly, I'm feeling somewhat overwhelmed by all that I need to do and get together before we leave for FW this weekend, but at the same time, it gives me something to work towards.

I'm also hoping my gift to Sir will have arrived, we'll have to wait and see.

The other small detail is that I've been working on 'cards' of a sort to hand out as the need arises. I'm not one much on 'business cards', particularly in these situations, but a calling card of sorts can be appropriate. So I've ordered some postcards from Japan, I have some ink stamps, I'm working up a small printed piece with my name and contact info, and I'll probably complete them with my hanko stamp. I can't quite anticipate how they'll be used yet, but having something on hand seems appropriate. I've been contemplating how much information to put on them, which information to put on them etc. As I said, it's a small detail, yet it feels important to get it some level of 'right'.

My work on all the small tasks relating to packing, preparation, etc are helping Sir continue some of other important work he's been doing, so right now anyway, I feel very 'of use' to him. Again, it's a good feeling.

Today was also special in that despite, or perhaps due to the rainy greyness outside, it's like mutual of Omaha's wild kingdom outside, birds and other critters everywhere! I've decided to take it as a bit of a 'positive sign' going into this.