A paper mache day

Today I did some painting on my paper mache Santa.  First, a coat of burnt umber.

I really have no idea what I'm doing.  I'm flying by the seat of my pants to use an old cliche.  Next, I add the colors.

Santa still needs lots of work, but I'm fairly pleased with how he's turning out.  I'm not happy with the bag color, so I'll change that.  And the fur around his hat and on his coat needs to be a little darker to distinguish it from his beard.

I'm also working on a couple of paper mache Santa head ornaments. They are hanging in the pantry closet to dry.   The great thing about ornaments is the little hanger on top.  They can be hung up to dry all over at the same time.  Does that make sense?  Rather than having to turn them like a piece of meat on the grill.  These are just an experiment....kinda like most things I do.

So I think I mentioned that Mr. Gadget and I have a cruise coming up.  We are planning to leave from NYC next Wednesday (Halloween) for the Caribbean.  There's just one little detail that concerns us:  the hurricane.  The 4-day cruise to Bermuda ahead of ours on the same ship has had an itinerary change, but so far the cruise line hasn't decided where they'll go.  Maybe Canada, or maybe a cruise to nowhere....where you just float around for a few days.

In our case, we may be delayed--like we were last year on this same cruise---when it snowed.  So much for October being a great month to travel.  Luckily, we don't have to fly into town for this trip like many do, so we should be ok.  But it sure would be nice if this ended up being the typical big weather hype that ends in nothing much.  The Weather Channel has to provide plenty of drama and suspense so they can compete with shows like Dancing with the Stars and The World Series.  We'd be happy if they declared The Sandy Show a dud---like a bad sitcom--and canceled it for the season.