Scattered all over the place

So what I am up to now?

1. Still working on the mystery novel.  Really, it is more accurate to say that I am working on the research - quattrocento Italian social history is absolutely fascinating.  There is an amazing amount of work available especially Renaissance Florence.  Not just art but building, dress, political administration, medicine, funerals ... the whole nine yards.  I am going to have to find some way both to organize what I know, and them somehow drag a plot and characters ouut of some other part of my brain.
2. Pithead has recently released 75mm Soviet regimental guns.  My brave Don lads have been waiting for theirs for a long time.  I have no idea when I will get back to the period, but I must get in the kit!
3. Ross has been steadily delivering painted 15mm Italian wars from my huge backlog.  I will get back to basing them shortly.
4. Another plan I may come to regret - I have been slow to push ahead with painting my 10mm Franco-Prussian war figures for my Mars-la-Tour project.  I will be ordering a couple of packs for Heroics and Ros 1:300 French and North German infantry to see if I can get them on the table at good speed and if I like how they look.
5. I am still going to Italian lessons; we have covered all three regular conjugations in the present tense, but mastery is far off.  Still, since Dadi & Piombo  is now available in pdf form so I bought an issue and am working to plod my way through with dictionary, grammar and verb guide.

All in all, life is going well. My dear wife and I have just had a festival of the first six seasons of the  US cop show "The Closer".  The characters are interesting and it often managers to be a pretty good "fair" mystery as well.