It seems I skipped a birthday entry. Shawn is on vacation this week, per usual. It's wonderful that he takes my birthday off, so that I get my favorite present every year -- time with him. Everything else is just bonus.

This year for the day itself we went to St. Petersburg for the Saturday Morning Market I love so. I got to hear Rebekah Pulley play and buy yummies, and walk around, and get bought some gorgeous roses. We were going to hit the Reading Festival, too, but one look and I knew it was too crowded for my mood, so we went to Haslam's instead, and ended up getting Shawn a couple books.

There's a couple more things we have planned for this week, but it's been so long since he's had a vacation and we're both just in sleepy/homebody mode. Which is kinda strange as we've been very go-go-go all month (or so my gas bill tells me). I'm happy putting anything off for the next vacation that will have to be squeezed in before February. That and maybe by then I'll have a camera that is not dependent on an electrical outlet (I don't recall if I mentioned my camera battery died, hence the relative lack of pictures since July) so I'll be able to bring the memories of those outings home with me.

As for where I am on a personal level, I find that it's undeniable that I'm in the middle of a classic (or is it cliché?) Saturn Return, and it's making me even quieter than usual. There's a lot going on inside, but not at a stage worth pondering out loud (not that I necessarily would anyway). I always thought I'd be able to skip this stage, misunderstanding it as finding oneself, which I'd already gone through the process of in my early twenties. But I'm realizing that this, for me at least, is not about finding so much as refining and directing. I know myself, but what do I want to do with that? Where do I want to go? What do I want to do with what this life has given me to work with?

But despite that internal pondering, and despite the external upheaval that is coming, things are mostly calm. I knit, and I breathe, and I live, and I love, and life goes on. Just the way things should be.

One of the things I asked to do for my birthday was to take a canoe trip down the Hillsborough River. We finally made it over to Canoe Escape today. Mr. Faulk was extremely nice and explained everything and the whole setup was efficient and easy. I wish I'd had some cash on me for a tip, because really, the whole thing was simple for us. Before going I read the Canoe Escape site and this review very carefully so I was pretty sure I knew how things would go (other than not thinking about tipping). What I didn't account for was it being spider season.

I'm really, really, really afraid of spiders. I've heard of people who are worse arachnophobics than I am. If there's a normal-sized non-hairy spider on the other side of the house or room I can deal with it in a "live and let live" sort of way. Put me anywhere near a fuzzy one or a largish one and I start heading towards hyperventilation and a week's worth of nightmares.

And when husband steers us directly into a tree and five very big long-jawed orb weavers fall on me? I have a bit of a panic attack. And when five minutes later we end up going the wrong way and almost backing into (did I mention another fear is not being able to see where I'm going?) into a little gator? I go into full blown panic attack. Like, hysterical fit full blown panic attack.

Once we got back going straight, it was okay, even with the occasional spider (spiders that can walk on water -- shudder!) and froggy hopping in the canoe. We're awful paddlers, though we didn't capsize despite running into a ton of logs/roots under the water and getting stuck on them. Towards the end we were getting the hang of backing and spinning, which was way helpful with not tossing me into trees full of spiders.

The only other downside is I have bruises on the sides of my legs from the canoe. Could be I was sitting wrong.

But it was insanely beautiful and there were tons of really cute turtles sunning themselves. I saw either an otter or gator swimming upstream right next to the boat with a water-plant cape (keeping me from identifying it). I wish we knew what we were doing enough to not constantly be focused on paddling instead of how pretty it was. But the water was just so gorgeous. And the canoing itself was really, really fun in those stretches that were straight and clear. As would have been the challenge of when it wasn't if it weren't for the spiders.

The trip ended at Morris Bridge Park where we had squirrels eating out of our hands while we waited for the shuttle back.

The other bit of weirdness for the day was when we were coming off the bus to go back to our car there was a police vehicle in the drive behind the shop where the bus dropped us off. We stopped to get the keys out of the backpack and the cop notices us (we'd been walking from the bus for maybe 20 feet that he didn't notice us), and snaps at us "Why are you sneaking up on me?" We thought he was kidding because, well, we'd been there and yelled our goodbyes and thank yous to the guide and so on. Hardly sneaking. But the look on his face was clearly not-kidding. He went on to ask us where we were from and what we were doing there (uh, it's a canoe rental shop and we went... get this... canoing??) and so on, and it was just really bizarre.

Anyway, I want to try it again someday. This time we'll know the route so that permanently lost feeling won't be there, and we will hopefully be able to avoid spider season and beginner paddling mistakes. Or maybe I'll find a place to lake paddle instead. But I definitely want to explore the parks along the route and that side of Tampa/Thonotosassa more, and definitely recommend Canoe Escape to any outdoorsy types or anyone who just wants to try something new. But not necessarily to the arachnophobics, not during spider season!

