In which we get tendonitis, and wear pink wigs.

"Where have you been, Elisabeth and Liam? What have you been up to for the past two weeks?"

Liam's shoulder has been bothering him for several weeks now, and he's just got the diagnosis of tendonitis, probably from a swimming session at the gym a few weeks back where he pushed himself to keep up with faster swimmers in his lane. This means several weeks of rest to heal it, which is difficult for a man who does not like to sit still or be idle. A sling helps to remind him not to use it, and gives the external cues to people to be gentle with him and not ask him to reach things off the top shelf, but comes with the frustrating side effect of everybody asking him "What happened to your arm?"

We've finally put our herb garden into the ground! This project is Liam's baby. He's been around beautiful gardens his whole life, thanks to his mother and his grandfather, and he's been itching to get one going since before we even purchased the house. He's starting small this year, with an 8x10' patch carefully planned out to include walkways and convenient distances to reach over and trim and harvest. We've got basil and mint and rosemary and bee balm and lavender and chives and thyme and bergamot all sorts of plants that I don't recognize. His hobby this past winter was herbalism, something that has always interested him. He's got a notebook of recipes and notes about proportions of what worked and didn't work, and whenever I would cough or get stuffed up he'd pop up asking if I wanted him to brew a cup of tea to help with my congestion.

Bahstahn. We attended Anime Boston for the third year in a row (this year's attendance count: Turnstile (door count across three days) - 57,491; Warm Bodies - 21,825). It's tremendous fun to people-watch, to admire the fantastic costumes that people have constructed, and to enjoy what I can only describe as a high quality 3-day Halloween party where everybody gets the same inside jokes. I had tremendous fun with my own costume, which was much improved over last year. My wig was so big with curls that I had to transport it in a hat box! I was treated very differently this year by fellow attendees than last year, much more respectfully, like a professional cosplayer instead of a casual costumer or as the character I was wearing (that was the weirdest last year. People would talk to me like I was the character, and expect me to respond with an extended in-character conversation.). Instead of getting glomped by teenagers, I was approached and had my photograph requested. It's interesting to see the differences! We also got to meet the famous director Nabeshin, which was hilarious and delightful and I got a hug (he didn't speak English well so it was a "Hugu!"), and the Best Drama Video/Editor's Choice video at the Music Video Contest made me cry.
I wore my wig on the trip home because my hair had already been squashed flat for the day, and because when else is one going to get the chance to wear an outrageous pink wig? There were several little girls on the T that couldn't keep their eyes off of me, and one little girl that was brave enough to ask if she could touch my hair. I knelt down and handed her a curl, and she tugged it gently and giggled when it 'boinged!' back up.

A running count of weeds pulled so far this spring : 8604