What I might have learned

It was WorldCon after all. I should have learned many things. I think I did.

1.I learned that sometimes a con with 4 million program offerings has maybe 3 million too many.
2. I learned enough about star maps and their history to find them even more fascinating despite them not being really what I expected. Ok, I am Hollywood, but I can't help it -- the first thing I thought (for about a minute when I read the panel title) was, well, you know, ***star*** maps -- here's where Paris Hilton parties, here's where George Clooney gets his coffee, etc.
3. I learned that Yarbro has a new St. Germaine coming out (yea)
4. I relearned that Fans are different. Sure we scare normal people (frankly, we kinda like that), but we are also pretty cool. For example, something like 200 of us were on the roof patio of the Palais to watch the fireworks and at the end of the show people (lots of them) started spontaneously putting chairs away. Not just putting them remotely near where they kind of went, but actually dividing the chairs between indoor and outdoor and distributing them evenly around the approproate tables. I was very proud. [Heck, there's at lesat one person in my office who if they open a kitchen cabinet or drawer to get a cup or spoon they just leave it open. I don't for the life of me know why.] So when we come to your town, don't be afraid. We'll probably leave it better than we found it.
5. I learned that Chicago's is not the only convention center suffering from you-can't-get-there-from-here-itis.
6. I learned that terribly serious economists can be quite funny. You'd think I'd have learned that by now, but no. How sad.
7. I learned that a sure way to get people talking about your hotel is to line the walls with fur. [more on that later... well, tomorrow probably]
8. I learned that it's really essential to hang with your tribe regularly.

*******

On the non-Con front I've learned a couple things already:
1. Cobblestones and sandlas are not the best of friends.
2. People almost always run from rain as if somehow it's going to hurt them.
3. Montreal is a pretty place filled with mostly nice people. [The grumpy ones are probably just visiting.]
4. They lie about that damn fountain! [I gave it 45 minuted tonight and still nothing-- liars!]
5. They have ridiculously small museums. [I say this now hoping to "jinx" myself tomorrow when I head tot he Musee des Beaux-Arts.]
6. I speak Frussian. The French is growing daily, but I'll probably always speak Frussian.
7. Sure they say the city bird is the American Goldfinch, but I've seen not a one. And I really, really like them too. Dang it.

Let's visit a little bit on Montreal before I go to bed. How can I be tired when I had a mini nap this evening?
Welcome to the Notre Dame Basilica, its stunning interior, its beautiful windows, and its wedding chapel:













That's St. Joan -- my personal favorite. hmmmm it's ben a long time since I've read anything about her.... hmmm....


And here's the convention stitching I **can** show you--
Quaker a la Six Mains has had roughly 8 motifs added to it, going from this:

to this:

And I started Shepherd's Bush "Adore" and got all the way to here:


nite nite --