I'm home doing a bit of a catch-all entry. /twitter

But besides that, since the last entry we've had two fun outings. The first was the Dunedin Art Harvest. I was so in heaven. I haven't made it to an art festival since going to the little (disappointing) autumn one in Melbourne with Lin a little over a year ago (Melbourne has a much bigger, better festival in the spring), and probably years beyond that for a good one. The location and weather were perfect. It was crowded but not insanely so. And some of the pieces were just stunning. There was an oil I fell in love with for $3,500, and a photograph Shawn adored for $300. Neither had prints, sadly, and both were well out of our price range for the originals. There were a few ceramics vendors selling mugs that I wanted but passed on. The only thing that was really disappointing was the jewelry, and that I blame on being spoiled by Wyrding Studios and various etsy sellers (like Ophelia's Jewels, Ackoelade, and South Street Designs). What they were selling at the fair didn't strike me as art, really. There was so little innovation. Which, I'm sure is playing to their general market, but wasn't as thrilling and inspiring as the rest of the show. The talent was just electrifying.

Yesterday we headed over to the Sarasota Medieval Fair, and, like last year, had a blast. It seemed smaller this year, but still wonderful. I picked up a pair of opal earrings from Heirloom Jewelry (nickel-free hooks - woot!). I've been wanting a pair of opal earrings for about 11 years so it was great to find them and know they're wearable without spending a fortune on the outrageously expensive gold alloy I have to have to not be miserable. I also replaced my stock of rose-scented incense from Wood Willow & Whatknots and picked up some dead sea salts from Natural Instinct Body & Spa by Kat. It feels a bit like I'm cheating on South Pacific Body, my go-to place for handmade bath works, but it was too great to pass up, and Kat was so sweet and helpful. I really would've bought one of everything on her table if I could've afforded it. There was also a booth of felted items and some yarn remnants (sadly not enough yardage for my upcoming felting project). The booth was really inspiring -- I'm not a big fan of felting. It makes me a little crazy thinking all the hard work going into the stitches being washed away into a flat fabric. But she had some really gorgeous felts (and tons of them!). There was a bag I coveted and a really, really adorable princess hat.

I've pondered if I'm becoming a bit of a handmade freak, but I think it's always been this way. I've always preferred to buy this way, and loved festivals and fairs for the artisanship and buzz of creativity. I grew up around crafters and artists, and I guess it's just ingrained. I'm really grateful for a husband that appreciates it, too, even if he is kinda bored with my knitting. And I'm extra grateful for having an artist for a best friend who sends me her awesome artwork for eye candy (more like eye death by chocolate).

Online I'm mostly spending my time at Facebook where I, amusingly enough, don't have my face plastered, yet. I need a new pic! I need someone else to take one cause managing taking one of myself with all the wires attached to mine is a bit fumbly. But I like Facebook a lot. Social networking aside (I mean, really, what site made in the past 2 years doesn't have a bit of that going on?), the apps are really fun, and the way MySpace is a collection of (badly designed) blogs, and Tribe is a collection of (mostly dead anymore, woe) message boards, Facebook seems like a collection of fun web widgets. At the moment my profile is a bit of Neopets, last.fm, LibraryThing, Twitter, and Ravelry all rolled into one.

Speaking of Ravelry, that's where the rest of my non-lj non-email time online is spent (add me!). It's a really great resource and wow with the inspiration. I have 78 queued projects. 78! And I'm working on 2. I will never run out of stuff to knit (yarn funds, on the other hand... )

Thanksgiving I'll be spending 8-10 hours on the road and probably 6 or 7 with family. My aunt said she's making me a peanut butter pie. Mmmmmm. Lucky me!

Right now Sphiatt has all their FX Anime on sale 50% off. No idea how long the sale lasts, but there's some really great deals there.

I don't know about all their sets but we have Chobits and X/1999, and both have good quality subs and audio. The video on Chobits is a little iffy at points, and the menu works fine but the button highlight is off. Still well worth it for paying a fraction of the US release price, not to mention the minimalist packaging leaves more room on my manganime shelf for more. ;)

We had a great Thanksgiving. About 8 hours of it was spent on the road, and about 6 of that for me was sleeping. I really wimped out, mostly because of girl-body-stuff, but still - total wimp out! I didn't feel so bad since Shawn took a nap while we were there and I did offer to caffeinate myself vs. giving him the car 2 hours into the drive home. But I think he was sick of my driving, which was pretty shoddy between the fact that I only drive a handful of times a year, it was dark and I forgot my glasses, and I was sleepy.

We both came home rash-covered again. It happens pretty consistently each time we go. It might be the Tide, and, as suggested to us a couple times, it might be bedbugs. Mine is probably an allergic reaction either way since mine reactions are always delayed. But I do have the cluster of three mentioned in the Wiki article, and possibly Sue does not have reactions to them (some people don't). On the other hand, she also uses Tide, and always changes the sheets when we come in case we are staying over, and I know I'm allergic to Tide, and Shawn had never been exposed before, and we were in the bed at midday while bedbugs are nocturnal. Either way, next time we're bringing an air bed or floor mattress!

But the day itself was wonderful. My family is so funny. And talented (we got to see some of Hannah's recent work - wow!). And Shawn & Celest trading shots was a kick.